Spread Of Islam

Paper, a remarkable invention, has truly changed the world. Today, paper is used all day every day, but it was not always such a universal product. It is used for writing, drawing, painting, reading, blowing noses, wrapping presents, insulating houses, and even for currency. Using paper makes life so much easier, and paper even breaks down easily in the environment. People do not often think about how paper got to be so popular and useful, and it is important that they know that the spread of Islamic civilization brought paper to the West. It was actually Muslims who learned how to manufacture paper in large quantities, a technology very important to the spread of ideas in the time of the Golden Age of Islam because paper was important for

(Cotter) According to Grotenhuis, a eunuch at court invented paper in 105 C.E. Before that, wood, willow sticks, bamboo, and silk were used. By the 300's, most writing in China was done on paper. (Grotenhuis) By the 600's, during the T'ang Dynasty, paper was used for official documents. (Cotter) The Muslims discovered paper in the eighth century when they spread into the territories of western China. (Bloom) The Chinese had shared their knowledge with Japan, Korea, and Central Asia along the Silk Road by the seventh century, and it was here that Muslims encountered paper craftsmen. (Bloom) Chinese prisoners gave up the knowledge of paper making after the Ottoman Turks won a victory over the T'ang army in the Battle of Talas in Samarkand in 751 C.E. (Bloom) Like silk or tea, the process of making paper had been a guarded secret in China. (Grotenhuis) No longer a secret, the new knowledge was carried back by Muslim traders to the Abbasids who built the first paper mill in 793 C.E. in Baghdad, a center for Muslim learning. Here the innovative Muslim craftsmen used linen, cotton, and hemp to make their paper instead of bark and rags, and even put a coating on it and sometimes dyed it. (Grotenhuis) From Baghdad, the process spread throughout Islamic territories to Persia, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, and

Making paper became a big industry in Baghdad under the Abassids.(Grotenhuis) They started to use paper for the Islamic art of calligraphy. By 970 C.E., Qur’ans were being produced using paper.(Cotter) Baghdad produced tons of paper and sold it to Europe. Paper was used as wrappers for goods, for trade receipts and contracts, and as a product itself. (Bloom) Most Europeans were still using parchment at that time. Parchment had been used by Muslims, too. By the mid-10th century, paper replaced papyrus and parchment completely in the Muslim world. (Whitaker-theguardian.com) Parchment was made from animal skins in a long, drawn-out, expensive process. When paper came along, its manufacture was easier and quicker, and no sheep had to die in the process. (Bloom) Another good thing about paper was that ink soaked into it, so it was more secure for important documents because it could not be erased like papyrus or parchment. (Bloom) Even though parchment was still used for some things, paper started to become the writing instrument of choice across the world. From Europe, paper and books made of bound paper eventually spread all around the world. Paper was used for maps, charts, battle plans, literature, science, math, music, architecture, and many other things. (Cotter) Stories, scientific ideas, histories of countries, and other ideas could all be recorded and shared with people in far