Islam​—‘Transmission Belt for Technology’

The Moorish occupation of Spain was to have enduring consequences for the rest of Europe as well. Especially during the period when Christendom’s kingdoms in northern Spain were gradually incorporating the Muslim states to the south, Moorish Spain served as an intermediary between East and West, facilitating the diffusion of Oriental culture, science, and technology throughout Europe and beyond. (See box, page 27.)

Explaining this process, the Encyclopædia Britannica states: “The importance of Islām lay in the Arab assimilation of the scientific and technological achievements of Hellenic civilization, to which it made significant additions, and the whole became available to the West through the Moors in Spain.

Agriculture. The efficient Moorish system of irrigation canals is still in use in many parts of Spain, watering orange and lemon groves first planted by Arab horticulturists. Under the direction of the Moors, rice, sugarcane, pomegranates, cotton, bananas, oranges, lemons, dates, and figs were cultivated. Many of these crops would later be taken to the Americas by Spanish and Portuguese settlers.

The leisurely ox was replaced by the mule, the ass, and the horse. North African horses were crossed with the Iberian steeds to produce what has been called the oldest recorded breed in the world, the magnificent Andalusian.

Medicine. The hospital of Córdoba was a renowned medical school, the first of its kind in Europe, and its surgeons enjoyed international repute. Surgical instruments were surprisingly similar to ones in use today. Wine, hashish, and other drugs were reportedly used as anesthetics.

Much emphasis was given to curative medicine and the use of herbal remedies. In Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine, a medical encyclopedia of the 11th century, we find the following sound advice: “Experience shows that nursing at the mother’s breast is an important protective factor against diseases.”

Astronomy, Geography, and Mathematics. A notable geographical and astronomical work, written by al-Idrisi who studied in Córdoba, appeared in the 12th century. Entitled “Roger’s Book,” it divided the known world into climatic zones and included some 70 detailed maps that have been termed “the crowning achievement of medieval cartography.” Like most Islamic scholars, al-Idrisi took for granted that the earth was spherical.

Another Moor, a citizen of Toledo, published astronomical tables and invented what is known as the universal astrolabe (a device for determining latitude), the forerunner of the sextant. These advances, together with the adoption of the triangular sail used for generations by Arab dhows, were to be important contributions to the great voyages of discovery in the 15th century.

Our numerical system also owes much to Islamic mathematicians who, by the eighth century, were employing what are today known as Arabic numerals, together with the zero and the decimal point, all of which were a considerable improvement on the former Roman system of numerals by letters (I=1, V=5, X=10, L=50, C=100, M=1,000). As an example, compare MCMLXXXVIII with the Arabic-based system​—1988!