2.3.3

Development of Knowledge

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Development of Knowledge

Knowledge was valued for its practical uses in the Islamic world. It made it possible to follow the teachings of Islam, alongside other scholarly fields.

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The Islamic Golden Age

  • The Islamic Golden Age was a period of intellectual, economic, cultural, and scientific prosperity in the Muslim world.
    • This period lasted from approximately the 8th to the 13th century.
  • In the 11th century, the caliph and rich citizens built madrasas, an early form of university.
    • This shows how important the development of knowledge was to the centre of the Muslim world.
    • This approach relied on the wealth of rich citizens, who set up organisations and funded research.
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Astronomy and astrology

  • Astronomy is the study of the planets, stars, and space.
  • Astrology is the study of the movement of the stars and planets and their impact on the world.
  • Arab scholars used ancient Greek and Hindu knowledge of the stars to calculate the direction of Makkah (Mecca) for prayer.
    • Muslims often pray in this direction.
    • They built upon the work of astronomers such as Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer from the 2nd century AD.
  • Astronomy was used to determine an accurate calendar for navigation and religious purposes.
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Mapping via the stars

  • Large observatories were built to study the stars and planets.
  • Scholars made detailed globes to show the position of stars and planets to Earth.
    • The astrolabe was an invention that travellers used to find their position using the stars.
  • Al-Masudi, a 10th-century Arab geographer, used the stars and his own travels to create great maps.
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Mathematics

  • Islamic scholars studied the mathematics of various countries, including Greece, India, and China.
  • Geometry (the maths of points lines and shapes) and trigonometry (the maths of triangles) saw a lot of development.
  • Al-Khwarizmi and Omar Khayyam, two Islamic mathematicians, helped develop algebra into its own field of mathematics.
  • Al-Khwarizmi helped introduce the Hindu decimal system to the Arab world.
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Engineering

  • The Islamic Empire lacked water. Much of their engineering efforts went into transporting water in a safe and efficient way.
    • Engineers developed and refined dams, canals, waterwheels, aqueducts, pumps and cisterns.
  • This shows that the development of knowledge had intellectual and practical purposes.
  • Other areas which saw development included mechanics, clocks, wind, power and chemistry.

Jump to other topics

1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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