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What was the Golden Age of Islam?

A cartoon of Baghdad. The House of Wisdom is in the centre.
Image caption,
Baghdad

The Golden Age of Islam saw an explosion of ideas, inventions and learning.

Baghdad became the centre for science, maths and more!

A cartoon of Baghdad. The House of Wisdom is in the centre.
Image caption,
Baghdad
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Why were there so many inventions?

Divri臒i Hospital and Mosque.
Image caption,
Mosque and hospital of Divri臒i in modern day Turkey. It was built in the 13th century and you can still visit its remains today.
  • The Abbasid caliphs (leaders) wanted people to learn.
  • The city had a number of libraries, universities, hospitals, schools and the famous House of Wisdom.
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What was the House of Wisdom?

  • The House of Wisdom was a huge academy where people studied.

  • It had a big library and even an observatory where people could look at the night sky.

  • Lots of important books were kept in the House of Wisdom.

  • People translated ancient Roman and Greek texts into Arabic so more people could read them.

The Book of Ingenious Devices was about mechanical devices.
Image caption,
The Book of Ingenious Devices published in AD850. It is believed to be written by three brothers working at the House of Wisdom.
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Watching the stars

  • Islamic astronomers improved the astrolabe.
  • It was a device that allowed travellers to find their way, a bit like a compass.
  • People used the astrolabe to identify the position of the sun and stars to plan their routes.
  • Muslims could also use it to find the direction of Mecca for prayer.
An astrolabe, used to find the direction of Mecca and navigate using the stars.
Image caption,
An astrolabe.
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Maths and science

  • Today, we use the Hindu Arabic number system (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) which was founded in India.

  • Mathematicians in the early Islamic world like Al-Khwarizmi introduced the system to Europe.

  • It was much simpler to use than Roman numbers.

A statue of Al-Khwarizmi.
Image caption,
A statue of Al-Khwarizmi

Ibn al-Haytham was a scientist who carried out experiments. He studied how the human eye worked. He invented an early type of camera that helped explain how the eye sees.

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Medicine

Early Islamic medical book about the human eye.
Image caption,
Early Islamic medical book about the human eye. It is a 12th century copy of a book written in the 9th century.
  • Hospitals in the early Islamic civilisation were some of the first in the world and treated rich and poor people.

  • They also had special hospitals for teaching.

  • Doctors studied the body and how to treat it for different diseases.

  • They wanted to find out more about organs like the heart and how they worked.

Look at the table below to find out more about important figures in early Islamic medicine.

NameWhat did they study and write about?
Al-RaziStudied diseases in children and how the brain worked.
Ibn SinaWrote an encyclopedia looking at lots of areas of medicine. It was used in universities.
Al-ZahrawiWrote a textbook about surgery and described how to use different medical tools.
Ibn NafisStudied how the heart worked and how blood moved round the body.
Early Islamic medical book about the human eye.
Image caption,
Early Islamic medical book about the human eye. It is a 12th century copy of a book written in the 9th century.
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Activity: Quiz 鈥 Early Islamic inventions

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