A city on the Tigris River became a marketplace for the world and a place where books from three continents were read. Your math class still uses one of its words.
Not started yet.
Students will explain how the Abbasid caliphate made Baghdad a center of trade and learning, name the key advances (paper, the House of Wisdom, algebra, medicine), and explain why the caliphate declined.
Islam is reported here as history, with respect and without endorsement or mockery, and the scholars are credited as the people they were. Where the book compares art traditions, the lesson states the difference and leaves the judging to nobody.
That the translators were often Christians and Jews, and that the word algorithm comes from al-Khwarizmi's name, are added from the record and aren't in the book.
U2-L6 follows the Muslim world west to Spain, where another Umayyad ruler built a golden age of his own, and then to the conflict that set up the Crusades.
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Before You Start
The words this lesson uses. Tap a card to see what it means, then come back to them whenever a question uses one.
Part One
Questions about the story you just read. Pick your answer straight off, or press Find it in the story if you would rather hunt for the sentence first.
Part Two
The word cards are at the top of this page. Look back at them as often as you need, then answer.