The Medieval Islamic Commercial Revolution

Harvard FAS

Unfolding across Afro-Eurasia, the Medieval Islamic Commercial Revolution (800-1200 CE) wove together a world system of unprecedented reach and strength, as new trade networks extended across land and sea to join the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, North and Sub Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia. We will follow the lives and business activities of the merchants who brought about this historic transformation, using their letters, accounts, books, and material objects to investigate…