Christopher Columbus And Islam Golden Age

After the Black Death in 1353, thoughts in European society changed from religious thinking to scientific thinking due to the Pope being unable to stop the Plague. People started to move away from God and began to wonder about human capabilities and achievements. An example of achievement from the 1400s to the 1600s was the Age of Exploration. European nations began exploring and discovering new lands. Christopher Columbus is well known for his expedition to the Americas. People believed that the world was flat, but Columbus was confident in finding a direct route to Asia from Europe. However, he ended up discovering the Americas instead. His discoveries led to the Columbian Exchange, a far-reaching and influential period of history that would

During the Middle Ages, Muslim cities developed into intellectual centers, bringing together theologians, scholars, scientists, philosophers, and others to conduct research and discovery. The great achievements accomplished by Muslims between approximately 750 and 1500 CE led to the designation of this period as the Islamic Renaissance, or the Islamic Golden Age. Since other nations were attracted to the inventions that were created during this time, such as the astrolabe and the compass, the Islamic Golden Age was one of the various reasons globalization increased. The city of Baghdad was one of the major intellectual centers, “In 750 Umayyads were overthrown by the ʿAbbāsids, who moved the empire’s capital from Damascus to Baghdad. The ʿAbbāsids presided over a golden age of Islamic culture and scholarship, and Baghdad became one of the world’s major cultural centers” (Gale, Cengage Learning). The change in Islamic government from the Umayyads to the ʿAbbāsids caused the city of Baghdad to become an important part of the world’s globalization because the city promoted its culture, inventions, and arts across the world. In the 13th century, the first observatory was established as a scientific institution. Muslims used them to observe the motions of the stars. The astrolabe invention allowed people to determine their exact latitude by using the

The Silk Road was a trade route connecting Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. On these trade routes, spices, wool, medicines, inventions, and other luxurious items were traded. The Ottoman Empire had inventions from the Muslim Golden Age to travel to Europe and had a monopoly on trade by controlling prices and taxes on goods. In 1453, the Ottoman Empire boycotted Europe by conquering Constantinople to gain more power, “Its establishment of power in both Europe and Asia gave it control of strategic entrepôts of trade, particularly after it took Constantinople (later, Istanbul) in 1453” (McCusker ). The Ottoman Empire was a powerful empire and an important conduit of trade throughout history, it increased globalization by spreading new inventions and goods through the Silk Road. Europe needed a way around the Empire to trade with Asia and explorers were sent to find a sea route that went around Africa and connected to Asia. Christopher Columbus was one of these explorers and was made to believe that the world was flat and that there was a possibility that he’d fall off the Earth as he searched for a route to Asia. However, Columbus went against those claims, according to the Marshall Cavendish Corporation, “Christopher Columbus thought despite evidence to the contrary, the belief that the earth was flat– and that if sailors traveled far enough, they would fall