INDUSTRIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF COMMERCE. 



followed tho destruction of the Roman empire. Those remarkable 

 :.-, wlu>*<> . unitry bad been the highway of traffic from time 

 i inn. . scarcely be said to hare had a national exist- 



ence till, a * M hatnmadans, they burst forth from their desert* 

 with ti. "The Koran; Tribute, or the Sword!" 



and Bub.l . itions from tho Indus to the Pyrenees. 



:>ts of their religion, they encouraged trade 

 and thu a. : .<, as works pleasing to God. 



nt w.-;t.in','.< are full of reference to Arab trade. A 

 company of Miilianito merchant* going down into Egypt 

 bought Joseph of his brethren. When the Jews despoiled the 

 Midiauitcs, thoy took golden collars off the camels, as well 

 aa ornaments of gold from the merchants ; whence wo may 

 inf'T tho lucrative character of the trade that was carried on. 

 Fn>m tho prophet Kzekiul wo learn that Edom had tho control 

 of i\: th Phoenicia, giving emeralds, purple, broidored 



work, bezoar, and precious stones, for Phoenician wares. Proda- 

 tjry Arabs appoar to have infested Egypt, and to have kept 

 possession of Thebes for several centuries before tho time of 

 Sosoatri.s. Qorrha, on tho Persian Gulf, was for ages a commercial 

 link between Babylon and India. Some modern historians 

 think that Ophir, whence Solomon obtained gold, silver, gems, 

 and sandal-wood, was in Arabia. The early intercourse of the 

 Phoenicians with India was carried on by caravans across the 

 desert. Herodotus says of Arabia that it was tho only place where 

 frankincense and myrrh wore to be found. Arab commerce in 

 tho middle ages attained groat magnitude. The possession of 

 Persia gave tho Arab i tho command of the Indian market, and 

 thoy hold indirect iutaroourse with China. Along the African 

 coast they planted trading stations communicating with Egypt. 

 Thoy possessed also, for a time, tho entire maritime commerce 

 of tho Mediterranean. Before the conversion of the Arabs to 

 Mohammedanism, they had regarded Mecca as thoir capital. It 

 afterwards assumed additional importance as a eacred shrine 

 for pilgrimages. The ancient caravan routes wore revived. 

 Medina, Kufa, Borsippa, Bassorah, Damascus, Bagdad, Mosul, 

 and Madain, the last-named situated opposite the ancient city 

 of Seieucia, on tho Tigris, were also caravan stations, and 

 acquired thereby fame and opulence. 



The capital of the caliphate, and the centre of the routes 

 traversed by the caravans, was Bagdad, which in commercial 

 activity eclipsed its splendid predecessor, Babylon. Pilgrims 

 visited it from Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Persia, and the west 

 coast of Africa. Most of them combined profit with devotion ; 

 some were hired as guards ; some came as proxies for true be- 

 lievers, who, in lieu of pilgrimage in person, preferred to employ 

 tho services of professional pilgrims. Commerce was attracted 

 to every spot whoro tho Arabs settled. When they conquered 

 a state, they appointed a governor and a cadi or judge, and 

 established mosques and schools. Highways were constructed, 

 and kept in good condition. Wells were opened along every 

 route which led to the Holy City. Caravanserais, or halting- 

 places for the night, were placed at convenient intervals, land- 

 marks were set up to indicate distances, and posts were esta- 

 blished where fresh horses and camels could be obtained. 

 Those matters became a part of the state administration. 

 Great advantages arose from the magnitude of the Arab empire, 

 and the policy pursued by its government. A common lan- 

 guage was spoken throughout their possessions in Europe, Asia, 

 and Africa, and thus social intercourse was promoted. Princes 

 and the wealthy sent their sons to Bagdad for mental culture. 

 Traders could journey throughout the whole extent of tho Arab 

 empire, secure of a caravanserai, and of being not only under- 

 stood but welcomed in every town. Trade was not impeded by 

 restrictions imposed by rival states. 



The social life of the Arabs offered a marked contrast to that 

 of tho European nations. While civilisation was barely kept 

 alive in Germany, Gaul, and Britain by the monks, and while 

 the inhabitants of these countries generally were in a state of 

 rude poverty, treasures of gold and silver, works of art, and 

 splendid palaces abounded in the cities of the Arabs, thus 

 realising in a great degree the marvels of Arabian fiction. The 

 caliphs patronised letters. The writings of the Greek philo- 

 sophers were translated, and eagerly read. Astronomy and 

 chemistry wero studied, and, above all, it is to the Arabs we owe 

 our numerical system and the science of algebra. Spain was 

 never so flourishing under the Romans as under the Moors. 

 Everywhere arose peopled towns and magnificent palaces; and, 



by skilful irrigation, the land was mado to bloasom like a garden. 

 Geographical knowledge WM greatly increased by the enterprise 

 of Arab traders. Caravans penetrated through Tartary into 

 Siberia. Arabs settled in India, where various native princes 

 embraced the Mohammedan faith. Trade extended still further 

 east, and merchants soon reached the Indian Archipelago and 

 China. Westward, caravans reached the Niger, and the trade 

 of the east coast of Africa extended as far as Madagascar 



With the increase of wealth the caliphs sank into voluptuous 

 indulgence, and their empire fell into decay. 



The commorcia prosperity of the Arab empire surpassed that 

 of tho ancients, both in its extent and in its diffusion, bat 

 declined as rapidly as it had grown. The policy of the Arab* 

 was to multiply trade- marts, while that pursued by the com- 

 mercial nations of earlier times had been to concentrate the 

 wealth of the world in a few great cities. The wide-spread 

 prosperity arising from trade gave an impulse to agriculture and 

 to other branches of industry, which in their turn multiplied 

 commodities for exchange. The wealthy prided themselves 

 upon tho cultivation of beautiful gardens, and even the lower 

 classes exhibited taste in producing the refinements of life. 



Silk stuffs wero among the choicest articles of manufacture. 

 A thousand silk tapestries, embroidered with needlework of gold 

 thread, are described as belonging to the Caliph Mostansir. 

 These tapestries represented the kings and heroes of tho cali- 

 phate, whose names and deeds, together with the name of the 

 dynasty to which they belonged, were embroidered by the side 

 of their respective portraits. Besides historical incidents, figures 

 of towns, roads, rivers, and seas wero worked upon carpets, in 

 gold, silver, and silk thread of many colours, upon a ground of 

 blue silk. These carpets were very costly ; one alone is said to 

 have been worth 22,000 deniers. 



Another result of Arabian commerce was a love of travel. 

 Merchants sent their sons in company with the caravans, as a 

 necessary part of education, and made them visit distant cities, 

 in order to obtain instruction from teachers eminent in science 

 and art. A higher degree of civilisation was thus attained than 

 ever before existed. The glories of Bagdad, the capital, especially 

 attracted foreigners and strangers from all parts of the empire ; 

 its visitors equalled in number tho pilgrims to Mecca. Agricul- 

 ture and manufactures supplied commodities for internal trade, 

 as distinguished from the carrying trade. Yemen, in Arabia, 

 excelled in weaving ; and Sana, tho chief town of that district, 

 produced dates and flour. The balsams of Mecca were exchanged 

 for the textiles of Persia and India. Coffee was a product of 

 Arabia, and called caJwch (pronounced by the Turks cahveh), a 

 name derived from its original use, as a stimulant to induce 

 wakefulness.* 



Wo proceed to notice tho most important trading districts of 

 the Arab empire. The ancient prosperity of the district of Baby- 

 lonia was revived, as we have seen, in that of Bagdad and its 

 neighbourhood. Damascus, tho chief town of the province of 

 Syria, and one of the oldest cities in the world, was situated on 

 tho line of route taken by tho pilgrims, and consequently shared 

 in tho profits of tho traffic with them. Damascus was always 

 celebrated for its cutlery, and particularly for its sword-blades. 

 The beautiful traceries wrought upon them gave rise to the term 

 " damascening," as applied to steel; while "damasks," as applied 

 to textile fabrics, indicate a raised pattern, peculiar and greatly 

 prized. The district of Armenia, and especially Trebizond, on 

 tho Black Sea, were famous for the purple tapestry. 



In the bazaars of Teheran, through which city a caravan 

 route led into Tartary, were elegant household furniture, linen, 

 cotton, and camels' hair fabrics, combs, and miscellaneous goods. 

 During the period of Saracenic supremacy, the internal trade 

 of Persia had its chief seat at Ispahan, the capital. Textile 

 manufactures of remarkable softness, both in linen and wool, 

 were produced in this city, the linen being as fine as silk, and 

 tho wool the produce of a superior breed of sheep, peculiar to the 

 fertile region in which they were bred. 



It is interesting to trace the growth of thi beverage in pnblio 

 favour. Coffee-houses, the first opened, were established at Constan- 

 tinople in 1552, at Marseilles in 1671 ; Paris, 1673 ; Hamburg and 

 Nuremberg, 1696; London, 1653, in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill, by 

 Pasqua Rosee, at the ngn named after bis own bead. The coffee plant 

 was introduced into Batavia, 1690 ; Amsterdam, 1710 ; Surinam. 1713 j 

 Hindostan, 1719; Cayenne and Martinique, 1782; and Jamaica, 1732. 



