After the Abbasid Caliphate moved its capital to Baghdad in 762, the city grew into one of the largest and wealthiest urban centers in the medieval world, anchoring trade networks stretching from the Mediterranean to China and East Africa. Abbasid merchants and sailors operating out of Persian Gulf ports such as Basra and Siraf conducted regular voyages across the Indian Ocean to India, Southeast Asia, and China. Baghdad's markets and scholars also absorbed and transmitted knowledge, technology, and commercial practices, including early credit instruments, from across the Islamic world. This period is often described as a golden age of Islamic commerce and scholarship.
Relevance to Trade History
Abbasid-era commerce linked the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and East Asian trading worlds into a single network and pioneered financial practices that later influenced European banking.
Read the full story in our article Indian Ocean Trade Networks.
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Department of Islamic Art. See our Sources & Methodology page for how we select and verify references.