8th to 10th century AD

Economic development of the Muslim empire, in particular Bagdad

Baghdad plays a major role in the global economy. The pro­duction is intense in the areas of agri­culture, live­stock, tex­tiles, metal­lurgy and paper. Trade is internal: exchanges take place within a network of major cities (Baghdad, Dam­ascus, Cairo …). But the Muslim empire imports (wood, iron, weapons …) from Asia, Europe and Africa and exports (luxury goods) to the West. To stim­ulate inter­con­tin­ental trade, gold dinars were struck. But to prevent their trans­port­ation, bankers traders invent deferred payment systems across time (cheques) and space (bills of exchange).