The Importance of Learning in the Arab World

Paper Summary:

This essay examines the importance of learning in the Arab world with specific reference to Portugal during the early modern period. It examines how this nation was empowered by its adaptation of Arabic mathematics and Arab navigational and naval technology. Arab knowledge of cartography and navigation, from which all European nations borrowed heavily, enabled Portugal to forge ahead in the drive to seek colonies and expand Portugal?s sphere of trade.

From the paper:

"In the current political climate, it has become easy to forget the past. It has become easy to forget how, many hundreds of years ago the Arab world was not seen as a place of darkness, of anti-modernist and anti-technological sentiments. Rather Islam was seen as a beacon of light for the West, providing important mathematical and navigational knowledge that enabled Europeans to make exploratory forays into what became the New World. The very numbers that paginate this particular document are "Arabic Numerals," an improvement on the cumbersome and often confusing system of Roman numerals."

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