Overview
- After the death of Muhammad, Arab leaders were called caliphs.
- Caliphs built and established Baghdad as the hub of the Abbasid Caliphate.
- Baghdad was centrally located between Europe and Asia and was an important area for trade and exchanges of ideas.
- Scholars living in Baghdad translated Greek texts and made scientific discoveries—which is why this era, from the seventh to thirteenth centuries CE, is named the Golden Age of Islam.
A love of knowledge was evident in Baghdad, established in 762 CE as the capital city of the Abbasid Caliphate in modern-day Iraq. Scholars, philosophers,
doctors, and other thinkers all gathered in this center of trade and cultural development.. Academics—many of them fluent in Greek and Arabic—exchanged ideas and translated Greek texts into Arabic.
Chief Muslim leaders after Muhammad’s death were referred to as Caliphs.The era of the Abbasid Caliphs’ construction and rule of Baghdad is known as the Golden Age of Islam. It was an era when scholarship thrived.
