THE ABBASiD DYNASTY

The first Abbasid caliph was Abu al-Abbas al-Saffah (d. 754), the man who had masterminded the Abbasid revolution. His first few years as caliph were spent crushing any resistance or rivalry. Anyone who had helped the Abbasids gain power had therefore proven themselves will-

Ing to challenge the caliph. So these supporters were killed to prevent them from stirring up any more trouble in the future. This included the Shiites, who had been so important to Abbasid victory during the revolution.

CONNECTIONS

Watering the Desert

Under the Abbasids, the huge islamic Empire needed to find ways to increase the production of food crops. Agriculture became a major concern. islamic scientists translated and studied Greek and other ancient texts on farming, and they also added new knowledge to the field.

The demand for an increase in the variety and amount of new food crops led to a serious need for good irrigation and water management techniques. islamic scholars and farmers rose to the occasion. coming from a dry, desert climate, the arabs always understood the importance of making effective and efficient use of available water.

In spain, the Umayyads introduced scientific methods of irrigation borrowed from the Egyptians, including water wheels, canals, reservoirs, and pumps. As agriculture flourished throughout the region, spain quickly earned the reputation as the garden of Europe. other scientific methods of farming introduced into spain included the use of new fertilizers to help crops grow; knowledge about growing varieties of trees and plant diseases; cross pollination of plants; and soil rehabilitation.

By 756, new leaders were firmly in control of the Islamic Empire. The Abbasid dynasty ruled the empire for the next five centuries, until it fell in 1258.

Under the Abbasids, the capital of the empire moved from Damascus in today’s Syria to Baghdad in what is now Iraq. In 762, the second Abbasid caliph, Abu Jafar al-Mansur (d. 775), founded Baghdad. The new city signaled not just an end to the old Umayyad dynasty, but a beginning of Abbasid power and glory. Baghdad remained

The empire’s capital—as well as its political and cultural heart—for nearly 500 years.

The beginning of the Abbasid dynasty also signaled an end to the age of Islamic conquest. The empire at the time stretched from Spain in the west to the borders of India in the east, from central Asia in the north to North Africa in the south. It entered a period of peace and prosperity, a “golden age” of Islamic civilization. Despite many advances in culture and learning, however, the Abbasids would soon lose control over their empire. A new age was coming, and it would not be long before the dynasty was reduced to nothing more than a puppet controlled by other powers within the empire.