Muslims referred to Spain as Al-Andalus. This word has several meanings. "One of them is âto become green after a long summer or drought,â and the history of the Iberian Peninsula over the ages attests to this phase when Muslims ruled Spain" (Zahoor, 1997b). The role of Al-Andalus in the transmission of science and technology to Western Europe is discussed in this essay, Science in Al-Andalus,
http://users.erols.com/gmqm/andalus1.html.
The influence of the Muslim world on Western science can be seen in the vocabulary of science as many of the words used by Muslim scientists have been retained and have entered the English language. Arabic words in chemistry include alcohol, alkali, niter (from which word we get nitrate), alkahest (the universal solvent, sought by the alchemists), and alembic (a distilling flask). Astronomical Arabic terms include almanac, zenith, and nadir (Plambeck, 1995).
Beginning in the Middle Ages, men seeking knowledge would travel to Spain to obtain Muslim science. This may be surprising since we tend to think of the Muslim world as being separated from Europe. But, there were many linkage between these two societies, one being trade and the other, more significantly education. Adelard of Bath, an Englishman in the 12th century, was the first major popularizer of Muslim science in the West. He spent a long time in Muslim Spain learning both about Greek mathematics and science as well as Muslim contributions to science. In particular he introduced Euclid and aspects of astronomy to Western Europe.
"As well as more technical treatises, he wrote Natural Questions - the selections here are from its preface and part of the body - which expresses his fundamental belief that God should not be invoked to explain what human knowledge can." Adelard of Bath: The Impact of Muslim Science. Preface to His Very Difficult Natural Questions, [Dodi Ve-Nechdi] c. 1137 from Medieval Sourcebook,
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/adelardbath1.html
The key event for Medieval Europe came in 1085 when the great Muslim city of Toledo fell to Christian military forces. Toledo housed one of the largest libraries in the world at this time. And, this library was filled with thousands of books including Muslim translations of classic Greek philosophers. After the fall of Toledo, this city became the focus of a massive translation effort where teams of translators translated the Arabic texts into Latin. Often, this was not a one-step process. Jewish intellectuals frequently served as the translators--translating Arabic into Hebrew for themselves and then into Spanish for the Christians. But, because most of Europe spoke Latin, the works were then translated into Latin (often by priests or monks). One translator, Gerard of Cremona (1114-87) worked for forty years in Spain translating, with a team, over 70 books from Arabic originals including the works of Archimedes, Galen, Hippocrates, and Aristotle (McClellan & Dorn, 1999). In addition to Toledo, Arab work was found and translated in southern Italy and Sicily (reconquered by Norman knights in the 11th century). By 1200, Europe had recovered most of ancient science as well as appropriating several centuries of scientific, medical, and philosophical work done by Muslim scholars.
In the remainder of this section, we will look at specific scientific innovations and technologies that were transferred to Western Europe through Islamic Spain. The story of these technologies will show the wide range of scientific and technological innovation that occurred in the Middle Ages in Al-Andalus. I have divided this into three sections: mathematics, astronomy, and chemistry and medicine.
