How did geography and trade contribute to the growth of the Muslim Empire, the spread of Islam and the achievements of the Golden Age?
The geography of the Arabian Peninsula is very harsh and hard to live on. Most of the Arabian Peninsula is covered in vast deserts, the occasional oasis and very little rainfall. But how did this empire grow to become so successful? Due to the geography being so harsh, all people became nomads.
The traveled around in their caravans and since there is not much they could earn by moving around, they became traders or Bedouins. The deserts led people to guide traders to their desired locations. Also, many nomads became traders and traveled all over the Empire, going place to place, sharing ideas, attaining ideas, spreading their new religious beliefs and selling their objects to benefit the Empire. The geography caused the people to move around and mingle with other people which caused the Empire to grow in the sense of wealth, trade and religion. Christians on the eastern and southern coats of the Mediterranean converted to Islam and that made the empire grow. Soldiers from the Muslim Empire tried to defeat the Roman, Byzantine and Persian empires, they could not, but instead waited and when they became weaker and defeated, the Muslims would attack and conquer. The achievements of the Golden Age were all based on how successful the Muslim Empire was. Since all faiths could be practiced in the Muslim Empire, many people moved and shared their ideas which led to new ideas, people working on old ideas such as Greek and Indian. The Golden Age was a time when people started to improve on math, poetry and science. Scholars like al- Kindi said that people should not be ashamed of studying other peoples' history and with that scholars created algebra, numbers, poetry and the famous Whirling Dervishes.
All these achievements were used to benefit the people, for example: poetry was used to teach ideas and beliefs. Hardly any of this would be possible without trade which brought money. Money paid musicians and singers which made it so popular. Yes, the geography seems to not be beneficial, but in fact it is. It gave the Muslim Empire money and patience. Without it, nothing would have been possible!
