The Growth of Citiesand Trade

Section 3

Key Terms

Standard 7.2.5

• Describe the growth of cities and the establishment of trade routes among Asia, Africa, and Europe, the products and inventions that traveled along these routes (e.g., spices, textiles, paper, steel, new crops), and the role of merchants in Arab society.

Background Knowledge

• The first and second waves of Muslim expansion founded military outposts across their territory. – Many of these outposts stood along trade

routes. Eventually, they grew into towns and cities.

• In this section, you will learn about the growth of cities and trade in the Islamic world.

• urban – having to do with a city or cities

• Cordoba – the leading city in Muslim Spain

• textiles – woven goods such as cotton cloth or wool

• social mobility – the ability to rise in society

• souk – a marketplace where merchants bought and sold goods from around the empire

• letters of credit – written record issued by one bank that allows a person to take money out of another bank