Food & agriculture · c. 800 CE

Arab Agricultural Revolution

Caliphate farmers spread citrus, cotton, rice and sugar across a Mediterranean-to-India network.

Between roughly the 8th and 13th centuries, the Islamic world diffused dozens of crops and advanced irrigation from Persia to al-Andalus, alongside agronomy manuals. Summer irrigation added a second growing season in many regions.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

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What it built on 2

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

World population over a million years Latest: 6.27k million people (2000) Source: DeLong 1998, table 'Total World Population' (Kremer series); Kremer 1993, Population Growth and Technological Change: One Million B.C. to 1990, QJE 108(3)

World GDP over a million years Latest: 41k billion 1990 international $ (2000) Source: DeLong 1998, Estimating World GDP, One Million B.C. - Present; Wikipedia: Gross world product (DeLong table, cross-check)