Economy and Trade in the Medieval Islamic World.

After Muhammad died early in the seventh century, Islam spreadquickly throughout the Arabian Peninsula and beyond and created a hugeempire. Over the centuries, this empire broke apart into different rivalMuslim states, but the Islamic culture continued to flourish in the MiddleEast, North Africa, and Southern Europe. During the time period betweenthe Dark Ages and the Renaissance, a number of the world's largest andmost prosperous cities existed in this region, supported by a strongagricultural and trade-based economy. In the early days of Islam, thegoverning system turned the Indo-European aristocracy into a militaryempire that was bureaucratic, ruling and taxing through the land. It was nota case of distributing land ownership. The tax rate ranged from 25% to 50%,besides this, there were also quotas on goods, particularly for militaryusage. An export duty of around 10% was also there. The Mongol conquestsin the 13th century caused the rise of many smaller states and this systemdid not survive. During medieval times, trade had a great world influence.Valuable goods travelled through the trade routes and the elite consumedthese good or exchanged these goods with local products. In this way, italtered the pattern of production. For instance, English wool helped furtherdevelop Venice and Japan traded precious metals for food with China dueto lack of food. Ibn Khaldun observed how luxury goods, like spices,transformed how society interacted economically.