[Sca-cooks] Asia to Middle East to Europe
Terry Decker
t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net
Sat Oct 15 15:46:25 PDT 2005
> Ok when to arrive in the ME and when to later catch on later in Europe?
>
> At a guess quat and duran fruit never caught on in Europe :-).
>
> I suggest that yogurt, henna, bananas, coconuts, frequent bathing, gun
> powder, certain medical practices, lenses and eye glasses, faceted gem
> stones, distillation, perfumery, certain board games, true porcelain,
> certain mathematical/accounting concepts, calendar reform and temperance
> caught on significantly later in Europe. I'm just not sure if all of
> these
> came out of Asia first.
>
> Daniel
A few thoughts on Middle Eastern technology transfer:
Quat is contemporaneous with coffee. Coffee proved to be the superior
beverage and won widespread use in the Middle East and Europe.
Durian fruit is tropical and won't grow naturally in Europe. A market
vendor in Coventry was selling it recently and the other vendors complained
that, "the pong...was making them feel ill." Even if they had been able to
grow it in Europe, the local might not like a fruit that smells like a
sewer.
Europeans were introduced to bananas around 325 BCE (see Pliny). However,
bananas do not grow naturally in the European climate. Because they are
extremely perishible they are difficult to transport. There is evidence
that bananas were brought at least once to Tudor England probably, in my
speculation, from the Canary Islands.
Coconuts were probably known in Roman Europe from the Roman spice trade, but
the primary introduction of coconut into Europe is from European ventures
into the Pacific.
Frequent bathing is an open question since there is evidence to support both
regular bathing and lack there of in Europe at different times and places.
However, as Ian Fleming put it, the cleanest people on earth are the
Japanese with their baths and the Americans with their showers and I don't
think either group got it via the Middle East.
The first European reference to gunpowder is in a letter by Roger Bacon of
Oxford (1249). It is unclear whether this was an independent invention or a
formula obtained from elsewhere (possibly directly from the Mongols who
invaded Europe 12 years prior).
Most of Arab medical practice was based upon the work of the Ancient Greeks
and Romans, expanded on, and then returned to Europe via the various schools
of medicine. The spread of medical practice is due more to the ebb and flow
of people around the Mediterranean than a shift from the Middle East west.
The manufacture and shaping of glass lenses for improving vision is usually
considered a Venetian invention.
Shaped stones have been found in archelogical sites all over the world. A
rude form of facetting appeared in India around 400 BCE (which may have been
observed by Alexander's troops). From the 9th to the 12th Centuries the
Persians developed techniques to facet most gemstones. Diamond cutting,
however, is a European practice with the first true diamond cutting
technique dating to late 14th century France.
Distillation was known to the Ancient World both in Europe and the Middle
East. The Arabic contribution to the art was an improved condensing still,
which the Europeans further improved to produce brandy.
The manufacture of perfumes was known to the civilizations of the Ancient
World and while technical improvements may have come from the Middle East,
Europe already produced perfumes.
While I will agree most boardgames got their start in the Middle East, it
was long before the Islamic expansion and most had reached Europe before the
fall of Rome. Chess is the exception, apparently being transferred from
India via the Islamic expansion to the Crusaders in the Levant.
True procelain appears to be a direct import from China with no Middle
Eastern middleman.
Mathematical and accounting concepts and calendar reforms need to be
addressed in specifics. Both the Indians and the Maya had the concept of
zero, but it entered European mathematics via the Moslems. The Italians
developed double entry bookkeeping while calculus was largely developed by
Keplar and Newton. Algebra is an Arabic invention based on Greek and Roman
mathematical philosophy and later refined in Europe.
Temperance was considered a Roman virtue without Middle Eastern influence.
As a generalization, most civilizations developed the idea of temperance
independently. Europe and the Middle East became dominated by Judaic-based
religions, so we have developed similar philosophies of temperance. While
the Christian view of temperance came out of the Middle East, it predates
transfer from Asia via al-Islam.
Bear
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