Key Stage 2 history · World history

KS2 Early Islamic civilization and Baghdad: a guide for parents

Early Islamic civilization, including a study of Baghdad around AD 900, is one of three options that primary schools can choose for the non-European society that contrasts with British history. Children learn how a new city on the River Tigris became one of the biggest in the world and a centre of learning, trade and invention, and compare it with life in Britain in the same period.

Early Islamic civilization and Baghdad, explained

The curriculum asks every pupil to study one non-European society that provides contrasts with British history. Schools choose from early Islamic civilization (with a study of Baghdad around AD 900), the Maya around AD 900, or Benin in West Africa from AD 900 to 1300. If your child is studying Baghdad, the aim is to understand a very different society at the same time as Anglo-Saxon and Viking Britain. Around AD 900, King Alfred’s son Edward ruled the Anglo-Saxons in southern England, while Vikings controlled much of the north and east. At the same time, the Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad were, at least in name, at the head of a vast empire stretching from North Africa to Central Asia.

The background is the rise of Islam in the 600s AD. Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad received revelations from God, which were gathered as the Qur’an, and within a century Muslim rule had spread across the Middle East and beyond. Teachers describe Islam respectfully and factually: what Muslims believe, and how mosques, prayer and the Qur’an shaped daily life. In AD 762, the caliph al-Mansur founded Baghdad on the River Tigris, in present-day Iraq. He chose a spot good for trade, and had the city built in a circle, which is why it was known as the Round City. By AD 900, Baghdad had grown into one of the largest cities in the world.

Baghdad was a city of merchants, craftworkers, officials and scholars, linked by river and caravan routes to China, India, Africa and Europe. Paper-making had reached the Islamic world from China, and paper made books cheaper than parchment. Rulers paid scholars to collect and translate books from Greek, Persian, Sanskrit and Syriac into Arabic. The House of Wisdom is the best known of these libraries and centres of study, though historians are still working out exactly how it operated. Scholars of different faiths took part; for example, a Christian physician called Hunayn ibn Ishaq was a famous translator.

Many ideas and achievements are linked to this period. The mathematician al-Khwarizmi wrote a book on solving equations, and the word “algebra” comes from the Arabic “al-jabr” in its title, while “algorithm” comes from his name. Scholars carried the number system we use today, with its zero, from India to the Middle East and on to Europe, which is why it is called Hindu-Arabic. Physicians, astronomers and engineers also made advances. Schools usually pick a few of these for children to study in some depth.

Children are expected to note connections, contrasts and trends and use historical terms such as caliph, empire and trade. They will also be asked questions about change, cause, similarity and difference. For example, they might ask why Baghdad grew so quickly, or how it differed from English towns around AD 900. It also helps to remember that the golden age of Baghdad was not the whole story of the Islamic world, which was large, varied and continued to change after AD 900.

Words your child will hear

Caliph: The ruler of the Islamic empire, who was both a political and a religious leader.
Abbasid: The family of caliphs who came to power in AD 750 and ruled, mostly from Baghdad, until 1258.
Mosque: A building where Muslims gather to pray.
Qur’an: The holy book of Islam.
Scholar: A person who studies and writes about subjects such as science, medicine or religion.
Translation: Putting a text from one language into another.
Trade route: A regular path along which merchants carry goods between places.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 2 says:

Pupils should be taught about a non-European society that provides contrasts with British history – one study chosen from: early Islamic civilization, including a study of Baghdad c. AD 900; Mayan civilization c. AD 900; Benin (West Africa) c. AD 900-1300
Pupils should note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms.
Pupils should regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

A model answer: why a centre of learning?

Enquiry question: Why did Baghdad become such an important centre of learning by AD 900?

Think of causes. A cause is something that helped bring about a result. Gather possible causes: location, wealth from trade, paper, support from rulers, and the translation of earlier books.
Add evidence for each cause. Location: Baghdad stood on the Tigris, near routes linking Asia, Africa and Europe. Paper: it made books cheaper and easier to copy. Rulers: caliphs paid for scholars and libraries.
Group the causes into long-term (the spread of paper, the growth of the empire) and short-term (rulers paying for translation in the late 700s and 800s).
Decide which cause mattered most and say why. Trade and rulers’ money mattered because they paid for everything else, such as paper, scholars and libraries.
Write the paragraph, joining the causes with “because”, “as a result” and “this led to”.

Baghdad became an important centre of learning by AD 900 for several connected reasons. It stood on the River Tigris, on trade routes that brought wealth and ideas from many places. Paper, learned from China, made books cheaper, and caliphs paid scholars to translate and write them. As a result, people of different backgrounds could study together and build on earlier knowledge. The most important cause was the wealth from trade and the support of rulers, because without money for paper, libraries and scholars, the other causes could not have worked.

Common mistakes and how to help

Thinking every scholar in Baghdad was a Muslim Arab

Children assume that a city’s culture comes from just one group, and a society named after a religion can sound like a single community.

What helps: Explain that Baghdad’s scholars included Muslims, Christians and Jews, working in Arabic. Look at a map of where the translated books came from.

“Arabic numbers were invented by the Arabs.”

The name “Arabic numerals” suggests that they were created in Arabia.

What helps: The number system, including zero, began in India. Scholars in the Islamic world used it, explained it clearly and passed it on, which is why historians call it Hindu-Arabic.

Believing Britain was backward and Baghdad was modern, or the reverse

Contrast topics can slip into ranking societies as better or worse.

What helps: Ask what each society was good at, and what it needed. The aim is to describe differences in size, trade, learning and daily life, not to give marks.

Treating the “House of Wisdom” as a single famous school with a clear history

Books and websites often describe it very confidently.

What helps: Explain that historians are still debating exactly what it was. It is a good example of the point that knowledge about the past is constructed from limited sources.

How to help at home

Make a round-city plan. Draw Baghdad as a circle with a palace and mosque in the middle, then draw your own street or town. Talk about why the planners chose a circle and how a town grows without a plan.
Find the Arabic words in English. Look for words that came from Arabic, such as algebra, algorithm, sugar, cotton, magazine and coffee. Looking up where a word comes from shows how trade carries ideas.
Mark trade routes on a map. On a world map, draw lines from Baghdad to China, India, Africa and Europe. Ask what goods might travel each way, such as silk, spices, paper and glass.
Compare two places in AD 900. Make a two-column chart for Baghdad and an Anglo-Saxon town. Under headings such as size, buildings, trade and books, fill in what you find from the library.

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: A significant society in world history