wraithsith's avatar
There has been some recent debate about the contrast between the european and the arabic empires. For one by looking at the archaelogical record, we now think that the dark ages was not as dark as it was once supposed, and the post-roman decline of europe may have been due to the economic warfare of the arabs( which was a form of warfare superior to that of the europeans.) During this time period- water was crucial, it was 25 times cheaper to transport something by water than it was by land. The europeans during this time called the mediterranean- "the islamic lake" due to the muslim dominance over the sea. As the muslims had control over the sea, the economy of europe was crippled.