INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: MIDDLE EAST (17TH CENTURY) AND AFRICAN

REVOLUTION

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the discussion, the students will be able to:

1. Understand the development of Science and Technology in Middle east (17th Century) and
African Revolution

2. Give value to the contributions of Middle East (17th Century) and African Revolution in the
development of Science and Technology in the society.

3. Create a reflection paper about the contributions of Middle East (17th Century) and African
Revolution in S & T and how does it affects our lives.

TOPIC/DISCUSSION

A. MIDDLE EAST (17TH CENTURY)

Middle East is a term used to describe a geographic location that extends from Egypt to
Afghanistan where Islam however, is a religion of right actions, rules and laws that began in the
7th century and follows the teachings of Muhammad who was believed by Muslims as the
messenger of God. Islam is also an Arabic word meaning “submission to God.” Islamic rules are
symbolized by five obligatory acts or the five pillars of Islam: Witness (Shahada), Worship
(Salat), Fasting (Sawm), Tithing (Zakat) and Piligrimage (Hajj). If the Roman Catholic Church
has the “Bible” Islam on the other hand, also has its holy book called Qur’an (Koran).

People in the Middle East has shared a big part in the development in Science and
Technology and how it has been used in the society. Some of their contributions in geography
were: (1) Salat prayers require knowledge in geography to know the direction of the Qiblah, (e.g.
the direction that should be faced when Muslims pray). It is fixed as the direction of the Kaaba in
the Hejazi, city of Mecca; (2) In 1154, Al Idrisi produced very accurate maps including a world
map that has continents, mountains, rivers and famous cities. Working for eighteen years under
the patronage of the Norman King Roger II Guiscard of Sicily, who gathered scholars from many
regions at his court in Palermo, the Moroccan geographer Al-Idrīsī in 1154 completed a
description and an atlas of maps of the known world. Officially titled Entertainment for those
wanting to discover the world (or A Diversion for the Man Longing to Travel to Far-Off Places),
the text was generally known as The Book of Roger (Arabic: Kitab Rujar) and the maps
as Tabula Rogeriana. According to modern standards, it was the best cartographical work and the
richest source of geographical information produced during the Middle Ages; (3) Al-Muqdishi, a
geographer, also produced an accurate colored map; (4) Muslims are great navigators for the
expedition of other countries. Ferdinand Magellan and Christopher Columbus imported Muslim
navigators during their voyage.
 Their contributions to mathematics were: (1) Muslims invented symbols to express an
unknown quantity. The first recorded zero appeared in Mesopotamia around 3 B.C. The Mayans
invented it independently circa 4 A.D. It was later devised in India in the mid-fifth century,
spread to Cambodia near the end of the seventh century, and into China and the Islamic countries
at the end of the eighth. Zero reached western Europe in the 12th century; (2) Made use of zero
and decimal system; (3) Muhammad ibn-Musa al-Khwarizmi (early 9th century), one of the first
directors of the House of Wisdom, introduced algebra in solving problems. The word
“algorithm” is derived from the Latinization of his name, and the word “algebra” is derived from
the Latinization of “al-jabr”, part of the title of his most famous book, in which he introduced the
fundamental algebraic methods and techniques for solving equations. Al-Khwarizmi’s other
important contribution was algebra, a word derived from the title of a mathematical text he
published in about 830 called “Al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa’l-muqabala” (“The
Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”). Al-Khwarizmi wanted to go
from the specific problems considered by the Indians and Chinese to a more general way of
analyzing problems, and in doing so he created an abstract mathematical language which is used
across the world today.

In terms of Medical contributions: (1) Arabs used cadaver in studying and understanding
human anatomy and physiology. A cadaver is a dead human body that is used by medical
students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine
causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Students in
medical school study and dissect cadavers as a part of their education; (2) Abu Ali al-Husayn Ibn
Abd Allan Ibn Sina or Avicenna (ca. 970-1037) wrote an encyclopedia of medical knowledge.
This work was translated into Latin and was used as a textbook in Europe up to 17th century. A
true polymath with his contributions ranging from medicine, psychology and pharmacology to
geology, physics, astronomy, chemistry and philosophy. He was also a poet, an Islamic scholar
and theologian. His most important contribution to medical science was his famous book Al
Qanun Fi Al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine). This book is an immense five volume encyclopedia
of medicine containing over a million words. It comprises of medical knowledge available from
ancient and Muslim sources. His other major work is “The Book of Healing”, a scientific and
philosophical encyclopedia; (3) Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyyā al-Rāzī (854-925 CE)
spearheaded the construction of the first Islamic Bimaristans (hospital). The Comprehensive
Book on Medicine (Kitab al-Hawi fi al-tibb) -- a large private notebook or commonplace book
into which he placed extracts from earlier authors regarding diseases and therapy and also
recorded clinical cases of his own experience.

B. AFRICAN REVOLUTION

African like other Eastern civilizations, are pioneers of some advancement in science and
technology. They would work independently without any influence of European science. Some
remarkable works of Africans were in the field of mathematics, metallurgy, architecture and
engineering, stormy, medicine and navigation. The remarkable contributions of Africans are the
following: (1) Africans made use of the first method of counting; (2) the modern concepts of
mathematics that is globally accepted and used today in high schools was first developed in
Africa; (3) Use advanced techniques for furnace that made it fuel efficient which was 200 to 400
C, hotter compared to 1600 furnace used by Romans (4) created the building of Zimbabwe and
the 11 interconnected rock hewn, churched of Lalibela which are considered as wonders of the
world; (5) Observation on Sirius A and B by Dogon people (6) Cushitic people used their
knowledge of stars and constellations to calculate an establish an accurate calendar; (6)
Pioneered some medical practice like installation of false teeth, filling dental cavities, broken
bone setting, bone tractions, vaccinations, brain surgery, skin grafting and autopsy; (7) Made use
of plants like the bark of salix capensis as source of aspirin, kaopectate for treating diarrhea and
rauwolfia vomitoria as source of reserpine for hypertension and snakebite; (8) Built boats in
varying sizes with the largest that can carry a load of 80 tons.

REFERENCE/S

STS book

https://www.islamtomorrow.com/science2.asp

http://www.iupui.edu/~msaiupui/contributiontoscinece.htm

https://hssonline.org/resources/teaching/teaching_nonwestern/teaching_nonwestern_africa/

http://www.taneter.org/math.html

https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/science/020113/great-achievements-in-stem-in-ancient-
africa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qibla

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-origin-of-zer/

https://www.answering-islam.org/Science/math.html

https://www.storyofmathematics.com/islamic_alkhwarizmi.html

https://www.famousscientists.org/avicenna/

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/islamic_medical/islamic_06.html

https://slidesgo.com/theme/e-learning