At a glance
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
Walk this pathway
9steps · 75min · teacher · student · standard
The Abbasid state
The caliphate passes from Damascus to Iraq in 750, and what changed with it.
The founding of Baghdad
A round city on the Tigris: who planned it and why here.
Harun al-Rashid and al-Ma'mun
Two caliphs at the city's height: court, money, and learning as policy.
The House of Wisdom and the translation movement
From Greek, Persian and Syriac into Arabic: who translated, what, and for whom.
Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom · The Abbasid Translation Movement
Al-Khwarizmi and algebra
A book on solving equations gave a science its name, and Indian numerals enter the Arabic world.
Ibn Sina and medicine
A physician from Bukhara wrote a book taught in Europe for centuries.
Samarqand and Bukhara
The two cities of the road in Central Asia: paper, silk and schools.
A traveller on the road
Ibn Battuta from Morocco to China: what he relates about cities and merchants.
Trade as interaction
What the caravans carried besides goods: ideas, languages, diseases and religions.
What you now know
- I can explain the role of Baghdad and the House of Wisdom in preserving and passing on ancient learning. — 2, 4
- I can name two scientific achievements and show their effect beyond the Muslim world. — 5, 6
- I can weigh the benefits and harms of interaction along the Silk Roads for more than one side. — 7, 8, 9
Mastery check
Five questions on what you walked through. Marked on your device; nothing is kept but the stamp in your passport when you pass.
Marking needs JavaScript; the questions and their key read and print without it.
Answer key (for the teacher)
- In which year did the caliphate pass to the Abbasids? — 750(Learn it at step 1: The Abbasid state)
- From which languages did the House of Wisdom translate? — Greek, Persian and Syriac(Learn it at step 4: The House of Wisdom and the translation movement)
- With which science is al-Khwarizmi's name linked? — Algebra(Learn it at step 5: Al-Khwarizmi and algebra)
- From which city did Ibn Sina come? — Bukhara(Learn it at step 6: Ibn Sina and medicine)
- What did the caravans carry along the Silk Roads besides goods? — Ideas, languages and diseases(Learn it at step 9: Trade as interaction)
Tell it back
Tell what you learned in your own words. What you write stays on this device only, and no one else reads it.
- I can explain the role of Baghdad and the House of Wisdom in preserving and passing on ancient learning.
- I can name two scientific achievements and show their effect beyond the Muslim world.
- I can weigh the benefits and harms of interaction along the Silk Roads for more than one side.
Writing here needs JavaScript; the prompts read and print without it.
Write at least two sentences, or tick that you told it, to earn the stamp in your passport.
Overview
A CHW3M pathway on Baghdad in its golden century and the network of routes that linked it to Samarqand, Bukhara and China: the city, the House of Wisdom and the translation movement, al-Khwarizmi and Ibn Sina, and the trade that carried paper, learning and people.
For the teacher
Seventy-five minutes. The nine steps form three stations (the city, the learning, the road) that groups rotate through. The museum has no Silk Roads map yet; use the classroom map.
Sources
- The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: Canadian and World Studies (2015)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Abbasid Baghdad and the Silk Roads”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/exhibits/pathway-g11-chw3m-baghdad-and-the-silk-roads/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.