Agriculture

Spain shared in the agricultural revolution of the Medieval period, which brought many new crops under intense cultivation. In fact, Al-Andalus was one of the centers of that agricultural revolution. Food and fiber crops such as rice, sugar cane, sweet oranges and hard wheat for bread and pasta were introduced into Spain from farther east, along with the migration of farmers and transfer of irrigation technologies. Agriculture and gardening flourished in Muslim Al-Andalus. Its crops of oranges, almonds, and other fine foods enriched the tables and poetry of Europe. Oranges, lemons, and limes would not be the popular fruit they are without Spain. Figs were another important fruit brought to Spain by Muslims. The best figs were grown in Malaga, where they were exported to various parts of the world. Sugar was produced and refined on a large scale, and played a part in the development of fine cuisine and fancy desserts. The taste for sugar entered Europe from Spain and from European contact during the Crusades.

Cotton was an essential non-food crop that made the textile industry possible, and its cultivation in Spain was responsible for cotton’s spread to the New World. This extensive crop was made possible by the intelligence and superiority of the irrigation system in Muslim Spain. Spanish agricultural books describe these technologies and comprehensive knowledge about cultivation.

Ibn Bassal was an original scientist and engineer who lived in Toledo and wrote about agriculture. He described different types of soil and stated how often each should be plowed and irrigated to get the best yields. He described how to best engineer hydraulic systems made up of wells, ditches, and pumps. Other agricultural writers include ibn al-Awwam, Abul Khair, al-Ishbili, and al-Tignari of Granada. Their writings talked about the sophisticated techniques such as grafting fruit trees, sugar-making, and preservation of fruits and vegetables.

Islamic Spain has had a major long lasting influence on the development of agriculture throughout the world. Sugar cane, cotton and rice were key crops that the Spanish and Portuguese carried to the New World after the end of Muslim rule. In the New World, these crops were grown on a large scale in plantations using African slave labor. French, British and Dutch colonists gained great wealth from their possessions in the Caribbean. Without these cash crops, colonization of the New World by Europeans would not have been such an economic success. These global cash crops and several others that came to the attention of Europeans through trade and migration from Muslim lands were coffee, tea, bananas, and vegetables such as spinach and asparagus.