140 chapter four
security, urbanisation, and the diversity of agricultural and manu-
facturing products, helped promote trade in the Islamic world. Several
types of commodities were traded: food products, animal stock, tim-
ber and the products of the forest, metals, and textiles, products of
stone and soil, fish and sea food, writing materials, medicinal prod-
ucts, and slaves (Goitein, 1963). Trade routes connected Europe with
the Islamic world mainly via Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and Sicily. The
main commodities that were imported from and exported to Europe
were timber and foodstuffrespectively. Egypt seemed to have enjoyed
a particularly important location on the Indian trade route which
stretched from Indonesia and Samarta in the east, passing through
the ports of the Red Sea and Old Cairo in Egypt, to North Africa
and Spain in the west. As indicated in Cairo Geniza documents,
Old Cairo served as terminus both for the Mediterranean and the
Indian trade (Goitein, 1963). The commodities that came from or
through India and other countries of the Indian Ocean were mainly
spices, though other commodities were also included. In the Geniza
papers, a provisional list of goods coming from the Indian direction
showed that the goods consisted of (Goitein, 1963):
Spices, aromatic, dyeing and vanishing plants and medical herbs (47%),
Brass and bronze vessels (15%),
Indian silk and other textiles made mainly of cotton (10%),
Iron and steel (8%),
Tropical fruits, such as coconuts (7%),
Pearls, beads, cowry shells and ambergris (5%),
Chinese porcelain, Yemenite stone pots and African ivory (4%),
Shoes and other leather-works (3%), and
Timber (1%).The eastbound goods, as shown in the same list, consisted of (ibid.):
Textiles and clothing (35%),
Vessels and ornaments of silver, brass, glass and other materials (22%),
Chemicals, medicaments, soap, paper, books (18%),
Foodstuff, such as cheese, sugar, raisins, olive oil and linseed oil for
lamps (10%),
Household goods, such as carpets, mats, tables, frying pans (7%),
Metals and other ingredients for the copper industry (7%) and
Coral, (1%).This is only an example of one shipment, which is not necessarily
an exhaustive list of the Indian trade. Moreover, short and long dis-
tance routes connected the Islamic provinces internally such as the