Islamic Commerce and Finance in the Rise of the West by Prof. John M. Hobson. (Unstructured Quotations)

Eurocentric world history, as already noted, assumes that the rise of commerce was given its decisive thrust by the Europeans, most especially the Italians, after about 1000... What has been generally missed is that it was the East that not only lay at the other end but also played a crucial role in the rise of European trade. For the fact is that European trade was ultimately made possible only by the flow of Eastern goods, which entered Europe mainly via Italy... Because of the importance that Italy is accorded to the European commercial revolution a few points are noteworthy in order to reveal the role of Islam in all of this. In fact, as early as the late-eighth century Italy was linked into various sub-systems of the Afro-Eurasian economy, straddling Europe, Africa and Asia. Indeed, it was Italy’s direct entry point into this wider and lucrative economy that secured her destiny.....In short, while the Italians played a vitally important role in spreading commercialization throughout Christendom, they were not the great commercial pioneers portrayed by Eurocentrism. Indeed, the Italians were at all times dependent upon the terms and conditions laid down by Middle Eastern and North African Muslims... It is generally assumed that a whole series of financial institutions were pioneered by the Italians. The most important innovation we are told was the commenda (or collegantia), that the Italians allegedly invented around the eleventh century...Nevertheless, this should hardly be a revelation given that Mohammed himself had been a commenda merchant. Nor should it be altogether surprising that the Italians came to use this institution given that Italy was directly linked into the Islamic trading system... The Italians are also wrongly accredited with the discovery of a range of other financial institutions including the bill of exchange, credit institutions, insurance and banking. For the fact is that all these institutions were derived from either the Islamic Middle East, or the pre-Islamic Middle East, given that ‘many of the business techniques had been firmly established before the Qu’rān had codified them’. The Sumerians and Sassanids were using banks, bills of exchange and checks before the advent of Islam.... In addition, the Italians are usually attributed with the discovery of advanced accounting systems. But various Eastern accounting systems were also well developed, especially in the Middle East, India and most notably in China. Indeed some of these were probably as efficient as Weber’s celebrated Occidental double-entry method. It is true that the Pisan, Leonardo Fibonacci, living in Tunis, was an important figure within Europe who advanced the Italian accounting system. Yet, as I explain below, he was so only because he had learned of the Eastern knowledge while living in Tunis... Source: The Role of the Arab-Islamic World in the Rise of the West.