Sawad was the name used in early Islamic times (7th–12th centuries) for southern Iraq. It means "black land" or "arable land" and refers to the stark contrast between the alluvial plain of Mesopotamia and the Arabian Desert. … 查看更多內容

The vast, complex systems that emerged during the Sassanid period ultimately made local self-sufficiency impossible. Lack of maintenance on canals could have a strong adverse effect on faraway regions. This made state supervision of the … 查看更多內容

During the Sasanian period, and probably continuing into the Early Islamic period, large-scale industrial operations were carried out even in the countryside, far from the major cities. For example, one newly-dug Sasanian canal in the area north of 查看更多內容

The enormous economic potential of the Sawad is reflected in early Abbasid revenue lists: the Sawad produced four times as much tax revenue as the second-highest … 查看更多內容

The lands of the Sawad were among the most fertile in the Islamic world, but this productivity was almost totally dependent on artificial … 查看更多內容

Ibn Wahshiyya wrote a detailed book on agronomy called Kitab al-filaha al-Nabatiyya, or The Nabataean Agriculture, which … 查看更多內容

In the year 105 AH (723-4 CE), the caliph Yazid II commissioned Umar Ibn Hubayra to undertake a general land survey of the Sawad, in order … 查看更多內容