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IMC 2016: Sessions

Session 520: Elite Investments in Agriculture and Irrigation in the Early Islamic Empire

Tuesday 5 July 2016, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:European Research Council Project 'The Early Islamic Empire at Work: The View From the Regions Toward the Center', Universität Hamburg
Organiser:Hannah-Lena Hagemann, European Research Council Project 'The Early Islamic Empire at Work', Universität Hamburg
Moderator/Chair:Stefan Heidemann, Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg
Paper 520-aEstates, Agricultural Development, and Elites in Early Islamic Khurāsān
(Language: English)
Ahmad Khan, Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg
Index terms: Economics - General, Islamic and Arabic Studies, Social History
Paper 520-bInvestments in Irrigation by Local and Regional Elites in Early Islamic Fārs
(Language: English)
Peter Verkinderen, Asien-Afrika-Institut, Universität Hamburg
Index terms: Administration, Economics - Rural, Islamic and Arabic Studies, Social History
Paper 520-cAgriculture and Elites in the Early Islamic Jazīra
(Language: English)
Hannah-Lena Hagemann, European Research Council Project 'The Early Islamic Empire at Work', Universität Hamburg
Index terms: Administration, Economics - General, Islamic and Arabic Studies, Social History
Abstract

The interplay of social, political, economic, military, administrative, and climatic aspects influenced and determined the cultivation of land, production of foodstuffs, and proliferation of new crops in the early Islamic Empire. These factors are also reflected in diverse settlement patterns, conflicts over land use, and forms of levying taxes. Investments in agriculture and irrigation in the fertile regions of the Islamic Empire determined the economic standing of regional and imperial elites, and with this their negotiations over social and political power, during the various phases of the empire’s early history in the 7th-10th centuries.