A Short History of the Saracens: Being a Concise Account of the Rise and Decline of the Saracenic Power and of the Economic, Social and Intellectual and the Expulsion of the Moors from Spain

Of all the older nations that have carried their arms across vast continents, that have left ineffaceable marks of their achievements on the pages of history, and enriched the world of thought by their discoveries and speculations, the Saracens stand to us the closes in time. Modern Europe is still working with the legacy they left behind, with the intellectual wealth they stored for their successors.It is therefore, a matter of regret that in the west a knowledge of their history should be more or less confined to specialists; whilst in India, a country which was at one time peculiar subject to the influence of their civilisation, it should be almost unknown. Much of this no doubt is due to the absence of a proper work on the subject.In order to prove attractive and interesting, a history of the Saracens should contain not merely a description of their military successes, but also tell us something of their inner life and their social and economic development. This book contains just that and more.It also contains a concise account of the rise and decline of the Saracenic power and of the economic, social and intellectual development of the Arab nation. From the earliest times to the destruction of Baghdad, and the expulsion of the moors from Spain.Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to people who inhabited the deserts near the Roman province of Syria and who were distinct from Arabs. The term was later applied to Arab peoples and by the time of European chroniclers during the time of the Crusades came to be synonymous for Muslim.