The House of Wisdom and the medieval world

Ages 9 to 12 Read alone or together · about 40 minutes

Read together

From about 500 to 1500, called the medieval period, great learning grew in many places, not only in Europe. In Baghdad, in the 800s, scholars gathered in a centre often called the House of Wisdom. They translated Greek, Persian and Indian books into Arabic and added their own discoveries. The mathematician al-Khwarizmi wrote about solving equations. The word “algebra” comes from his book's title.

In West Africa, the empire of Mali grew rich from gold and salt. In 1324, its king Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca with so much gold that prices in Cairo were affected. The city of Timbuktu became known for its scholars and its libraries of manuscripts.

In China, people made paper, printed with carved blocks, and used the magnetic compass. In Ethiopia, Christians carved churches out of rock at Lalibela. Medieval Europe had monasteries that copied books, and its first universities.

Do it

1. Draw a world map and mark Baghdad, Timbuktu, Beijing, Lalibela and Bologna. Add one fact about each.
2. Do an “al-jabr” puzzle: if x + 3 = 10, what is x? Explain how you balanced both sides.
3. Look at pictures of Timbuktu manuscripts and write why books were so valued.
4. Compare: what did different civilisations learn from each other?

Talk about it

• Why did scholars translate books from other languages?
• How did trade help spread ideas?

For the grown-up

The medieval period is often called the “Dark Ages” in Europe, but this misses the great learning elsewhere and in Europe too. Historians debate how formal the House of Wisdom was, but the translation movement in Baghdad is well documented. Mansa Musa's 1324 pilgrimage is described in several sources from the time.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• Dimitri Gutas, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early ʿAbbāsid Society (Routledge, 1998)
• Jonathan Lyons, The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization (Bloomsbury, 2009)
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre, “Timbuktu” (inscribed 1988)
• Nehemia Levtzion, Ancient Ghana and Mali (Methuen, 1973)

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.