The Conquerors, Aware Of The Importance Of The Indian Commerce, And Of The Advantages Which The Tigris And Euphrates Afforded For This Purpose, Very Soon After Their Conquest, Founded The City Of Bassora:

A place, which, from its situation midway between the junction and the mouth of these rivers, commands the trade and navigation of Persia.

It soon rose to be a great commercial city; and its inhabitants, directing their principal attention and most vigorous enterprize to the East, soon pushed their voyages beyond Ceylon, and brought, directly from the place of their growth or manufacture, many of those articles which hitherto they had been obliged or content to purchase in that island. Soon after the conquest of Persia was completed, the Caliph Omar directed that a full and accurate survey and description, of the kingdom should be made, which comprehended the inhabitants, the cattle, and the fruits of the earth.

The conquest of Syria added comparatively little to the commerce of the Arabians; but in the account which is given of this enterprize, we are informed of a large fair, which was annually held at Abyla, between Damascus and Heliopolis, where the produce and manufactures of the country were collected and sold. In the account given of the conquest of Jerusalem by the Arabians, we have also an account of another fair held at Jerusalem, at which it is probable the goods brought from India by Bassora, the Euphrates, and the caravans, were sold. As soon as the conquest of the western part of Syria was completed, the Arabians took advantage of the timber of Libanus, and of the maritime skill of the Phoenicians, which even yet survived: they fitted out a fleet of 1,700 barks, which soon rode triumphant in the Mediterranean. Cyprus, Rhodes, and the Cyclades, were subdued, and Constantinople itself was attacked, but without effect.

The conquest of Egypt, however, was of the most importance to the Arabian commerce, and therefore more especially demands our notice. - "In their annals of conquest," as Gibbon remarks, "the siege of Alexandria is perhaps the most arduous and important enterprize. The first trading city in the world was abundantly replenished with the means of subsistence and defence." But the Saracens were bold and skilful; the Greeks timid and unwarlike; and Alexandria fell into the possession of the disciples of Mahomet. As soon as the conquest of Egypt was completed, its administration was settled, and conducted on the most wise and liberal principles. In the management of the revenue, taxes were raised, not by the simple but oppressive mode of capitation, but on every branch from the clear profits of agriculture and commerce. A third part of these taxes was set apart, with the most religious exactness, to the annual repairs of the dykes and canals. At first, the corn which used to supply Constantinople was sent to Medina from Memphis by camels; but Omrou, the conqueror of Egypt, soon renewed the maritime communication "which had been attempted or achieved by the Pharaohs, the Ptolemies, or the Caesars; and a canal, at least eighty miles in length, was opened from the Nile to the Red Sea.

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