Page "Hydraulic engineering" Paragraph 29

Further advances in hydraulic engineering occurred in the Muslim world between the 8th to 16th centuries, during what is known as the Islamic Golden Age.

Of particular importance was the ' water management technological complex ' which was central to the Islamic Green Revolution and, by extension, a precondition for the emergence of modern technology.

The various components of this ' toolkit ' were developed in different parts of the Afro-Eurasian landmass, both within and beyond the Islamic world.

However, it was in the medieval Islamic lands where the technological complex was assembled and standardized, and subsequently diffused to the rest of the Old World.

Under the rule of a single Islamic Caliphate, different regional hydraulic technologies were assembled into " an identifiable water management technological complex that was to have a global impact.

" The various components of this complex included canals, dams, the qanat system from Persia, regional water-lifting devices such as the noria, shaduf and screwpump from Egypt, and the windmill from Islamic Afghanistan.

Other original Islamic developments included the saqiya with a flywheel effect from Islamic Spain, the reciprocating suction pump and crankshaft-connecting rod mechanism from Iraq, the geared and hydropowered water supply system from Syria, and the water purification methods of Islamic chemists.