Invention & Innovation in Baghdad 900AD | History of Early Civilisations | BBC Teach

Through this popular reality TV parody, children gain an insight into early Islamic inventions...

Through this popular reality TV parody, children gain an insight into early Islamic inventions.

Harun Al-Rashid, Fatima, Usma and Al-Buruni form the panel of steely potential investors with dinar to present to Muslim inventors, if they can impress the panel with their products.

The products are real Muslim innovations circa AD900.

They include innovations in jewellery:

Al-Khwārizmī, the Persian mathematician, astronomer, geographer and scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad with his a decimal counting system set to influence world mathematics.

Al-Rāzī, a Persian polymath, physician, alchemist, philosopher, and important figure in the history of medical science, who presents his ground-breaking surgical ideas including early anaesthesia.

Contrasts are made with British civilisation at the time.

This clip is from the BBC series History of Early Civilisations – Islam. Through parodies of reality TV shows, this series introduces different aspects of life in the Islamic Golden Age, circa AD900.

Suitable for teaching History at KS2 and KS3 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 2nd/3rd Level in Scotland.