The Feeding of the five Hundred Thousand: Cities and Agriculture in Early Islamic Mesopotamia

Abstract

This paper discusses the impact of the foundation of major cities in Mesopotamia in the early Islamic period ( c. 636-900 CE) and their impact on the agricultural economy and rural settlement in the area. It considers the potential agricultural productivity of the area, the availability of river transport, the fiscal structure of the early Islamic state and the way in which it created demand for foodstuffs, and the development of the qaṭī c a as a form of landholding which provided security of tenure and hence the encouragement of long-term investment in agricultural infrastructure.