kengr

I have a book, somewhere, whose title and author I can't remember. It talks about how the Arabs took what the Greeks and Romans brought to Africa (mostly in the Greek conquest and rule of Egypt) and what the ancient Egyptians knew, combined that with knowledge their traders were bringing from India and the rest of that part of the world, and created the basics of science. Then had fundamentalist religious groups rise in influence and stop any further development cold. The Europeans - partly due to books looted or purchased during the Crusades - then took the knowledge home and ran with it. Interestingly, the Crusades were largely ended by conservatives in both regions disliking (to put it mildly) the exchange of ideas which was taking place. (There's some exaggeration above for effect and simplification.)