Illustrative Example (p 78) – European technological developments influenced by cultural interactions with the Classical, Islamic, and Asian worlds
Astrolabes were very ancient astronomical computers for solving problems relating to time and the position of the Sun and stars in the sky. They were further developed in the medieval Islamic world, where Muslim astronomers introduced angular scales to the astrolabe, adding circles indicating azimuths on the horizon. It was widely used throughout the Muslim world, chiefly as an aid to navigation and as a way of finding the Qibla, the direction of Mecca.
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