Sawad
Sign in to save250px|thumb|Map of the Sawad ("Irak") under the Abbasid Caliphate Sawad was the name used in early Islamic times (7th–12th centuries) for southern Iraq. It means "black land" or "arable land" and refers to the stark contrast between the alluvial plain of Mesopotamia and the Arabian Desert. Under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, it was an official political term for a province encompassing most of modern Iraq except for the Syrian Desert and Upper Mesopotamia in the north.
Article
39 sectionsContents
- Geography
- Climate
- Challenges to agriculture
- History
- Background
- Sasanian
- Islamic
- Irrigation
- Canals
- Weirs
- Mechanical irrigation
- Upkeep and administration
- Agriculture
- Major crops
- Wheat and barley
- Rice
- Other cereals
- Textile crops: cotton, flax, and hemp
- Dates
- Grapes
- Citrus
- Other fruits
- Herbs
- Other crops
- Soil replenishment
- Animal husbandry
- Industry
- Taxation
- Types of taxes
- Kharaj
- 'Ushr
- Jizya
- Hadaya
- Muqasama
- Administrative divisions
- Society
- Sources
- Notes
- References
250px|thumb|Map of the Sawad ("Irak") under the Abbasid Caliphate Sawad was the name used in early Islamic times (7th–12th centuries) for southern Iraq. It means "black land" or "arable land" and refers to the stark contrast between the alluvial plain of Mesopotamia and the Arabian Desert. Under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, it was an official political term for a province encompassing most of modern Iraq except for the Syrian Desert and Upper Mesopotamia in the north.
As a generic term in Arabic, sawād () was used to denote the irrigated and cultivated areas in any district. Unmodified, it always referred to southern Iraq, the sawād of Baghdad. It replaced the earlier and more narrow term Rādhān.