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'Umar and the Caliphs who followed him rapidly extended the Muslim empire from the Pillars of Hercules to Calicut. In the midst of a dark and stagnant world there sprang up as if by magic a brilliant civilization. In 760 A.D. its rulers moved their capital from Damascus to Baghdad and founded.. a city which became at once a world centre of culture and commerce, and so remained for five centuries.. Schools and universities were founded.. Great works were produced on all manner of subjects; great libraries were collected containing hundreds of thousands of volumes.. Dictionaries, lexicons and encyclopaedias on a vast scale were prepared..
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