Searching for the roots of knowledge

Searching for the roots of knowledge

From prized horses and exotic plants to luxury fabrics and literature, eastern style took Europe by storm four hundred years ago. In the 17th century, leading western thinkers had rejected the theoretical ideas and methods of the recent European past. Instead, they adopted a new approach based on experiment and scientific observation, and therefore searched for manuscripts in Arabic and Persian, travelled east and even learned Arabick languages.