How Muslim Inventors changed the world-3

Ottoman volley gun with 9 barrels, early 16th century.

* Marching band and military band: The marching band and military band both have their origins in the Ottoman military band, performed by the Janissary since the 16th century.

* Horseman's axe: An early type of war hammer that was of Islamic origin. The Tirant lo Blanch in the 15th century maintained that it was "the deadliest weapon when fighting in full armour, when it was hung from a cavalryman's saddle-bow."

Defense

* Adarga: A hard leather shield used originally by the Moors of Islamic Spain. The adarga was a traditional defense employed by the Moorish light horseman who used it along with the lance. Throughout the 14th and 15th centuries the adarga was also used by Spanish Christian soldiers including their own light cavalry (la jineta) some of whom adopted Moorish fighting patterns. The adarga was in widespread use until the 16th century and the progress of firearms.

* Camail: It was used as part of the mighfar, an Islamic helmet. It was in use from the 8th to the 14th century.

* Fireproof clothing: In 1260, Egyptian Mamluk soldiers at the Battle of Ain Jalut wore fireproof clothing to protect themselves from gunpowder fires as well as chemicals in gunpowder warfare. Their clothing consisted of a silk tunic (still worn by Formula One drivers underneath their Nomex fire suits), aketon (from the Arabic al-qutn "the cotton"), and mainly a woolen overtunic that protects against fires and chemical weapons, similar to the clothing worn by modern soldiers for protection against biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. Due to the effectiveness of their fireproof clothing, the Egyptian soldiers were able to attach gunpowder cartridges and incendiary devices to their clothing.

* Short-hemmed and short-sleeved hauberk: The short-hemmed, short-sleeved hauberk is thought to be of Islamic origin. It was usually worn with a mail.

Gunpowder technology

* Abus gun: The Abus gun was an early form of howitzer created by the Ottoman Empire. Abus guns were a significant part of the Ottoman Empire's artillery, and could perhaps even be referred to as the signature piece of artillery during the height of their power, in the 16th and 17th centuries.

* Iron-cased and metal-cylinder rocket artillery: The first iron-cased and metal-cylinder rocket artillery were developed by Tipu Sultan, a Muslim ruler of the South Indian Kingdom of Mysore, and his father Hyder Ali, in the 1780s. He successfully used these metal-cylinder rockets against the larger forces of the British East India Company during the Anglo-Mysore Wars. The Mysore rockets of this period were much more advanced than what the British had seen, chiefly because of the use of iron tubes for holding the propellant; this enabled higher thrust and longer range for the missile (up to 2 km range). After Tipu's eventual defeat in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War and the capture of the Mysore iron rockets, they were influential in British rocket development, inspiring the Congreve rocket, which was soon put into use in the Napoleonic Wars. According to Stephen Oliver Fought and John F. Guilmartin, Jr. in Encyclopædia Britannica (2008): "Hyder Ali, prince of Mysore, developed war rockets with an important change: the use of metal cylinders to contain the combustion powder. Although the hammered soft iron he used was crude, the bursting strength of the container of black powder was much higher than the earlier paper construction. Thus a greater internal pressure was possible, with a resultant greater thrust of the propulsive jet. The rocket body was lashed with leather thongs to a long bamboo stick. Range was perhaps up to three-quarters of a mile (more than a kilometre). Although individually these rockets were not accurate, dispersion error became less important when large numbers were fired rapidly in mass attacks. They were particularly effective against cavalry and were hurled into the air, after lighting, or skimmed along the hard dry ground. Hyder Ali's son, Tippu Sultan, continued to develop and expand the use of rocket weapons, reportedly increasing the number of rocket troops from 1,200 to a corps of 5,000. In battles at Seringapatam in 1792 and 1799 these rockets were used with considerable effect against the British." Tippu Sultan wrote a military manual on his rocket artillery, the Fathul Mujahidin.

* Purified potassium nitrate: Muslim chemists were the first to purify potassium nitrate (saltpetre; natrun or barud in Arabic) to the weapons-grade purity for use in gunpowder, as potassium nitrate needs to be purified to be used effectively. This purification process was first described by Ibn Bakhtawayh in his al-Muqaddimat in 1029. The first complete purification process for potassium nitrate is described in 1270 by the Arab chemist and engineer Hasan al-Rammah of Syria in his book al-Furusiyya wa al-Manasib al-Harbiyya ('The Book of Military Horsemanship and Ingenious War Devices', a.k.a. the Treatise on Horsemanship and Stratagems of War). He first described the use of potassium carbonate (in the form of wood ashes) to remove calcium and magnesium salts from the potassium nitrate. Hasan al-Rammah also describes the purifying of saltpetre using the chemical processes of solution and crystallization, and this was the first clear method for the purification of saltpetre. Bert S. Hall,however, disputes the efficacy of al-Rammah's formula for the purification of potassium nitrate.

See More at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inventions_in_medieval_Islam

Comments