Download or read book The Islamic World, Russia and the Vikings, 750-900 written by Thomas Schaub Noonan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 1998 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of articles examines the origins and development of early medieval commerce through an analysis of the dirham hoards from European Russia and the Baltic - between 750-900 - when Viking and Rus' merchants took fur and slaves south through European Russia to the markets of Khazaria and the 'Abbasid caliphate. In exchange the merchants were provided with large quantities of silver coins or dirhams, which had a powerful influence on the merchants' home areas with little or no silver of their own. The trade precipitated the Vikings' penetration into the interior of European Russia, fostered the emergence of new towns, provided the original impetus for the formation of the Rus' and Volgar Bulgar states, and helped transform the Khazar economy and state.