This booklet, designed to provide educational materials on Arab history and culture, describes the contributions of Islamic civilization to western civilization. To be Arab, like American, was and is a cultural trait rather than a racial mark. To be Arab meant to be from the Arabic speaking world of common traditions, customs, and values shaped by a single and unifying language. The Arab civilization brought together Muslims, Christians, and Jews. It unified Arabians, Africans, Berbers, Egyptians, and many other peoples. The tensions of this mixing and meeting of peoples produced a vibrant and dynamic new civilization. The years between the seventh and thirteenth centuries mark a period in history when culture and learning flourished in the Islamic empire from Spain and North Africa, through Southern Europe, to India in the east. The Arab world enhanced and developed the arts and sciences and preserved the libraries of the early centuries of the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine cultures while Europe was in the depths of the Dark Ages. From this period of Arab influence, new words such as orange, sugar, coffee, sofa, satin, and algebra filtered into the languages of Europe. New discoveries were made in the sciences and arts that improved life and living conditions. Thousands of Arab contributions have become an integral part of human civilization. The development of the zero and algebra changed mathematics forever. Knowledge of contagion in the study of disease was a major breakthrough in medicine. The intense trade and resulting wealth of the period led to developments in architecture, navigation, and geography. (DK)