Cultural Interactions. The period from 622 to 1500 belongs to an era of intensifying interactions in the Eastern Hemisphere, and Muslim civilization was a major part of the cultural, technological, economic, and social exchanges taking place. During the first two centuries of the period, the rise and spread of Islam brought an infusion of Islamic beliefs and practices into regional and local cultures, significantly influencing daily life in many areas. In the following centuries a recognizable, but diverse, Muslim culture emerged and continued to spread. By the end of the period, political changes had reconfigured the region many times, and it had undergone extensive urbanization despite periods of warfare and other disasters that caused decline in cities. The backdrop of agricultural, pastoral, and urban life remained fairly constant in its basic outlines, but it had been influenced by the spread of urbanization and changes in makeup of the population caused...