History of Aromatherapy – Arabia 800-1200 AD – Africa – Europe Middle Ages 500-1300 AD
Arabia – 800-1200 AD
The Arab’s created advanced methods of chemical and pharmaceutical technology. As well they established extensive trade routes connecting India, China, the Mediterranean, and Indonesia with the Arab world in which spices and aromatic oils were traded and sold as precious commodities. Thus aromatic oils became available to the entire civilized world. It was through the Arabs that the medical knowledge of the Greeks and Romans remained alive. Arabic scientists made improvements in extracting aromatic oils and established a vast amount of research about oils. Between the 7th and 13th centuries, the Arabs produced great men of science, most notably Avicenna, the Great Physician, who is credited with the discovery of the refrigerated coil, a breakthrough in essential oil distillation. The Arabs revived the knowledge and use of aromatic oils and perfumery passed down from previous ages, so that it was not lost.
Africa