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A historical and cultural entity dispersed across a wide geographical area under the administrative, intellectual, social, and cultural domination of the Arab empire. The Arab world, under the impetus of Islam, by the eighth century A.D., extended from Arabia in the Middle East to all of northern Africa, southern Spain, Sardinia, and Sicily. Close contact was maintained with Greek and Jewish culture. While the principal service of the Arabs to medicine was the preservation of Greek culture, the Arabs themselves were the originators of algebra, chemistry, geology, and many of the refinements of civilization. (From A. Castiglioni, A History of Medicine, 2d ed, p260; from F. H. Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th ed, p126)