Who were the Saracens?
A Mahommedan nation, occupying a portion of what is now called Arabia. They extended their conquests over a large portion of Asia, northern Africa, and Spain. Their name is derived from the word Sara, a desert.
What effect had the Fall of the Roman Empire on Navigation?
The fall of the Roman empire not only drew along with it its learning and the polite arts, but also the art of navigation; the Barbarians, into whose hands the empire fell, contenting themselves with enjoying the spoils of those whom they had conquered, without seeking to follow their example in the cultivation of those arts and that learning which had rendered Rome and its empire so famous.
What other people, about this period, distinguished themselves in the art of Navigation?
The Saracens or Arabians, whose fleets now rode triumphant in the Mediterranean; they had taken possession of Cyprus, Rhodes, and many of the Grecian islands, and extended their commerce and their discoveries in the East, far beyond the utmost knowledge of their ancestors.
What other circumstance also prevented commercial intercourse from ceasing altogether?
Constantinople, though often threatened by the fierce invaders, who spread desolation over Europe, was so fortunate as to escape their destructive rage. In this city, the knowledge of ancient arts and discoveries was preserved; and commerce continued to flourish there, when it was almost extinct in every other part of Europe.
Desolation, destruction, ruin.