LOCATOR: home | rundown | episode 2 | legacies Present-Day Legacies Muslims borrowed the Hindu concept of zero and the decimal system, which made Muslim bookkeeping with debits and credits possible. Trade revived in the Mediterranean basin. Jews, often excluded from owning land, became money changers, goldsmiths, or traders transporting goods from European trade fair to trade fair. The Chinese established the practice of hiring a qualified bureaucracy determined by what they knew rather than who they knew. College admissions tests and civil service exams are reminiscent of that 1000 year old tradition. European city-states and the beginnings of nation states marked the beginning of a new era in the West. An extensive knowledge of plants and animals by hunters and gatherers like the Aborigines that is still being used to develop new medicines and conduct other scientific research. Architectural expression such as the medieval cathedrals and the sculpted churches of the Ethiopia are lasting monuments of religious expression exemplifying the period. back to top © 1999 Turner Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved.