194. Empire of Numbers: Fibonacci and the Birth of Modern Money

When King Alfonso VI of León took Toledo from the Arabs in 1085, the history of western christendom changed forever. Within the city existed a number of texts full of the ideas that we would call Arabic numerals, but that originated in India. From the libraries of Toledo these were translated and spread through Europe. Enter Fibonacci. A genius Italian mathematician, he instantly recognised the advantages of this number system and so wrote Liber Abaci, distilling these ancient ideas into a Latin text. Once this caught on, it laid the foundation for the modern banking and economic system that underpins the global economy. 

Listen as William and Anita discuss how numerical ideas that originated in India came to prevail across the world.

To buy William's book: https://coles-books.co.uk/the-golden-road-by-william-dalrymple-signed-edition

Twitter: @Empirepoduk

Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com

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Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

Producer: Callum Hill

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

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