History of Camels
Wild camels first originated in North America, and then, before the last Ice Age, they spread from there to East Asia and then across to Afghanistan and Iran and Arabia (and also south to South America where they became llamas and vicunas and alpacas). They became extinct in North America, maybe during the Ice Age.
Camels were domesticated (tamed) long after cows and sheep, maybe about the same time as horses (about 3000 BC). Like horses, they are not as tame and stupid as cows and sheep are.
By the time of the Islamic Empire, there were almost no wild camels (and there still aren't), but people used tame camels all across Africa and Asia, from China to North Africa.
Camels can travel long distances across the desert without needing water, so they were very useful in the Gobi Desert in Asia and in the Sahara Desert in Africa.
But it took a long time to figure out a good pack saddle for camels, so they could carry heavy loads. Because of not having good pack saddles, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans used donkeys more than camels even in the desert. (For instance, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, he rode on a donkey). But around the beginning of the Islamic empire, maybe about 500 AD, somebody in West Asia invented a good pack saddle for camels. After that, people began to use camels as pack animals more and more.
In Africa, beginning around 1000 AD, camels made it possible to cross the Sahara desert, so people could trade between West Africa and North Africa. This started great trade routes which continued to be used up to 1500 AD and later.
Musee Guimet, Paris
Around the same time, people in India began to use camels more, along with the Islamic invasions of India.
And people in China also began to use camel saddles. This statuette (small statue) of a man riding a camel is from the T'ang Dynasty China, about 800-900 AD.
To find out more about camels, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your local library:
Camels, by John Wexo (1999). For kids.
The Camel and the Wheel, by Richard Bulliet (1975). Not for kids, but Bulliet lays out some reasons why camels became more popular around the time that the Islamic Empire was strongest - mainly the invention of a better camel saddle.
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