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Alchemy in the medieval Islamic world
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<p>Alchemy in the medieval Islamic world refers to both traditional <a href="/facts/Alchemy/CEx0U1Em">alchemy</a> and early practical <a href="/facts/Chemistry/SrNqkGVm">chemistry</a> (the early chemical investigation of nature in general) by <a href="/facts/Science_in_medieval_Islam/ajn0zRSc">Muslim scholars</a> in the medieval <a href="/facts/Islamic_world/n9vVGogr">Islamic world</a>. The word <i>alchemy</i> was derived from the <a href="/facts/Arabic/A1e66hVV">Arabic</a> word الكيمياء (<i>al-kīmyāʾ</i>), which itself <a href="/facts/Chemistry_(etymology)/rIWLPPJt">may derive</a> either from the <a href="/facts/Egyptian_language/mSqys6jC">Egyptian</a> word <i>kemi</i> ('black') or from the <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek/LIK7NlUh">Greek</a> word <i>khumeia</i> ('fusion'). </p><p>After the fall of the <a href="/facts/Western_Roman_Empire/PkeT92o9">Western Roman Empire</a> and the Islamic conquest of <a href="/facts/Roman_Egypt/P1wkcTmv">Roman Egypt</a>, the focus of alchemical development moved to the <a href="/facts/Caliphate/qQ6hCspe">Caliphate</a> and the <a href="/facts/Islamic_Golden_Age/yAeG2rBA">Islamic civilization</a>. </p>