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Late Antiquity
Muhammad and Charlemagne
The final phase in the transformation of the ancient economy was the coming of Islam. Until the seventh century, we still have strong evidence of commercial contacts between the West and the East. Moreover, in most areas industrial production remained relatively unchanged up to around 700. There were profound shifts in the forms of land ownership, in the system of agricultural slavery, and even to a certain degree in methods of agriculture, but much of the economy of, say, the 4th century was still much the same in the mid-7th century.
The significant economic shift came in the later 7th and 8th century, and it came about largely because of the rise of Islam. By 750 the Muslims had captured North Africa and most of Spain, Sicily, and the Near East up into Turkey. In particular, because they controlled the ports of the Levant, they significantly disrupted trade between the eastern and western portions of the Empire. Until the rise of Islam, contacts between East and West persisted and were regular. After the 8th century, though, contacts were sporadic and comparatively weak.