Discuss the political, cultural, and economic characteristics of the abbasid empire.

Politically, the Abbasid's inherited the "dream" of the Umayyads and the bulk of the territory involved. They stood as the ascendant power of Islam and became the powerhouse of the Middle East. Culturally, the consistent struggle was for progress in the face of an "old vs new" ethnic supremacy argument between Arabs and Iranians or other non-Arab peoples. The riches of the spice trade and that of contact with China provided for a solid economic base to support the "Golden Age" the Abbasids created. Unfortunately, constant fracturing and incursion led to their demise by the beginnings of the Renaissance.