Sicily was under Arab rule for about two hundred years, from 827 to 1072. During the Arab rule, the island enjoyed a period of economic and cultural prosperity. New cultivation techniques were introduced, water resources were rationalized, mosques were built (it is not by chance that Palermo, the seat of the Emir, is referred to as the city of three hundred mosques), the monetary system was renewed, thanks to the introduction of the gold dinar and the silver dirhem , and literature, art, philosophy and poetry were promoted. The Arabs, who tried to maintain a degree of religious tolerance, divided Sicily into three large administrative seats: Val di Mazara, Val di Noto and Val Demone.
