Iranians exported saffron to many parts of the ancient world and introduced its properties to the Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Semitic peoples, including the Arabs, and taught its cultivation to Islamic nations around the Mediterranean in the first to fourth centuries AH. The first saffron cultivation was established in the Levant by deported Iranians in the time of Mu'awiyah. After that, saffron cultivation became popular in North Africa, Andalusia (Islamic Spain) and Saqqil (Sicily). Iranian tribes such as Rostamian and Benotbari were instrumental in transmitting saffron culture.