Feudal Society: The Dark Ages

• The "Dark Age" in Western European history spanned from 500 AD to 1000 AD, marked by the decline of civilization due to internal issues like the division of the Roman Empire, and external invasions by Germanic tribes in the 5th century.
• The invasions during the Dark Ages caused the decline of Greco-Roman civilization, rural societies, decreased city populations, and established feudalism as the socio-economic and political order.
• Churches, castles, and palaces were constructed, chivalry practiced by knights, and warfare among rulers and lords was common which led to the rise of feudal society.

Feudal Society

• From 500 to 1500, a new socio-political system called feudalism developed in Western Europe, where the ruling class comprised kings, nobles, knights, and the higher clergy.
• The vassalage system in feudalism connected a higher lord to a lower lord, where the higher lord granted a fief (land) to the lower lord.
• Feudalism was a system of holding land in exchange for service, with the basic units being manors (villages) where the manorial lord held political, judicial, and military power over the peasants.
• The majority of Western European society consisted of peasants, craftsmen, and traders, who lacked political and economic power, with the Roman Catholic Church overseeing religious, educational, and cultural affairs.

Byzantine Empire

• The Byzantine Empire, or East Roman Empire, continued after the fall of its Western counterpart, with its capital in Constantinople (modern Istanbul) and its official language being Greek.
• The Orthodox Church officially split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1054.
• The Byzantine Empire's economy was based on agriculture, trade, and crafts, and Byzantine architecture featured domes and colored glass.
• Society was divided into estates: the emperor, the higher clergy, the nobility (landowners), and the peasants (cultivators).
• Under Emperor Justinian (r. 527-565), the Byzantine Empire reached its peak in territory and power.
• In the 1040s, the Seljuk Turks attacked the Byzantine Empire, which led to the Crusades being declared in 1096 AD as a Christian's war against the Seljuk Turks to reclaim Jerusalem.
• The Byzantine Empire was defeated at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, resulting in the loss of most of Asia Minor to Seljuk Turkish and later Ottoman Turkish rulers.

The Rise and Expansion of Islam

• Islam originated in the Arabian Peninsula around 610 AD through the teachings of Prophet Mohammed in Mecca.
• Islam means "submission to the will of Allah (God)", and followers of Islam are called Muslims.
• The Quraysh Arabs opposed Islam and attacked Muslims.
• Hijira refers to Prophet Mohammed's flight from Mecca to Medina to escape the Quraysh's attacks.
• After Prophet Mohammed's death in 632 AD, Islam spread through caliphates, with Abubakar, Omar, Ottman, and Ali as the caliphs.
• Islam further expanded across Asia, Europe, and Africa through the Ummyad and Abassid dynasties, as well as Seljuk and Ottoman Turks.

Expansion of the Ottoman Empire

• The Ottoman Empire originated in modern-day Turkey, thus known as the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
• The empire captured Anatolia in 1336, which became its capital, Adrianople (1356), and Salonika (1387) and defeated the Serbs in 1389 and Bulgarians in 1393.
• The Balkan region, including Greece, was conquered by the Ottoman Turks.
• Constantinople was conquered by the Ottomans in 1453, renamed Istanbul, and made the empire's capital.
• Syria in 1516 and Eqypt in 1517 were conquered by the Ottomans.
• In 1529, Europeans successfully defended in Vienna, the capital of Austria, from a Turkish attack.

Dynastic Cycle in China

• The Chinese civilization significantly influenced other East Asian countries, especially Korea and Japan.
• Chinese rulers derived their legitimacy from the Mandate of Heaven, linking political power with moral authority.
• Dynasties were believed to lose this mandate if they failed to govern effectively and justly, leading to their downfall and replacement by new ones.
• The Dynastic Cycle explains the rise and fall of dynasties through stages, including the rise of a strong leader, the dynasty's peak, decline from corruption, and fall due to lost mandate.
• China saw a long succession of imperial dynasties, from the Qin to the Qing, until a revolution in 1911/1912.

Development of Early Capitalism

• Capitalism is an economic system where private individuals or businesses own and control the means of production, such as factories, land, and resources.
• The differences between feudalism and capitalism are that capitalism accumulated capital and focused on investment in productive enterprises.
• The revival of towns and cities as production and exchange centers helped develop early capitalism and Italian cities like Venice, Genoa, and Florence were examples.
• Long-distance trade sped up the capitalist economy, but merchants faced challenges such as transport difficulties, war, robbery, and heavy taxes.

The Age of Explorations and Discoveries

• During the medieval period, European knowledge was limited to Europe, North Africa, and West Asia.
• Exploration was initiated because the Ottomans blockaded old trade routes from Europe to the Far East.
• The Age of Exploration was driven by European interest in luxury goods, geographic knowledge, inventions like the compass, and leadership from figures, such as Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal and Queen Isabella of Spain.
• Bartolommeo Diaz became the first European mariner to round the southern tip of Africa in 1488, showing the way for a sea route from Europe to Asia.
• Christopher Columbus, serving Spain, attempted to find a trade route to Asia but landed in "West Indies"
• Amerigo Vespucci named the newly discovered areas "America"

Viscose da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan

• Viscose da Gama sailed from Lisbon in 1497 to reach India by sea, passing the Cape of Good Hope and stopping in East Africa before reaching Calicut, India in May 1498.
• Ferdinand Magellan set sail in 1519 to find the Spice Islands, resulting in the first circumnavigation of the world.
• Only ship with 18 men arrived in Spain in 1522.
• The New World conquered and become colonies of the European powers.
• Economically, Europeans gained huge profits from local trade networks, which enhanced the globalizing process.
• Renaissance was an intellectual movement and the word renaissance indicates the “rebirth “of learning.

Renaissance Characteristics

• Began in the 14th century and ended in the 17th cenutry.
• Began in Italy then spread to England, France, Germany, Spain and Holland.
• Renaissance Italy was an urban society, marked by recovery from the disasters of the fourteenth century.
• A new view of human beings emerged, emphasizing individual ability.
• Study of ancient Rome and Greek, supported freedom of thought, used vernacular languages instead of Latin.
• Famous Renaissance figures include Italian Dante Alighieri (literature), Englishman Thomas More (Utopia), Spaniard Cervantes (Don Quixote), German Martin Luther (Bible translation), and Englishman William Shakespeare (plays). Other figures include Italian Leonardo da Vinci (art), Italian Michael Angelo (sculpture), Belgian Vesalius (anatomy), and Polish Nicholas Copernicus (heliocentric view).
• It brought a new focus on humanism and, as a result, a subsequent turning away from the dominant ideas put forth by the church.