Unit - 2 : Europe and Asia Minor between Ancient and Modern Times

Transition from Rome to the Middle Ages

The Roman Empire gave stability to Southern Europe for nearly 900 years.
From 376 AD it began to decline rapidly, and in 476 AD it finally collapsed.
This collapse led to what historians once called the Dark Ages, a time seen as bleak and unstable.
The fall of Rome marked the beginning of the Middle Ages, which lasted until the 1400s.
In the fourteenth century, the Middle Ages gradually gave way to the Renaissance, a new era of ideas and cultural growth.

Starting in the 700s, the Vikings, expert sailors and shipbuilders from Scandinavia, began to expand.
Their flat-bottomed longboats allowed them to travel on rivers and attack towns inland, including Paris.
Through raiding and trading, they extended their influence and settled in places like Greenland and parts of England.

Kings were powerful but not absolute rulers. They stood below the pope and ruled with the agreement of the people.
William the Conqueror, the king of England, carried out a census and recorded it in the Domesday Book to track people and property.
By the early 1200s, subjects led by clergy (people who are officially trained and authorized to perform religious duties in a church) began protesting against unfair taxes and treatment by the king.
In 1215, the Magna Carta was signed. It gave rights to English people, including barons and merchants, to protect their property.
The Magna Carta introduced the idea that the king was not above the law and had to follow it.
This laid the foundation for law-making and debates in the centuries that followed.

In 1273, King Edward I set up the first Parliament at Westminster, where laws were discussed.
Parliament developed into two houses: the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
The king’s authority weakened as this system grew stronger.
In 1381, peasants revolted against the king, proving that even common people could influence government.
In 1649, the English Civil War broke out between supporters of the king’s absolute rule and supporters of Parliament.
Parliament’s side won, reducing and controlling the power of kings.

The Silk Road was a major trade route connecting Asia and Europe, thriving especially under Mongol rule.
It included both land and sea routes linking the continents.
Goods like spices, silk, and carpets traveled west into Europe. In return, Europe sent wool, linen, and horses east.
Along with goods, ideas and knowledge also spread between Asia and Europe.

The same trade routes that spread goods also spread disease.
The bubonic plague, or Black Death, likely began in the grasslands of Central Asia.
It spread from rats to towns, and from there traveled on ships and with trade goods.
By the 1330s, it had reached Europe through Italian ports such as Genoa and Venice.
The plague killed around 45 million people, about one-third of Europe’s population.

The Renaissance began in the 1300s, bringing big changes to European society.
Curiosity sparked by the Crusades and the Silk Road encouraged Europeans to explore and seek new knowledge.
They drew inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.
Humanism emerged, focusing on the importance of the individual.
This challenged the authority of the Church.
The Renaissance became a period of creativity, discoveries, and new thinking in art, science, and religion.

Islam began in western Asia, in present-day Saudi Arabia.
Before this, the region had been inhabited for centuries.
In 610 AD, Prophet Hazrat Muhammad began to preach Islam, a faith in one God (Allah).
His message united Arab people into one strong cultural and political nation.
He also established the caliphate, a system of governance.
Within a century, Islam had spread across North Africa, Spain, and as far as Afghanistan, led by rulers called caliphs.
The expansion slowed twice: first in 1099 when Christian Crusaders took Jerusalem, and again in 1258 when the Mongols captured Baghdad.
The Arab world became one of the most advanced and inventive civilizations of medieval times.
Alongside China, it was the most learned culture of the era, focused on science, knowledge, and innovation.
Europe’s interest in these fields developed much later, during the Renaissance.

In 1299, Osman I, a Turkish leader, founded the Ottoman Empire.
The empire expanded into Asia, Africa, and southern Europe, lasting nearly 400 years.
Its rise was seen as a major threat to Christian Europe, since the Ottomans were Muslim and opposed the Crusaders.
In 1453, the Ottomans captured Constantinople, cutting Europe off from major trade routes to Asia.
The Ottomans were skilled horsemen and military experts, building a vast empire that stretched across North Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Greece, Albania, Romania, and Bulgaria.
By the 1600s, their military power began to weaken, while Europe gained strength.
New discoveries in the wider world gave Europeans fresh trade opportunities, reducing dependence on Ottoman routes.
Over time, sections of the empire started ruling independently as the central government lost control.
By the 1800s, the empire had declined greatly, though it still held parts of North Africa and Greece.
After World War I, the empire ended, leaving only modern-day Turkey.