European Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Overseas Expansion
1549 Juan Cabrillo Claims California for Spain
1519 Hernan Cortéz Conquers Mexico
610 Islam Founded as a Religion
1517 Martin Luther Initiates Prostestant Reformation
Mohammed was born in 570 in Mecca, where he lived and worked and, in his fortieth year, began to receive divine revelations that were later collected in the Quran, the primary Muslim religious text. At age 43 he disclosed his revelations publicly, proclaiming that God was one and that submission (Islam) to God was necessary. Mohammed viewed himself as a prophet who had recovered the monotheism that Moses, Jesus, and others had preached but that their followers had lost. He was largely rejected by the Meccans, and in 622 (in what became the first year of the Muslim calendar) he and supporters fled to Medina, where he soon united the local tribes. In 630 his followers conquered Mecca, moving on from there to subdue most of the Arabian Peninsula. Shortly after Mohammed’s death in 632, Muslim armies penetrated Syria and defeated Byzantine forces, capturing Jerusalem in 638 and subsequently occupying Persia. In the following century the armies of the ruling caliphs extended Islamic rule as far as Spain and central Africa. 1066 Normans Conquer England Roman withdrawal from Britain from 410 to 442 was followed by a 150 year influx of Jutes, Angles, and Saxons that pushed the Celts back to Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall. By the early seventh century several relatively large Anglo- Saxon kingdoms developed, though these in turn were threatened after 850 by the arrival of Viking invaders from the Baltic. By the 11th century a relatively united kingdom emerged, first under Danish kings, then under monarchs of the Wessex line. The history of England took a massive turn in 1066, when William, Duke of Normandy, himself of Viking descent, crossed the Channel and defeated a defending army at the Battle of Hastings. The Normans introduced many changes, establishing a more systematic form of English feudalism, constructing garrison castles, imposing royal supervision of sheriffs, creating new governmental councils, and disciplining monastic orders.
1492 Christopher Columbus Crosses the Atlantic; Jews & Muslims Expelled from Spain
1453 Constantinople Falls to the Turks
1452–1519 Leonardo da Vinci Epitomizes Italian Renaissance
Figure 5. A 15th century print depicting the siege of Jerusalem by Crusaders is a vivid portrayal of an assault on the holy city by highly organized legions of believers. Image courtesy of Library of Congress.
1099–1291 Christian Crusades Seize the Holy Land
1200–1500 Aztec Empire in Mexico
The 1100s found Western Europe and the Arab world on different trajectories. Christian Western Europe was staging a remarkable economic, demographic, and intellectual comeback from the dark ages that followed the collapse of the Roman Empire. The second Muslim caliphate (the Abbasid) was suffering sectarian division and had clearly declined since the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries, when it led the world in philosophy, theology, astronomy, mathematics, and law. The Seljuk Turks were displacing the Arabs as the dominant Islamic culture, moving from the north into Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor. In 1055 the Seljuks captured Baghdad and 16 years later won a military victory over the Christian Byzantines that prompted the Emperor in Constantinople to appeal to the West for assistance. In 1095 Pope Urban II responded by summoning the princes of his region to recapture the Holy Land. The first crusade reached and took Jerusalem in 1099, and for almost a century a Christian kingdom survived in that city. Smaller Christian fiefdoms, reinforced by subsequent crusades, survived Islamic counter- attack until 1291. SEE FIGURE 5
1162–1227 Genghis Khan & Mongols Overrun Asia
1099–1291 Christian Crusades Seize the Holy Land
1066 Normans Conquer England
610 Islam Founded as a Religion
EUROPEAN MIDDLE AGES, RENAISSANCE & OVERSEAS EXPANSION
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