Unit 7: Government and Politics “The Dark Ages” (c. 500-1500 CE) Were the “Dark Ages” really...
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Transcript of Unit 7: Government and Politics “The Dark Ages” (c. 500-1500 CE) Were the “Dark Ages” really...
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“The Dark Ages is a term applied in its widest sense to that period of intellectual depression in the history of Europe from the establishment of the barbarian supremacy in the [late] fifth century (400s CE) to the revival of learning at about the [middle] of the fifteenth (c. 1450 CE), thus nearly corresponding in extent with the Middle Ages.”
- The American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of
General Knowledge, 1883
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• The time period following the fall of Rome in Europe is sometimes known as the “Dark Ages.”
• The term implies that the time between the fall of the Roman Empire and the European Renaissance was a period of decline for Europe.
• This time is also called the Middle Ages because it falls in the middle of two important time periods: Classical Period (Greece & Rome) and the European Renaissance.
Background
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Sui China Silla
Parhae
Yamoto Japan
Harsha’ Empire
Chalukya
Avar Kingdom
Frankish Kingdoms
GhanaAxum
Sassanid Empire
Byzantine Empire
States and Empires in 600 CE
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Ghana
Carolingian
Byzantine
Abbasid Caliphate
Axum
Gurjara-Pratihara Tang China
Srivijaya
Parhae
Silla
Cordoba Caliphate
Heian Japan
States and Empires in 800 CE
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Mongol Empire
Russia
Sung China
Koryo
Kamakura Japan
Delhi Sultanate
Scandanavian Kingdoms
Mali
Zimbabwe
BeninOyo
France
Ethiopia
Ayyubid Caliphate
Almohad Caliphate
Poland
Rum
H.R.E.
Hungary
England
Portugal
Spain
States and Empires in 1237 CE
Angkor
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Mali
Oyo Benin
Zimbabwe
Zanj City-States
Ethiopia VijayanagaraSiam
Majapahit
Ashikaga JapanKorea
Marinids HafsidsMamluk Sultanate
Granada
Portugal Castile
France
ScotlandEngland
Union of Kalmar
Holy Roman Empire
Poland-Lithuania
Hungary
Ottoman Emp.
Russian States
Khanate of the Golden Horde
Jagatai Khanate
Ming ChinaTimurid Empire
States and Empires in 1400 CE
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• The metaphor of “dark” and “light” was originally used by Christians to describe the “darkness” people lived in before God sent Jesus Christ to bring “light” to the world.
• Petrarch was an Italian scholar during the 1300s who loved Greek and Roman writing.
• He used the terms “dark” and “light” to describe learning instead of religion. He believed that Europe was in the “dark” after the “light” of the Greek and Roman empires were gone.
Why “Dark”?
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Historians, and others, since Petrach continued to use the phrase “Dark Ages.”
They argued that during the centuries following the fall of the Roman Empire, Europeans lived in a time that:
•Had no central government•Had a bad economy•Was repeatedly invaded•Did not support learning•Created very little culture (art, literature, architecture, etc.)•Was basically a miserable place to live
Why “Dark”?