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FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO MODERNITY
“There was once a time when all people believed in God and the Church ruled. This time was called the Dark Ages.” — RICHARD LEDERER
PREAMBLE
A historical overview of medieval Europe is presented to provide some understanding of the pressures which lent animus to the European, and Arabian, the onslaught on Africa.
The chapter digs deeply into medieval history — invasions of kingdoms and empires, and the transformation of Arabian and European societies -to show that the colonization of Africa was a harvest of the seeds of imperialism that were sowed during the Renaissance in Europe.
The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages. During the High Middle Ages, which began after 1000, the population of Europe increased greatly. Technological and agricultural innovations had enabled trade to flourish, and the Medieval Warm Period climate change allowed crop yields to increase.
Through the Crusades, first preached in 1095, Western European Christians had made military attempts to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralized nation-states, reducing crime and violence but making the ideal of a unified Christendom more distant.