MEPX
Chapter 4 of 10All chapters
  1. 1Before writing
  2. 2Cities and states
  3. 3Classical empires
  4. 4The middle centuries
  5. 5The world connects
  6. 6Political revolutions
  7. 7Industrialisation
  8. 8The world wars
  9. 9The Cold War and decolonisation
  10. 10The recent past

Chapter 4 of 10

The middle centuries

Not a dark age.

Beyond Europe

The Islamic world, Tang and Song China, and West African states such as Mali were centres of learning, trade and technology while Europe was comparatively peripheral.

  • Paper, printing, gunpowder and the compass spread west from China.
  • Mathematics and astronomy advanced substantially in Baghdad and Cordoba.

The Black Death

Plague killed a large share of the population of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa in the mid fourteenth century, reshaping labour, wages and social order.