Post-classical history

Lore & Background

In Asia and the Middle East during this time, the spread of Islam helped produce a series of caliphates which fostered the Islamic Golden Age, leading to advances in science and greater trade between those in the Asian, African, and European continents. East Asia experienced the entrenchment of the power of a unitary and Imperial China, the dynastic governance and culture of which influenced Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Religions such as Buddhism and neo-Confucianism spread in the region, while Christianity became entrenched in Europe and increasingly elsewhere. Gunpowder was developed in China during the post-classical era. The Mongol Empire conquered and controlled much of Europe and Asia, permitting more trade and cultural and intellectual exchange between the two regions. The population generally grew slowly throughout the period, with mortality generally high and rapid major declines due to events including the Plague of Justinian, the Mongol invasions, and the Black Death.

Reader's Guide

The post-classical period is one of the five or six major periods world historians use: early civilization, classical societies, post-classical, early modern, long nineteenth century, and contemporary or modern era. Although post-classical is synonymous with the Middle Ages of Western Europe, the term post-classical is not necessarily a member of the traditional tripartite periodization of Western European history into classical, middle, and modern. Historians recognize the difficulties of creating a periodization and identifying common themes that include not only Afro-Eurasia but also, for example, the Americas, since they had little contact with Afro-Eurasia before the Columbian exchange. Researchers around the year 2020 emphasized that 'a global history of the period between 500 and 1500 is still wanting' and that 'historians have only just begun to embark on a global history of the Middle Ages'. Understanding of communication within sub-Saharan Africa or the Americas is, by contrast, far more limited.

Did You Know?

• The population of the world broadly doubled in this period: from approximately 210 million in 500 CE to some 461 million in 1500 CE.
• Gunpowder was developed in China during the post-classical era.
• The Mongol Empire conquered and controlled much of Europe and Asia, permitting more trade and cultural and intellectual exchange between the two regions.
• The post-classical period is also called—with various implications and emphases—the medieval era, the post-antiquity era, the post-ancient era, or the pre-modern era.
• Researchers around the year 2020 emphasized that 'a global history of the period between 500 and 1500 is still wanting'.