1. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
A. Europe in the Middle Ages
1. A new kind of government, feudalism lords ruling over lands who owed allegiance to monarchs, evolved during the Middle Ages.
a) Nobles or lords agreed to fight for monarchs when asked.
2. At the top of feudal society stood the king and the most powerful lords.
a) Next came the lesser nobles
b) Last were the peasants who worked the land (most people were peasants).

2. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
3. Feudal life evolved around the manor, which included the lord’s castle and the lands around it.
a) Manor lands might include several lands around it.
b) Self-sufficient.
c) Life was difficult for peasants who farmed the manor lands by hand.
4. By about A.D. 900, life began to change.
a) Peasants used new methods of farming to produce more food.
b) Warfare declined and trade grew.
5. The most powerful force in medieval western Europe was the Roman Catholic Church.
a) Main branch of Christianity, teachings of Jesus.
b) During ancient and medieval times, the religion spread across Europe.

3. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
6. The Church owned large amounts of land and offered the only source of education.
a) Much of their efforts contributed to the preservation of the learning from the ancient world.
7. The region also had a strong Jewish community.
a) They often faced discrimination and persecution.
8. The pace of change increased between 1100 – 1300 because of the Crusades, a series of wars fought by Christians to control the Holy Land known as Palestine.
a) Jerusalem and other places where Jesus taught.
b) Muslims had controlled this region for centuries.
c) Fighting continued between Christians and Muslims for 200 years.

4. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
d) In the end, Christians failed to hold on to the Holy Land.
9. The Crusades had important effects on Europe.
a) Christians had contact with other civilizations.
b) They tasted new foods, and were shown silks, and rugs, etc.
c) Returning Crusaders wanted these items that they experienced in the Middle East so trade increased.
d) Italian merchants took advantage of this demand and outfitted ships to increase trade with the Muslim world.
10. Trade brought new knowledge and with it, new technological innovations, or new methods and practical ideas.
a) Muslim world = sailing, magnetic compass.
b) Astrolabe was an instrument which helped sailors determine their latitude while at sea.
c) These instruments enabled Europeans to sail far out to sea which the Portuguese led the way.

5. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
B. The Middle East
1. The Middle East was a major crossroads in the world.
a) In the early A.D. 600s, Islam emerged in Arabia.
b) Beginning in the 600s, Islam spread rapidly.
c) Devout followers conquered North Africa and much of Spain.
d) They also conquered Persia and as far as India.
2. Islam spread through trade and conquest.
a) Some stayed faithful to Judaism and Christianity, but others converted to the new Islamic faith.

6. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
b) Every Muslim is expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime.
c) Travel to Mecca encouraged trade between the Muslim lands.
3. People in the Muslim Middle East developed many of the technologies we use today.
a) pin hole camera, crankshaft, windmill, etc.
4. Middle Eastern traders traded over a vast area.
a) Ports around the Indian Ocean using triangular sails.
b) Middle Eastern merchants sold porcelains, perfumes, jade, tea, and fabrics from China.
c) The spice islands of Indonesia offered nutmeg, clove, and mace.

7. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
5. The overland routes that connected the Middle East with Asia were known as The Silk Road.
a) Travel on the silk road was dangerous (desert storms, hunger, bandits, etc.).
b) Traders formed caravans, or groups of people who traveled together for safety.
c) By the 1400s, trade goods were flowing across a huge area.
C. African Cultures and Technologies
1. Long distance trade routes crossed the vast Sahara, the desert linking West Africa to North Africa.
2. Sea traders spread navigation technologies throughout Africa and eventually to Europe.

8. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
a) The lateen sail, believed to have been invented first in Egypt, was a triangular sail that allowed ships to travel toward the wind.
b) African sailors also used the astrolabe.
3. Small villages in East Africa with good harbors became great trading centers.
a) Gold from Zimbabwe, a powerful inland state, was carried to coastal cities such as Kilwa and Sofala which were then sent overseas.
b) Wealth from trade helped local East African rulers build strong city-states.
c) These African leaders also traded people in the slave trade.

9. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
4. Many rulers of these city-states became Muslims.
a) Muslim culture influenced East African traditions by blending Arabic and African languages forming the new language of Swahili.
5. A region of grasslands, called the savanna, covers much of West Africa.
a) The Mali and Songhai kingdoms emerged in the savannas.
b) Timbuktu was the major trading center for both kingdoms.
c) They gained power through warfare.

10. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
d) Mali rose in about A.D and adopted Islam.
e) Mansa Musa from Mali made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 amazing places like Cairo, Egypt with examples of Mali’s riches.
6. In the 1400s, Songhai emerged as the most powerful empire in West Africa.
7. Ways of life varied greatly across Africa.
a) In an extended family several generations live in one household.
b) Ties of kinship, or sharing a common ancestor, linked families.
8. Religious beliefs varied across Africa.

11. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
D. Chinese Trade and Technology
1. In China, power was centered on one emperor.
a) Chinese isolation led to the belief of Chinese that China was at the center of the Earth and the sole source of civilization.
2. Chinese inventions changed shipbuilding around the globe.
a) The rudder, watertight compartments, magnetic compass, etc.
b) The emperor in 1402 ordered a huge fleet be built and named Zheng He to command it on a trade expedition through the Indian Ocean.
c) Chinese voyages soon ended though in favor of isolation.

12. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
3. The Chinese first invented paper in A.D. 105.
a) They also developed a printing press with movable type.
b) Advancements in timekeeping and they invented gunpowder.
E. Europe’s Renaissance
1. Increased trade and travel made Europeans eager to learn more about the wider world.
a) Scholars studied the Ancient World.
b) They began to make their own discoveries.
c) They produced new books on art, chemistry, medicine, and astronomy.
d) This great burst of learning and technological innovation was known as the Renaissance.

13. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
2. During the 1430s, a German printer named Johannes Gutenberg came up with a movable type printing press.
a) The printing press helped spread Renaissance learning.
b) More people began to learn to read.
3. During the Renaissance, trade brought new prosperity.
a) In England and France, kings and queens worked hard to bring powerful feudal lords under their control.
b) In Spain and Portugal, Christian monarchs drove out Muslim rulers, who had governed there for centuries.

14. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
4. Rulers in England, France, Spain, and Portugal were eager to increase their wealth.
a) Profits through trade.
b) Middle Easterners and Italians controlled the Mediterranean trade routes.
c) Western Europeans began to look to Africa and other trade routes to Asia.
5. Portugal was an early leader in the search for a new trade route to Asia and for the source of African gold.
a) In the early 1400s, Prince Henry (the navigator) set up sailing schools to improve navigation.

15. 1.2 Early Europe, Africa, and Asia
6. Under Henry’s guidance, the Portuguese designed a new type of ship, the caravel.
a) With triangular sails and a steering rudder, caravels could be sailed closer to the direction of the wind was blowing from.
b) Stopped at many places along West Africa.
c) Traded cloth, silver, textiles, and grain for gold and ivory.
d) They also bought slaves.
7. Portuguese traveled south to find a way around Africa to travel to Asia.
a) In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias reached the southern tip of Africa.
b) In 1497, Vasco de Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) and traveled to India.
c) The Portuguese then traveled to the East Indies and became a major player in the spice trade.