650-1450

The Bubonic Plague began in central Asia. The disease caused black swellings in the infected. It became known as the "Black Death" for its death toll in Europe. It would kill over a third of Europe's population. The insects on rodents spread the disease from place to place, causing death wherever they went.

Muhammad began teaching the will of Allah and the submission of faith after he became a prophet, receiving visions from Allah. When Mecca banished Muhammad, he and his followers went to Medina, and twenty years later they would almost bloodlessly take Mecca in the name of Islam. The Islamic Empire would spread all throughout the Middle East, and the teachings of Muhammad would be written by his followers in the Qur'an.

The Battle of Hastings was the event that solidified Duke William the Bastard's ascension to the throne of England after his invasion was permitted by the current pope. England's king Herald was faced with an impossible situation. The Norwegian Vikings had invaded in the north, while William's Norman troops in the south. Herald was able to defeat the vikings but was incapable of defeat the Normans, and soon the counts of Normandy would be rewarded English feifs and the Duke became King WiIliam the Conqueror of England. This would later be a powerful opponent to France.

The trade in the Indian Ocean had been a significant part of life in this time period. Southernization and the spread of new thoughts and resources was quite widespread throughout the Indian Ocean's trade networks. This period refers to the Satavahana Dynasty of India, who had developed strong ventures in the region at this time. The Srivijaya would be the next to control this ever growing, trans-continental economic system.

Feudalism was an economic and social system that involved a landowning class, a royal/religious class, and a peasant class - serfs. Serfdom was a widespread practice throughout Asia and Europe. This placed the leaders in a class that required little duties, apart from maintaining the hard working peasants below them. Akin to this, the Indian caste system more strictly set boundaries between these socio-economic classes.

This year marks the transition of spoons to needles for the usage of magnetism for Chinese experimentation. Once the compass and other navigational technologies were in the hands of competitive European countries, the expansion into the great unknown could begin.

The Chinese had long used gunpowder for their cultural celebrations. Its use in rockets was quite exciting. European merchants and soldiers quickly realized its potentail for war. Once gunpowder reached Europe, be it through the Silk Roads or by Mongolian encounters, its potential as a weapon for war was realized. Soon European weaponology would evolve into something much more dangerous and expansive.

The Crusades were a series of holy wars against the Islamic Middle East by European Catholics, the goal being to recapture the holy city of Jerusalem, which was rather important to the Christians as well as the Muslims. These holy wars were significant in that through the captures, Christians brought back to Europe much of Roman antiquity that was preserved in the Middle East. These act treasures acted as a lead in to the Renaissance.

As the Mongolian hordes began to occupy much of central Asia, they absorbed the culture and technological powers of those they conquered. As opposed to building cities and submitting to agricultural life like the other countries of the world, they acted as a nomadic and pastoral amalgam. They could use their domesticated animals to maximum efficiency. For example, a mixture of milk and cow's blood became a staple Mongolian beverage.

The Magna Carta was a document signed in 1225. It limited the power of the English Monarch and forced him acknowledge that his will was not arbitrary. This was significant in that it was one of the first times in which the people ordered a set of rulings upon a king, as opposed to the other way around.