Post-classical history

In world history, post-classical history refers to the period from about 500 CE to 1500 CE, roughly corresponding to the European Middle Ages. The period is characterized by the expansion of civilizations geographically and the development of trade networks between civilizations.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[A] This period is also called the medieval era, post-antiquity era, post-ancient era, pre-modernity era, or pre-modern era.

"Post-classical" redirects here. For the film editing style commonly used in American films since the 1960s, see Post-classical editing.

In Asia, the spread of Islam created a series of caliphates and inaugurated the Islamic Golden Age, leading to advances in science in the medieval Islamic world and trade among the Asian, African, and European continents. East Asia experienced the full establishment of the power of Imperial China, which established several dynasties influencing Japan and Korea. Religions such as Buddhism and neo-Confucianism spread in the region.^[5] Gunpowder was developed in China during the post-classical era. The Mongol Empire connected Europe and Asia, creating safe trade and stability between the two regions.^[6] In total, the population of the world doubled in the time period, from approximately 210 million in 500 CE to 461 million in 1500 CE.^[7] The population generally grew steadily throughout the period but endured some incidental declines due to events including the Plague of Justinian, the Mongol invasions, and the Black Death.^[8]^[9]

Buddhism spread from India into China and flourished there briefly before using it as a hub to spread to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam; a similar effect occurred with Confucian revivalism in the later centuries.^[33]

[34]

Christianity had become the in 380, and continued spreading into northern and eastern Europe during the post-classical period at the expense of belief systems that Christians labelled pagan.^[35] An attempt was even made to incur upon the Middle East during the Crusades. The split of the Catholic Church in Western Europe and the Eastern Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe encouraged religious and cultural diversity in Eurasia.^[36]

state church of the Roman Empire

Islam began between 610 and 632, with a series of revelations to . It helped unify the warring Bedouin clans of the Arabian Peninsula and, through a rapid series of Muslim conquests, became established to the west across North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, and parts of West Africa, and to the east across Persia, Central Asia, India, and Indonesia.^[37]

Muhammad

Christian civilizations on the

Horn of Africa

Islamic civilizations which formed in the and on the Swahili Coast

Niger River Valley

which adhered to native African religions

Traditional societies

– a graphical representation of the Post-classical era.

Freemanpedia

– a rich selection of primary sources on the Silk Road and interactions between different cultures in Post-classical times.