600 - 1450 Regional and interregional interactions

This course contains 19 segments:

Byzantine Empire

An overview of the history of the Byzantine Empire. Continuity and change after the fall of Rome.

European Middle Ages: feudalism and serfdom

An overview of the history of European serfdom in the Medieval period

Origins of Islam

An overview of the origins of Islam, including the life of Muhammad, the Hijra to Medina, and the conversion of Mecca.

Spread of Islam

As people traveled and traded across the world, Islam spread to those new places.

Sunni and Shia Islam

A high-level overview of two major types of Islam: Sunni and Shia.

Golden Age of Islam

An overview of the Golden Age of Islam and the discoveries and re-discoveries of knowledge in Baghdad during this time.

The Great Schism

The Crusades

What were the Crusades? Why did people go on them? What were the long-term impacts?

The Mongols

In the thirteenth century, the Mongols expanded rapidly out of their homeland in the Asian steppes to become the largest contiguous land empire in history.

Song China

How did the Song Dynasty unify China culturally?

Medieval Japan

In the post-classical period, Japan was united by common language, culture, and economic structures, but government was decentralized.

Maya, Aztec, and Inca

An overview of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations.

Environment and trade

Environments had profound impacts on the ways people could conduct trade.

Human migration

Various factors affect whether people choose to leave their homes and make new lives. We will explore the history and impacts of migration.

Development of new trading cities

As trade routes expanded, so did major trading cities such as Hangzhou, Malacca, and Timbuktu

Cultural interactions along trade routes

We'll look at how the Srivijaya Empire, an empire on the Malay Peninsula lasting from the seventh to the twelfth century, was shaped by its interactions with its chief trading partners.

Development of financial institutions

Financial institutions, specifically banks, developed as a result of cross-cultural interactions and the need to pay for trade and war.

Disease and demography

How did the plague spread? We'll cover the history of the plague in Europe.

Social institutions in the Islamic world

An overview of Medieval Muslim societies.