World's history (part 7): History of Islam[edit] Main article:History of Islam Main article:Islamic Golden Age The history of Islam concerns theIslamic religionand its adherents, known asMuslims."Muslim"is an Arabic word meaning"one who submits to God."Muslims and their religion have greatly impacted the political,economic, andmilitary historyof theOld World, especially the Middle East, where lie its roots. Great Mosque of Kairouan,Tunisia, founded 670 — oldest mosquein Muslim West From their center on the Arabian Peninsula, Muslims began their expansion during the early Middle Ages. By 750CE, they came to conquer most of the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Europe, ushering in an era of learning, science, and invention known as the Islamic Golden Age. The knowledge and skills of the ancient Middle East, of Greece, and of Persia were preserved in the Middle Ages by Muslims, who also added new and important innovations from outside, such as the manufacture of paper from China and decimal positional numbering from India. Much of this learning and development can be linked to geography. Even prior to Islam's presence the city of Mecca had served as a center of trade in Arabia, and the prophet Muhammad himself was a merchant. With the new Islamic tradition of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, the city became even more a center for exchanging goods and ideas. The influence held by Muslim merchants over African-Arabian and Arabian-Asian trade routes was tremendous. As a result, Islamic civilization grew and expanded on the basis of its merchant economy, in contrast to the Europeans, Indians, and Chinese who based their societies on an agricultural landholding nobility. Merchants brought goods and their faith to China(resulting in a present-day population of some 37 million Chinese Muslims, mainly ethnic Turkic Uyghurs, whose territory was annexed to China),India,southeast Asia, and the kingdoms of western Africa, and returned with new discoveries and inventions. Medieval Europe[edit] Main article:Middle Ages Europe during theEarly Middle Ageswas characterized by depopulation, deurbanization, andbarbarianinvasion, all of which had begun in Late Antiquity. The barbarian invaders formed their own new kingdoms in the remains of theWestern Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africaand theMiddle East, once part of the eastern empire, became part of theCaliphateafter conquest byMuhammad's successors. Although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break was not as extreme as once put forth by historians, with most of the new kingdoms incorporating as many of the existing Roman institutions as they could. Christianity expanded in western Europe and monasteries were founded. In the 7th and 8th centuries the Franks, under theCarolingian dynasty, established an empire covering much of western Europe; it lasted until the 9th century, when it succumbed to pressure from new invaders – the Vikings,Magyars, andSaracens. CastleslikeSegovia Castle,Spain, were common in High Middle AgesEurope. During theHigh Middle Ages, which began after 1000, the population of Europe increased greatly as new technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish and crop yields to increase. Manorialism – the organization of peasants into villages that owed rents and labor service to nobles – and feudalism – a political structure wherebyknightsand lower-status nobles owed military service to their overlords in return for the right to rents from lands and manors – were two of the ways of organizing medieval society that developed during the High Middle Ages. Kingdoms became more centralized after the decentralizing effects of the breakup of the Carolingian Empire. TheCrusades, which were first preached in 1095, were an attempt by western Christians to regain control of the Holy Landfrom theMuslims, and succeeded long enough to establish some Christian states in the Near East. Intellectual life was marked by scholasticismand the founding of universities, while the building ofGothic cathedralswas one of the outstanding artistic achievements of the age. TheLate Middle Ageswere marked by difficulties and calamities. Famine, plague and war devastated the population of western Europe. The Black Deathalone killed approximately a third of the population between 1347 and 1350. It was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. Starting in Asia, the disease reached Mediterranean and westernEuropeduring the late 1340s,[79]and killed tens of millions of Europeans in six years; between a third and a half of the population. [80] The Middle Ages[81]witnessed the first sustainedurbanizationof northern and western Europe. Many modern European states owe their origins to events unfolding in the Middle Ages; present European political boundaries are, in many regards, the result of the military and dynastic achievements during this tumultuous period.