The Middle Ages, Islamic Empires, and the Age of Discovery

Unit 4 Lessons 3 – 5

• European countries scrambled to claim land and establish colonies. • These colonies made them very wealthy

The Middle Ages

• About 500 to 1500 C.E. – from the fall of the Roman Empire to the rise of the Ottoman Empire

• This was a time of castles and peasants, knights in shining armor and the Plague

The Middle Ages

• It is sometimes called the Dark Ages, because a lot of the cultural, knowledge, science and technology that existed during the Roman Empire, was lost

• There was no central government that controlled Europe. Things were a bit chaotic.

Islamic (Ottoman) Empires

• The Ottoman Empire control the Middle East and Eastern Europe from about 1299 C.E. until 1923.

• The capital of the empire was Constantinople (modern day Istanbul).

The Age of Exploration & Discovery

• When the Ottoman Empire took control of Constantinople in 1453 Europeans had to find new ways to reach China and India

• This was the beginning of the Age of Exploration & Discovery

The Age of Exploration & Discovery

• Explorers became rich by discovering gold and silver

• They also created new colonies in far away lands, where they could grow sugar, cotton, and tobacco

• Spain and Portugal were the early leaders in exploration