Understanding Western History
Western history is often referred to as the “history of the West”. It covers a period of about four thousand years from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries. It was dominated by ancient Persia, ancient Italy and medieval Spain. It is related to early Greece, the Roman Empire, medieval Europe that emerged in the Middle Ages and to medieval Islam that gradually replaced the earlier civilizations.
During the last two thousand years the Roman Empire came to an end. After this period, Islam began to spread in the west and in the tenth century led to the development of the Frankish language and the Roman language. Islamic culture has influenced the western world as much as the Roman. The major branches of this culture are the Muslim, Arabic and Persian civilizations. All these cultures have left their mark on the western world. The major achievements of Islam include:
Islam has had great significance for the world as it has been able to spread its influence to the middle east and beyond. This is important in terms of expanding the territory of Islam. Through this, Islam spread its influence to other countries such as China, India and even to Russia. This also created great scholars who wrote about Islamic history. This is because of the great scholars and writers there were in the seventh and eighth centuries.
The Arabs had a major impact on the evolution of western history. They established trading networks that went deep into the heart of the west. They also brought the religion of Islam with them that helped in spreading the faith through out the lands of the west. Their expansion of their empire reached to the Atlantic Ocean that helped them colonize the lands of the east.
One of the most important things that has come from the Arabs is the French language, that they brought with them. This is because of the great influence of the Arabic language in the west. The Arabs were so good at making the dialects of the Arabic language as varied as possible. This is very important in understanding the culture of the west and the differences among the people of the west and those in the east. In addition, the Arab traders brought with them a lot of knowledge about weaving and textiles. This is why you can find the lace and cloth in the west European history much earlier than in the east.
All in all, the history of the west is a great example of how human beings interact with each other through time and space. There were battles, migrations, conquering and ruling kings. This all changed over time and caused social and political turmoil in the region. However, through this, you can understand how cultures can mix and co-exist despite differences