34 The Rise of Islam

The beginnings

In the year 476 A.D. the Roman Empire came to an end and the next thousand years were called the Middle Ages.

Life in Europe during the Middle Ages was very hard. Only a few people could read and write. The only hope for people was their religion. Many people became Christians and hoped that life in heaven would be better than life on Earth.

The Middle Ages came to an end at the end of the 15th century. Many changes started to take place. The new age in European history was called the "Renaissance".

Tribes Invade Europe

To the north of the Roman Empire there were people who spoke a language that is like today's German. They were called the Germanictribes.

In the 5th century these Germanic tribes overran the Roman Empire. The Eastern Goths came from Russia and the Ukraine. Theyconquered most of Italy, Greece and the western Balkans. The Franks took over today's France and the Saxons conquered the southern parts of England.

The Huns originally came from Central Asia. They overran the Chinese Empire at about 200 B.C. and the Chinese emperor had to build a great wall to keep them out. At about 400 A.D. Attila became the leader of the Huns. They came to Europe and forced othertribes to move westward.

The Huns destroyed everything that was in their way. They had no interest in the land they conquered - they only plundered and set fire to villages. When Attila died, the Huns didn't have a strong leader. In the following years, the Goths and other Germanic tribesdefeated them.

The Rise of Islam

Islam started to become an important religion at the beginning of the 7th century. Mohammed was the main prophet of Islam. Hefounded and ruled the first Islamic state in the Middle East.

Between 700 and 1000 A.D. Islam spread to many parts of Northern Africa and even got as far as Spain in the west and India and China in the east.