Migration, Settlement, and Demography 600 CE to 1450 - AP World History

During the High Middle Ages up until the 1340s, the relatively large European population continued to slowly increase over the course of a few centuries. The Black Death of the 1340s and early 1350s resulted in a massive demographic collapse, followed by slow but steady growth amongst a much smaller population during the 1400s.

The Toltec civilization existed in modern-day Mexico between approximately 900-1100 C.E. Much of what we know comes from recent architectural digs, but also from the Aztecs who saw the Toltecs as their cultural predecessors. They are famous for the construction of pyramids, much like those used by the Mayans and Aztecs.

Although some historians theorize that Zheng He might have eventually made a voyage across the vast Pacific Ocean, to the New World, this is merely conjecture. The voyages of Zheng He, and his fleet, were primarily conducted in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. He did reach such distant places as the Swahili city-states of East Africa and Red Sea.

The Vikings were seafaring warriors, traders, and settlers who were widely influential from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries. The longship was developed by the Vikings in the ninth century and was instrumental in allowing the Vikings to traverse long distances at icy northern latitudes. It allowed the Vikings to cross the Atlantic and establish colonies in Greenland and North America in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

The Bubonic plague of the fourteenth century, also called the Black Death, led to the deaths of approximately thirty-three percent of the population of Europe. As you might expect this led to a myriad of social, political, religious, and economic issues. One of the more surprising consequences of the plague was the rising power of workers in European society. The plague led to a shortage of labor in Europe, particularly in Western Europe, which allowed those who survived to demand higher wages and improved working conditions.

The construction of the Grand Canal, by the Sui Dynasty in the seventh century, directly and expediently linked the economies of northern and southern China for the first time in Chinese history. It facilitated the movement of goods and people, aided military movement in times of civil conflict, and allowed ideas to spread more rapidly around Chinese society.

The Moors were North African Muslims who had conquered the Iberian Peninsula in the 800s. Religious conflict with the Christian powers of Europe led to frequent conflicts, with their loss of regional power in 1492 with the fall of Grenada, and the full elimination of Muslims from Spain in 1609.

The Berbers were a nomadic camel herding people who lived in northwest Africa during the Medieval period (and indeed still live there in large numbers today). The Berbers were renowned for their mastery of camels — they are thought to be the first people to domesticate camels. They were also renowned for their fanatical devotion to Islam and the violent means by which they spread Islam throughout West Africa.

Swahili city-states first emerged on the East African coast in the tenth century, and reached the height of their power between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. The Swahili city-states were ethnically diverse (comprised of Africans and migrants from the Middle East and India) and traded extensively along the Indian Ocean trade network.

The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes were all Germanic tribes who, during the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries, came to settle in the British Isles. This is why the English people are sometimes referred to as Anglo-Saxons (the poor Jutes seem to have been rudely dismissed). The Vikings also settled, violently, in England during this time period, and were soon joined by the conquering Normans from France.

The Inca city of Tiwanaku was built on the shores of Lake Titicaca in modern-day Bolivia. Lake Titicaca is an important archaeological site, for it is here that many of the earliest South American civilizations arose.

The Chimu culture flourished on the Pacific coast of modern-day Peru from about 800 CE until the mid-fifteenth century.

The decline of the Mississippian civilization took place in the thirteenth century, long before the arrival of Europeans in the Americas. After their decline, the Native American people who were living in this region, reorganized into hunter-gatherer groups, which would persevere until long after the arrival of Europeans.

Al-Andalus is the name given to Islamic Spain. After the initial expansion of Islam, under the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates in the seventh and eighth centuries, much of the Iberian peninsula (modern-day Spain and Portugal) was under the control of Islam. This region was called Al-Andalus and was under almost complete control of the Umayyad dynasty until the tenth century. Islamic control over parts of Spain would persist until the fifteenth century.

During the Medieval era, the global population grew substantially. This occurred in spite of the massive destruction caused by the spread of the Black Death and the genocidal conquests of the Mongol Empire. As a general rule, the global population has almost always been growing since the introduction of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution.

Coptic Christians, usually called Copts, have lived in significant numbers in Egypt for over a thousand years. Egypt was a Christian state until the Islamic conquest, and the Copts are the surviving remnants of this fact. In modern Egypt, they represent a significant minority population, not to mention the largest Christian denomination in the country. They are also found in large numbers in Sudan and, in smaller numbers, in Libya.

The Anasazi are a Native American people who lived in the southwest of the modern-day United States during the pre-Columbian era. They are most notable for the elaborate dwellings, called pueblos, that they built in caves and on the plains.

During the Early Middle Ages, urbanization was most pronounced in China (and southeast Asia), the Middle East (and the Indian subcontinent), and the Swahili city-states of East Africa. Europe and the Americas were much less urbanized. China was the probably the most urbanized society in the world at this time and many of the most populous cities were located in East Asia.

The Zapotecs (500 BCE - 700 CE) and the Toltecs (800 - 1100 CE) are two civilizations that emerged in modern-day Mexico. The Zapotecs were briefly contemporaries of the Olmecs, and for a longer time, the Maya.