Medieval Europe and Japan- The dark ages
Is ‘the Dark Ages’ an appropriate term to describe the Middle Ages? In the American Cyclopaedia, It states “The Dark Ages is a term applied in its widest sense to that period of Intellectual Depression in the history of Europe… In the fifth century to the revival of learning at the beginning of the fifteenth…” I believe the Dark Ages is not the appropriate term to describe the Middle Ages.
During the Middle Ages, trade between China, Korea and Japan was well. In summarizing chapter three of the History of Japan, written by Louis G. Perez, The trade relations between these cities opened up a way for the different cultures to adapted certain beliefs of another. From the people that were in the ships, and the merchants who left their place to go to another country or city to make money. The people of Korea, China and Japan, got to experience new things that they didn’t have in their place. --Document E: Major Trade Routes of Afroeurasia c.1300 CE, Map; With the effects of the Crusades, It could have seized trades between cities. But even with that, The “Dark Ages” weren’t so dark.
The original meaning of the “Dark Ages” is a time when little knowledge was obtained about that period in time. Then people began to associate the “Dark Ages” with a time that the people were “dark”, no learning or innovation, a time of ignorance. The Middle Ages were not a time of miserable living, or “darkness”. Therefore, the term “Dark Ages” is an inappropriate term to describe the Middle Ages.
During the Middle Ages, trade between China, Korea and Japan was well. In summarizing chapter three of the History of Japan, written by Louis G. Perez, The trade relations between these cities opened up a way for the different cultures to adapted certain beliefs of another. From the people that were in the ships, and the merchants who left their place to go to another country or city to make money. The people of Korea, China and Japan, got to experience new things that they didn’t have in their place. --Document E: Major Trade Routes of Afroeurasia c.1300 CE, Map; With the effects of the Crusades, It could have seized trades between cities. But even with that, The “Dark Ages” weren’t so dark.
The original meaning of the “Dark Ages” is a time when little knowledge was obtained about that period in time. Then people began to associate the “Dark Ages” with a time that the people were “dark”, no learning or innovation, a time of ignorance. The Middle Ages were not a time of miserable living, or “darkness”. Therefore, the term “Dark Ages” is an inappropriate term to describe the Middle Ages.