Monasteries were Christian institutions of the medieval Europe where devotee Christians lead a life of isolation dedicated to the worship of God. These monasteries were located far from the areas of human habitation. The two famous monasteries were St. Benedict in Italy and Cluny in Burgundy. The functions performed by these monasteries are as follows:

(a) Preaching: Monks and nuns moved from one place to another to spread the words of Christianity among the people.

(b) Charity: Monasteries served the sick and arranged food for the poor people. The monasteries served as inns for the travellers. They could rest in these monasteries and then continue their journey.

(c) Learning centres: Monasteries provided education to the community children and those who wanted to become monks.

(d) Cultural Enrichment:

(i) Most monks and nuns were educated and learned, so they spent their time copying books and masterpieces like the works of Cicero and Virgil. 

(ii) Monks also wrote chronicles; they noted down all important events of their times.

The word ‘Mesopotamia’ is derived from two Greek words ‘Mesos’ and ‘Potamos’. The word ‘Mesos’ means the middle and ‘Potamas’ means river. Hence, the land lying or situated between two rivers (Tigris and Euphrates) is called Mesopotamia.

• The term ‘Industrial Revolution’ was used by European scholars – George Michelet in France and Friedrich Engles in Germany.
• It refers to the great change in the field of industries when the production of goods by hand in the houses were replaced with the help of machines in factories.
• The transformation of industry and the economy in Britain between the 1780s and the 1850s is called the ‘first industrial revolution’.
• It was used for the first time in English by the philosopher and economist Arnold Toynbee (1852-83), to describe the changes that occurred in British industrial development between 1760 and 1820. These dates coincided with those of the reign of George III.
• It revolutionised the techniques and organisation of production in the later half of the eighteenth century.

Economic factors – 

a) Agriculture

• The economic condition of the Islamic world, during medieval period was very prosperous.
• Agriculture was the principal occupation of the settled populations in the newly conquered territories
• The lands conquered by the Arabs that remained in the hands of the owners were subject to a tax (kharaj), which varied from half to a fifth of the produce, according to the conditions of cultivation.
• When non-Muslims started to convert to Islam to pay lower taxes, this reduced the income of the state. To address the shortfall, the caliphs first discouraged conversions and later adopted a uniform policy of taxation.
• Agricultural prosperity went hand in hand with political stability
• Islamic law gave tax concessions to people who brought land under cultivation.

b) Urbanisation 

• Islamic civilisation flourished as the number of cities grew phenomenally.
• Among this class of garrison-cities, called misr (the Arabic name for Egypt), were Kufa and Basra in Iraq, and Fustat and Cairo in Egypt.
• Their size and population surged, supported by an expansion in the production of foodgrains and raw materials such as cotton and sugar for urban manufactures
• A vast urban network developed, linking one town with another and forming a circuit.

c) Commerce

• Political unification and urban demand for foodstuffs and luxuries enlarged the circuit of exchange.
• Geography favoured the Muslim empire, which spread between the trading zones of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean
• For five centuries, Arab and Iranian traders monopolised the maritime trade between China, India and Europe.
• This trade passed through two major routes, namely, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.
• High-value goods suitable for long-distance trade, such as spices, textile, porcelain and gunpowder, were shipped from India and China to the Red Sea ports of Aden and Aydhab and the Gulf ports of Siraf and Basra.

Roman Law is the common foundation upon which the European legal order is built. Government: Many modern-day governments are modeled after the Roman Republic. Concepts such as balance of powers, veto, and representation all were developed and recorded by the Romans. The classical jurist Gaius (around 160) invented a system of private law based on the division of all material into personae (persons), res (things) and actiones (legal actions). This system was used for many centuries.

The factors responsible for the decline of the Roman Civilization are as followings :

1. Wars and Luxurious Life : Repeated wars and conquests bent and broke the back of democracy. The luxurious and easeful way of living demoralised the ruling class.

2. Slave Revolts : The number of slaves had out numbered the free men. They grew rebellious and could not be quelled by the ruling class.

3. The Weakness of Emperors : The Roman emperors being incompetent and weak could not face the invaders.

4. Spread of Christianity : The Christian religion gave meassage of love and equality. It weakened the rule of emperors since it created rebellions feeling among the slaves.

5. Raids and invasions : Invaders and raiders shattered the Roman Civilization.

Mesopotamia (Arabic: بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن‎‎ Bilād ar-Rāfidayn; Ancient Greek: Μεσοποταμία) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent, in modern days roughly corresponding to most of Iraq, Kuwait, the eastern parts of Syria, Southeastern Turkey, and regions along the Turkish–Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders.[1]

The Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire.

Central Islamic Islands class 11 Notes History in PDF are available for free download in myCBSEguide mobile app. The best app for CBSE students now provides Central Islamic Islands class 11 Notes History latest chapter wise notes for quick preparation of CBSE board exams and school based annual examinations. Class 11 History notes on Chapter 4 Central Islamic Islands class 11 Notes History are also available for download in CBSE Guide website.

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The architecture of Mesopotamia is ancient architecture of the region of the Tigris–Euphrates river system (also known as Mesopotamia), encompassing several distinct cultures and spanning a period from the 10th millennium BC, when the first permanent structures were built in the 6th century BC. Among the Mesopotamian architectural accomplishments are the development of urban planning, the courtyard house, and ziggurats. No architectural profession existed in Mesopotamia; however, scribes drafted and managed construction for the government, nobility, or royalty.
The study of ancient Mesopotamian architecture is based on available archaeological evidence, pictorial representation of buildings, and texts on building practices. According to Archibald Sayce, the primitive pictographs of the Uruk period era suggest that "Stone was scarce, but was already cut into blocks and seals. Brick was the ordinary building material, and with it cities, forts, temples and houses were constructed. The city was provided with towers and stood on an artificial platform; the house also had a tower-like appearance. It was provided with a door which turned on a hinge, and could be opened with a sort of key; the city gate was on a larger scale, and seems to have been double. Demons were feared who had wings like a bird, and the foundation stones – or rather bricks – of a house were consecrated by certain objects that were deposited under them."

The nobility had a central role in social process because they controlled land. This control was the outcome of a practice called ‘vassalage’. The kings of France were linked to the people by ‘vassalage’. The big landowners (the nobles) were vassals of the king, and the peasants were vassals of the landowners.

The noble enjoyed a privileged status. He had absolute control over his property, in perpetuity. He could raise troops called ‘feudal levies’. The lord held his own courts of justice and could even coin his own money. He was the lord of the people settled on his land. His owned vast tracts of land which contained his own dwellings, his private fields and pastures and the homes of his tenant-peasants.

Gaul was a province of the Roman Empire. From the sixth century, this region was a kingdom ruled by Frankish/French kings. The Franks (a Germanic tribe) gave their name to Gaul, making it ‘France’. The French had very strong links with the Church. The link was further augmented when in 800 the Pope gave King Charlemagne the title of ‘Holy Roman Emperor’ to ensure his support. The island of England-Scotland was conquered by a duke from the French province of Normandy, in the eleventh century.

The economic, legal, political and social relationships that existed in Europe in the medieval era are collectively called feudalism. Feudalism is a kind of agricultural production which is based on the relationship between lords and peasants. The peasants cultivated their own land, as well as the land of the lord. The lord provided military protection in lieu of peasant’s services. The lords also had extensive judicial control over the peasants. In fact, feudalism went beyond the economic to cover the social and political aspects of life too.

The Cave of Altamira located near the historic town Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain, is renowned for its numerous parietal cave paintings featuring charcoal drawings and polychrome paintings of contemporary local fauna and human hands, created during the Upper Paleolithic. The earliest paintings in the cave were executed around 35,500 years ago