Half of the Second Millennium

¶ … half of the second millennium has provided humanity with numerous events which influenced people and changed most of the concepts that people had until then. During the five centuries, people have witnessed great wars, fascinating inventions, and absurd customs. Mankind has abandoned some of its traditions throughout the period as it got ready to embrace a new step in the process of evolution. People are constantly dedicating to evolving ever since the early ages, and, each century has brought something new to the world.

Also, throughout history, numerous incidents that have led to important changes have taken place. Europe during the eleventh century has been a place of great changes from the Great Schism to the early crusades. The Vikings had stopped their invasions and the other nations had had a breathing moment in which to reassess their strategies. The year of 1054 brought the Great Schism which came as a result of several decades of divergences between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.

The Schism has its roots in the disputes which existed between Pope Leo IX and Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius. To this day, the eastern and the western churches have been separated, and most Christians from the west are Catholics while the majority of Christians from the east are Orthodox. Numerous civilizations have risen and fallen on the Asian continent across time. The twelfth century saw the height of the Khmer Empire in today's Cambodia.

Similar to other prosperous civilizations, the Khmer civilization had experienced rapid economic and territorial growth during the years that it existed. The leaders of the Khmer Empire have had their people build several impressive buildings which are now representative for the Cambodian classical era. Jayavarman VII had been appointed leader in the year 1181 and he proved to have impressive leadership abilities. He managed to rebuild the city of Angkor Thom early during his reign and to protect his nation from invaders.

The main enemies that the people of Khmer had were the Annamese and the Chams with which they fought constantly. Under the leadership of Jatavarman VII, the Khmers succeeded in some military campaigns and in they have even managed to invade the Cham capital in the year of 1191. However, it did not take long until the Chams came into the Khmer capital of Angkor and robbed the Khmers of all their precious possessions.

As most successful empires, the Khmer one gradually lost the influence that it once had and invaders quickly took advantage of the event to sack the empire. The Khmer Empire has left the world with several notions concerning architecture, as the methods they used to construct architectural structures had been amazing and to this day the city of Angkor is considered to be a true work of art. When Europeans didn't even dream about conquering the American continent, the Pueblo Native Americans were flourishing on the North American continent.

After several centuries in which the Pueblo civilization had evolved, the Pueblos were at the peak of their advancement in the thirteenth century. The Pueblos have gotten their name from the early Spanish conquistadors because of the houses in which they lived in. The Pueblos were one of the most advanced civilizations on the American continent in the thirteenth century. The Pueblos moved away from their typical homes called "messas" which were built on top of hills, in caves, in houses named Pueblos.

Several factors, such as the dry weather, and potential enemies, have contributed in bringing the Pueblo civilization to its knees. Somewhere around 1300 a.D., the Pueblo people have abandoned their territory and moved to the south-west. Various unfortunate incidents had made the Pueblo community abandon its lands, and along with them, most of its culture. However, the Pueblo cultural identity had not been lost through time and Pueblo people that pay great attention to their cultural values are still present today in the U.S.

The South American continent has also had several empires which flourished previous to the time that the early colonists arrived. The Empire had its capital in the great city of Cusco, and, all of the political and military decisions were taken in the respective city. To this day, the city had remained famous, with numerous people visiting it every year because it has become a main tourist attraction. The Incas began as a tribe, with their leader, Manco Capac, establishing the city of Cusco.

The Incas living in the fourteenth century in the Kingdom of Cusco were led by Inca Roca, the sixth Sapa Inca. Inca Roca's reign started around 1350 a.D. And he was the first to belong to the upper dynasty. The empire slowly but surely spread across South-America, and, in its height, it covered a large portion of western South-America. The methods that the Incas used to expand their borders were sometimes aggressive, as they conquered other tribes.

However, the Incas were also accustomed to more peaceful methods of expansion, such as assimilation. Most of the Inca culture had disappeared as an effect of smallpox brought by the Spanish and because the Spanish were very brutal towards the Incas. The continent of Africa has been one in which slavery had thrived long before Europeans came and took black people in order to enslave them. The Africans have been reported to have been accustomed to having other Africans as their slaves.

During the 15th century, before the start of the Atlantic slave trade business, trans-Saharan and East African slave trades have been flourishing. The Europeans have started to take people as slaves.