The Evolution of Western Civilization in the Middle
The emergence of western civilization from antiquity and its evolution in the early Middle Ages was presented. It should be clear that diverse factors made that evolution possible including a warming trend in Northern Europe that began about 950 CE and lasted until 1300C. This changing climate led to enhanced agricultural innovations. Additionally, the changing political landscape as feudalism declined and new agricultural technology and tool advance aided the forward motion of Western Civilization.
It is not surprising that between the years 1050CE and 1300CE, Europe underwent an agricultural revolution. Crop yields are multiplied by at least threefold. Europe’s population followed suit, tripling in less than three centuries. The average European lifespan increased by as much as two decades. Towns and cities reemerged, and with them came new crafts and a revival of trade. New classes of merchants and craftsmen attained some degree of social mobility.
Soon the Renaissance would reawaken Europe to its glorious past, setting off a tide of technological progress from the enlightenment to the Industrial Revolution, that would eventually drag Europe from the Dark Ages and launch it into the world we live in today. None of this progress would have been possible without the surpluses created by Europe’s late medieval agricultural revolution.
Your assignment is to craft a well-written 300-to-500-word essay where you analyze and evaluate the influence of three factors on the continued evolution of Western Civilization in the Middle Ages
The late Medieval climate shift that warmed northern Europe
The political shift associated with the decline of feudalism
The newly developed agricultural technologies
Please remember to include in your essay what you think was the most significant factor and explain why using specific examples.
Sample Solution
Many factors influenced the continued evolution of Western Civilization in the Middle Ages including the late Medieval climate shift that warmed northern Europe; the political shift associated with the decline of feudalism; and the newly developed agricultural technologies. As northern Europe became warmer, agriculture spread and generated food surpluses. At the time, England was warm enough to support vineyards, centralized governments in Europe were becoming stronger, people no longer needed fortifications to protect their once limited arable lands, and many people left seeking new lands. Similar agricultural expansion occurred in some parts of North America, but also in central Asia where farmers spread into the northern region of Russia, into Manchuria, the Amur Valley, and northern Japan.
