Gerard Lopez

Mrs. Coban
AP World History
1-5-16
Period 2 Summary
The Post Classical Era is the time period after the Roman Empire, when Europe entered
the Dark Ages and places such as Africa and Islam began to develop their civilizations. The era
gave rise to some of the most powerful civilizations in the world that still influence life today.
The main civilizations of the post classical era were the Islamic, Aztec, Byzantine, and North
African.
Islamic civilization began in 630 CE through the prophet Muhammad who created the
religion Islam. Prior to him the Arabian Peninsula was filled with loosely related Bedouin tribes.
With the addition of Islam, all of the tribes could come together to become one nation. The
successor of Muhammad was called the caliph and he had absolute control over the Islamic faith.
Due to a dispute over the third caliph the different clans had a civil war and the Umayyad clan
won out. This lead to the Sunni and Shiite split. Mu'awiaya became the third caliph in 660 CE
and lead the faith. The Shiite Muslims were still sour over him becoming caliph so over the
course of the Umayyad reign there were many assassination attempts on him. During the 8th
century the Umayyad gain much territory in North Africa and Europe which made them very
influential. However, the caliphs during that time cared nothing for running the faith, rather they
cared for luxurious living. This lead to the fall of the Umayyad empire, and started the Abbasid.
The Abbasids were created through a rebellion lead by a direct descendant of al-Abbas, who was
the closest uncle of Muhammad. The direct descendant was Abu al-Abbas, moreover he lead the

rebels to victory in 750. The Abbasid were famous for being able to merge the other parts of the
Islamic Empire into Islam. By law people who were not on the Islamic Peninsula were equal if
they were Muslims. Through the growth of trade landlords and merchants became more
powerful. The decline of the Abbasid Empire was much like the decline of the Umayyad. They
had leaders who indulged in lavish lifestyles rather than war and struggle, and rebellions took
place due to heavy taxing. But the reason why the Empire fell was because of parts of the empire
breaking off and becoming regional kingdoms. This made the capital weak towards invasion.
African culture cannot be described as one thing but many different ones to make up the
gigantic continent that it is. To understand how the continent of Africa sprouted civilization you
must understand the Bantu. They were nomadic people who spread their culture and language all
across the continent. This is the reason why languages in Africa are similar, as well as customs
and beliefs. Another big part of African civilization is Islam. Islam made it possible for
civilizations to become centralized rather than loosely organized clans. Africa took part in trade,
which was through the savannah of North Africa and throughout the Indian Ocean. However, the
eastern shores of the continent traded the most.
Around 330 CE the Byzantine Empire was created by Emperor Constantine 1, and he
named it after the Greek Colony Byzantium and its capital was Constantinople. From 527-565
CE was the reign of Emperor Justinian 1, and this was considered to be the golden age of the
Empire. Justinian oversaw the creation of the Hagia Sophia and created the Corpus Juris Civilus.
Due to the location along the Mediterranean Sea Constantinople became very rich and powerful.
It was also able to spread Christianity throughout the Mediterranean and northern Europe. In the
10th century the Empire was experiencing Muslim invaders from the Turkish Empire. Emperor
Comnenus went to the pope for the help in 1090. This lead to the crusades which ultimately hurt

the Byzantines, and that lead to the Great Schism. Italian merchants statted to take away trade
from the Byzantines and that took away revenue from the empire. A slew of weak rulers made
Constantinople weak to invasion. In 1453 the Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople and
converted it to Islam.
The final and least influential civilization to the known world were the Aztecs. They were
located in Mesoamerica which starts in Mid-Mexico and ends in Honduras. The Aztecs started
out as nomads from the north but through a natural sign they went back to their homeland of
Mesoamerica to reclaim it. Around 1200 CE they started their empire, but before were
mercenaries for the Toltec because of their ferocity in battle. Aztec society was built around war.
A mans place in society was determined by where he was in the military. Their capital of
Tenochtitlan was built in the middle of ta lake and was adorned with gold. This made it very
appealing to the Spanish in the 1500s. The Spanish overran the city with superior technology an
ended the Aztec Empire.