What's the major development that starts of this time period? What was the one major world religion that didn't start in Unit I? You guessed it - Islam! Following in the tradition of Judaism and Christianity, it's also monotheistic. Like Christianity, it spreads, through plenty of true conversions, and well, some bloodshed through good old fashioned conquering.

But the rise of Islam is important in the dynamics of world history. The only stability Europe and Northern Africa had was Rome, and that's gone. There is not a whole lot of deep thinking going on in Europe during this time. Do the Europeans keep the works of Socrates and Plato? No! The Muslims do! Islamic architecture, with its amazingly intricate designs, is just one example of the intellectual developments in the Muslim world. Islam was very accepting of Jews and Christians, calling them "people of the book." The Christians were, um, not so nice to either Jews or Muslims. There's a Crusade against Muslims, and Jews get blamed for a plague.

Europeans do build some things. There are castles to hunker down in. There are some monster cathedrals. (Religion and safety! Major European themes this time period.) Christians also decide to launch some Crusades against Muslim control of the Holy Land of Jerusalem. Crusaders see all the cool things the Muslims have and say, hey, Europe needs to move out of the Dark Ages and feudalism. Towns and trade revive a little in Europe. But then, there's the Bubonic Plague, and the Hundred Years War (which actually lasted 118 years!). Finally, toward the end of this time period, Europeans decide to have learning and art and intellectual stuff reborn in a Renaissance.

Africa has some good times. Three big empires dominate the west of the continent. First, Ghana, then Mali, and then Songhai. These empires cash in on the gold and salt trade. Islam spreads through North Africa and gets to Mali. The Bantu in Sub-Saharan Africa are still walking around. East African trading cities make a ton of money (well, gold and spices and valuable stuff) through the Indian Ocean trade.

Asia gets run over, almost literally, by the Mongols! They kill, rape, pillage, steal and burn (not necessarily in that order) a giant chunk of the continent. The "Golden Horde" takes Russia, and the Mongols makes the largest land-based empire in history. The Mongols keep alive the Silk Road that had connected Han China to Rome. They know not to destroy that cash cow. Problem: the Mongols were conquerers. They didn't like to stay around and figure out how to run a government. Their empire dissolved, but the Mongols basically assimilated into the various cultures they took over. The Mongols become the Yuan in China, the Mughals in India.

The Americas were starting to get really developed civilizations. The Maya build huge pyramids and a highly accurate calendar (the world didn't end in 2012, which was nice). The Maya reach their apex and their nadir during this time. Guess what - they destroyed their environment! And killed too much.

The Aztec eventually build up an empire larger than the Maya, keeping a lot of the same cool stuff. The Inca build a large empire and control it and take care of it. Nobody went hungry in this socialist state. Weird thing about the Americas - they do not use or discover the WHEEL! They build all these huge monuments and pyramids, and their only labor is human beings. And llamas, in South America.