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The Mayan Civilization

During the Mayan classic era, A.D. 250 to 900, millions of Maya lived in dozens of great city-states. The Mayan culture reached its zenith in culture, monumental architecture, great trading networks, the arts, mathematics and calendrics, astronomy and cosmology, engineering, a fully developed writing system, intensive agriculture, and sophisticated religious ceremonies. The classic era is divided into the early (250 to 600), late (600 to 800), and terminal (900 to 1100).

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The Aztec Civilization

The Aztec Empire was the last of the great Mesoamerican cultures. Between A.D. 1345 and 1521, the Aztecs forged an empire over much of the central Mexican highlands.

At its height, the Aztecs ruled over 80,000 square miles throughout central Mexico, from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific Ocean, and south to what is now Guatemala. Millions of people in 38 provinces paid tribute to the Aztec ruler, Montezuma II, before the Spanish Conquest in 1521.

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The Mongol Empire

This Mongol Empire overview describes the most important aspects of this vast civilization. One empire, the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world, stemmed from the brilliant efforts and leadership of one man, Genghis Khan. Genghis, his sons, and grandsons, created this fast-spreading empire that ruled from the islands of Japan all across Asia to Eastern Europe and included China, Russia, Hungary, Iran, the Middle East, Mongolia, and Indochina.

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Ancient Egypt: Pharaohs, Pyramids, Hieroglyphs, and Everything Else

Ancient Egypt, centered in North Africa in the Nile Delta, is arguably the most powerful and influential civilization of the ancient world. Its political structure, language, religious traditions, and philosophy dominated the Bronze Age and continued during its long twilight in the Iron Age until it was conquered upstart Mediterranean powers.

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The name ‘Egypt’ itself is a multi-lingual journey that tells of its influence on nearby cultures. “Egypt” comes from the Greek work Aegyptos,  the Greek pronunciation of the ancient Egyptian name ‘Hwt-Ka-Ptah’ (“Mansion of the Spirit of Ptah”), the original name of the city of Memphis.

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Ancient Greece

The Greeks, or Hellenes, are the natives of Greece and other countries around the Mediterranean Sea like Cyprus, southern Albania, Italy, Turkey, and Egypt. Ancient Greek civilization, the period following Mycenaean civilization (which ended about 1200 BCE) lasted up to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE. It was a period of political, philosophical, artistic, and scientific achievements that formed a legacy with unparalleled influence on Western civilization.

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The Roman Empire

The Romans and their empire at its height in 117 CE was the most extensive political and social structure in western civilization. By 285 CE the empire had grown too vast to be ruled from the central government at Rome and so was divided by Emperor Diocletian (284-305 CE) into a Western and an Eastern Empire.

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Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is the region within the Tigris and Euphrates rivers located south of Anatolia and West of the Iranian plateau. It hosted the earliest large-scale civilizations, who bequeathed the earliest forms of organized government, religion, warfare, and literature. Mesopotamian civilizations flourished from the founding of the Sumerian Empire in 3100 BC to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC to the Achaemenid Empire.

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Viking History

Vikings’ history is as extensive as the people it studies. The seafaring Vikings (in Danish, the Vikinger) were a group of people that came from the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. They made an enduring name for themselves in the 8th through the 11th centuries for being tactical warriors, smart traders, and daring explorers. In fact, they arrived in America 1,000 years before Columbus ever did, and archeologists have found some of their remnants scattered as far east as Russia.

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Norman History

The Normans that invaded England in 1066 came from Normandy in Northern France. However, they were originally Vikings from Scandinavia. From the eighth century Vikings terrorized continental European coastlines with raids and plundering. The proto-Normans instead settled their conquests and cultivated land. Over time they assimilated into medieval European society, abandoned paganism, and upheld conventional Christian norms.

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Medieval Life

The Middle Ages were a thousand-year period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance in which the foundations of modern European culture were laid. Many consider them a “dark age” of ignorance, but the educational, legal, religious, and social institutions that still influence much of Western culture were created in this period.

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The Tudors

The Tudors are one of the most remarkable dynasties in English history. Henry VII, of Welsh origin, successfully ended the Wars of Roses and founded the House of Tudor.  He, his son Henry VIII, and his three children Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I ruled for 118 eventful years.

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Click here to learn more about the history of the Tudors.

The Stuarts

The Stuarts were the United Kingdom’s first kings. For the first time, two thrones were combined when King James VI of Scotland became also King James I of England.

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Cite This Article
"ANCIENT/MEDIEVAL HISTORY" History on the Net
© 2000-2024, Salem Media.
March 15, 2024 <https://www.historyonthenet.com/ancient-medieval-history-2>
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