Well, I never!

"Sometimes when people think about the year 1000, they think of a time of darkness and chaos for civilization. In fact, the turning of the first millennium was a time of marvelous change. This time period marks the turning point towards High Medieval civilization with individuals and societies around the world making contributions to science, technology and culture. The exchange of goods between China, India and the Islamic world brought with it the exchange of ideas and inventions.

The year 1000 was a time influenced by the dominance of Islamic culture in science and technology. Most of the new knowledge coming into Europe came through Islamic scholarship. It also marks the beginning of the end of Islamic control in Spain. This allowed European-based civilization to begin its first steps on its own cultural expansion. These steps would eventually bring about the Renaissance in Europe.

Tremendous growth in Chinese commerce during the Song Dynasty affected technological development worldwide. Although the Chinese culture remained remote, Chinese inventions and scholarship traveled with trade into the Islamic world and from there to Europe. The influence of Indian knowledge also traveled the trade routes with extremely important results.

Around the year 1000, the European population began to grow. While the increase in population created a need for technological advancement, it is also true that advances in technology allowed growth in population. Technological growth brought surplus in the form of extra food and goods which in turn allowed trade to develop in this part of the world also. From trade the flow of ideas was stimulated through the exchange of artifacts.

Taking a look at some of the items in the collections of the Linda Hall Library and information available through the World Wide Web, we will explore a few of the events and influences that began an intellectual revolution. It is interesting to see how some technological advances were made rapidly, while others took hundreds of years. Investigate the chain of events that began in the year 1000 and its legacy that we enjoy today. "


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