Some scholars select a hemispheric focus-referring to a hemispheric Middle Ages-that concentrates on Africa, Europe, and Asia on the one hand, and the Americas on the other. There are also discussions about the meaning of “global” at a local level, and whether it is possible to speak of early globalities prior to the sustained transatlantic contacts between Europe, the Americas, and Africa in the late fifteenth century (it should be acknowledged that the latter view still largely centers on Europe-as indicated below and in the volume, peoples of northeastern China and Siberia had contacts with First Nation peoples, including those who inhabited the Aleutian Islands). Toward a Global Middle Ages expands upon these perspectives. Others take a comparative approach, examining similar phenomena in different places at the same time or over time. In doing so, an aim has been to reveal the lives of those who have been silenced by history or tradition: women, enslaved individuals, Indigenous peoples, queer or disabled groups. Some of these scholars seek to uncover networks, pathways, routes, or links between people and places. The term “Middle Ages” was used in the nineteenth century to describe a medium aevum, a middle age between the Roman Empire and the Renaissance.įor decades, scholars have challenged this Eurocentric view of the past, turning attention to a global Middle Ages that includes Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Austronesia. Image: What do we mean by a global Middle Ages (or medieval period)? Writing about the Middle Ages has traditionally centered on the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities in Europe, Western Asia, and the greater Mediterranean between the years 5.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.2010.54.1. Folios from a Qur’an, Shiraz, Iran, 1550–75.

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