IN THE ABSENCE of the strong imperial presence of Rome providing structural connections with areas to the south and east, western Europe entered into a period of turning inward as local and regional economic, governmental, and social structures came to dominate the lives of people living there. This period has been called the Middle Ages or Dark Ages. But it is a mistake to think that this period was either uniform or uneventful. History in western Europe did not stand still during the years 500 - 1500. It is also a mistake to think that during this period, western Europeans did not make important contacts with the peoples to their east and south, the other "heirs" to Rome in the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire and in the new Islamic states of the Middle East and North Africa. This fact is especially apparent in the history of the Iberian Peninsula -- modern Spain and Portugal.

This area was one of the oldest and longest-held Roman provinces, but it was one of the first to "fall" to the barbarian invasions. Soon after, much of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Muslims from North Africa who ruled the lands under different systems and leaders for nearly 500 years. Most people don't think that such a large chunk of Europe and somewhere as "western" as Spain had for so long been a Muslim country, but in fact, under Muslim rule during the Middle Ages "al-andalus" (as it was called by Muslims) was one of the most prosperous and intellectually advanced parts of Europe, a place in which Muslims, Christians, and a sizable number of Jews coexisted in relative peace. It was only in about 1500 that Christian kingdoms based in the far north of Spain succeed in fully ousting Muslim states from the peninsula, completing what they called the "reconquista."

It was about this same time that Portuguese and Spanish explorers opened the coasts of Africa, India, and the Americas to Western European trade. One of the reasons that the Iberians were able to accomplish this was because they had long been part of the world outside Europe on account of their Muslim ties. Early voyages of discovery were followed quickly by voyages of conquest, and by the middle years of the 16th century both the Portuguese and the Spanish had come to rule vast empires in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

In this unit we will examine these Iberian close encounters -- between Christians, Muslims and Jews in "al-andalus"; during the long reconquista; and between Spanish and Portuguese "conquistadors" and native peoples in Africa, Asia, and especially the Americas.

Please read Chapters 8-11 of your textbook, concentrating on European -- and espeically Spanish and Portuguese -- encounters with non-European peoples. Next please listen to this broadcast of the BBC radio program "In Our Time," which provides a good discussion of Muslim Spain. Also read the third book of The Lay of the Cid, a heroic tale of the Christian "reconquista" of Spain. For another view of the reconquista, please read this account of the expulsion of Jews from Spain following the fall of Muslim rule. Finally, please read these two accounts of the Spainish conquest of modern Mexico: one by Hernan Cortes, a Spainish "Conquistador" and another complied from native Aztec sources.

Once again, there is no online exercise this week to give you time to work on your second and third writing assignments.