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| | Gothic architecture, with its tall, pointed spires is said to reflect the desire of people of the Middle Ages to grow closer to God, reaching towards heaven and away from the earth. Tall windows allowed sunlight to illuminate the interior, unlike Romanesque architecture, in which windows were small and interiors were dim. A particularly stunning example of Gothic architecture is the Notre Dame in Paris, on which construction began in 1163 during the reign of Louis VII, and was completed about 200 years later in about 1345. The Notre Dame features a beautiful stained-glass “rose window,” another distinguishing characteristic of Gothic churches. | | Gothic architecture, with its tall, pointed spires is said to reflect the desire of people of the Middle Ages to grow closer to God, reaching towards heaven and away from the earth. Tall windows allowed sunlight to illuminate the interior, unlike Romanesque architecture, in which windows were small and interiors were dim. A particularly stunning example of Gothic architecture is the Notre Dame in Paris, on which construction began in 1163 during the reign of Louis VII, and was completed about 200 years later in about 1345. The Notre Dame features a beautiful stained-glass “rose window,” another distinguishing characteristic of Gothic churches. |
| | [[Image:West facade Chartres Cathedral.jpg|400px|right]] | | [[Image:West facade Chartres Cathedral.jpg|400px|right]] |
| − | The image at right is a drawing of a long side of the Chartres Cathedral, which is only significant medieval church preserved in its original form, as completed and dedicated in A.D. 1260. It stands in the town of Chartres, France, merely 50 miles from Paris. Its long side is a classic example of Gothic architecture, featuring: | + | The image above at right is a drawing of a long side of the Chartres Cathedral, which is only significant medieval church preserved in its original form, as completed and dedicated in A.D. 1260. It stands in the town of Chartres, France, merely 50 miles from Paris. Its long side is a classic example of Gothic architecture, featuring: |
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| | *flying buttresses (see the arched supports at the far right) | | *flying buttresses (see the arched supports at the far right) |
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| | ==Africa== | | ==Africa== |
| | + | [[Image:Bantu migration.png|400px|right]] |
| | + | As we have already seen in this course, language played a central role in defining a society. This was also true in sub-Saharan Africa (south of the Saharan desert), where the Bantu language was shared by peoples in West Africa prior to 1000 B.C. Historians refer to the West Africans as “Bantu speakers” who lived along the rain forest on the edge of what is now Nigeria. The Bantu speakers began migrating to the east and south of Africa around 2000 B.C. (see the movement from the region labeled as "1" in the top figure to the right), and this migration was at its peak between about 700 and 500 B.C. (forming the nucleus labeled as "9" in the bottom figure on the right). By A.D. 1000, the migration southward (e.g., the three downward arrows labeled as "10" in the bottom figure on the right) had ceased and several Bantu kingdoms then arose in southern Africa. |
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| − | As we have already seen in this course, language played a central role in defining a society. This was also true in sub-Saharan Africa (south of the Saharan desert), where the Bantu language was shared by peoples in West Africa prior to 1000 B.C. Historians refer to the West Africans as “Bantu speakers” who lived along the rain forest on the edge of what is now Nigeria. The Bantu speakers began migrating to the east and south of Africa around 2000 B.C. (see the movement from the region labeled as "1" in the top figure to the right), and this migration was at its peak between about 700 and 500 B.C. (forming the nucleus labeled as "9" in the bottom figure on the right). By A.D. 1000, the migration southward (e.g., the three downward arrows labeled as "10" in the bottom figure on the right) had ceased and several Bantu kingdoms then arose in southern Africa.
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| − | [[Image:Bantu migration.png|right]]
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| | In eastern Africa, the Arabic language was influential. When the Bantu language collided with Arabic, the result was the Swahili for the peoples of east Africa. | | In eastern Africa, the Arabic language was influential. When the Bantu language collided with Arabic, the result was the Swahili for the peoples of east Africa. |
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