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Crash Course: World History, The Dark Ages...How Dark Were They, Really? #14

The Dark Ages...How Dark Were They, Really? #14

Hi there my name's John Green, this is Crash Course World History and today we're going

to talk about the Dark Ages, possibly the most egregious Eurocentrism in all of history,

which is really saying something.

(We're Europe! The Prime Meridian Runs Through us; We're in the Middle of Every Map; and

We Get To Be a Continent Even Though Were Not a Continent.)

But let's begin today with a pop quiz:

What was the best year of your life, and what was the worst year?

Mr. Green, Mr. Green: Best 1994, Worst 1990.

Oh, me from the past. It gets so much better, and also so much worse.

For worst year I'm gonna go with 2001; best year 2006.

Alright now it's your turn, dear pupils: share your best and worst years in comments during the intro.

[theme music]

Right, so what you will quickly find is that your worst year was someone else's best year.

So, too, with history.

The period between 600 and 1450 CE is often called the Middle Ages in Europe because it

came between the Roman Empire—assuming you forget the Byzantines—and the beginning

of the Modern Age.

And it's sometimes called the Dark Ages, because it was purportedly unenlightened.

But was the age so dark?

Depends on what you find depressing.

If you like cities and great poetry, then the Dark Ages were indeed pretty dark in Europe.

But if like me your two favorite things are Not Dying From Wars and not dying from anything else,

the Dark Ages actually weren't that bad—

at least until the plague came in the 14th century.

And meanwhile, outside of Europe,

the Dark Ages were truly an Age of Enlightenment.But we'll get boring Europe out of the way first.

Let's go to the Thought Bubble.

Medieval Europe had less trade, fewer cities, and less cultural output than the Original Roman Empire.

London and Paris were fetid firetraps with none of the planning of sewage management

of places 5,000 years older like Mohenjo Daro in the Indus Valley Civilization, let alone Rome.

But with fewer powerful governments,

wars were at least smaller, which is one reason why Europeans living in Medieval Times—

Uhh THOUGHT BUBBLE I KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO DO THAT.

Anyway, people in Medieval Times lived slightly longer — life expectancy was 30 —

than Europeans during the Roman Empire — when life expectancy was 28.

Instead of centralized governments,

Europe in the middle ages had feudalism, a political system based on reciprocal relationships

between lords, who owned lots of land, and vassals,

who protected the land and got to dress up as knights in exchange for pledging loyalty to the lords.

The lords were also vassals to more important lords,

with the most important of all being the king.

Below the knights were peasants

who did the actual work on the land in exchange for protection from bandits and other threats.

Feudalism was also an economic system,

with the peasants working the land and keeping some of their production to feed themselves

while giving the rest to the landowner whose land they worked.

The small scale, local nature of the feudal system was perfect for a time and place where

the threats to peoples' safety were also small scale and local.

But of course, this system reinforces the status quo –

there's little freedom and absolutely no social mobility:

Peasants could never work their way up to lords,

and they almost never left their villages.

Thanks, Thought Bubble.

One more point that's very interesting from a world history perspective:

this devolution from empire to localism has happened in lots of places at lots of different times.

And in times of extreme political stress,

like after the fall of the Han dynasty in China,

power tends to flow into the hands of local lords who can protect the peasants better than the state can.

We hear about this a lot in Chinese history and also in contemporary Afghanistan,

but instead of being called feudal lords, these landlords are called warlords.

Eurocentrism striking again.

The other reason the Dark Ages are called Dark

is because Europe was dominated by superstition

and by boring religious debates about like how many angels can fit on the head of a pin.

And while there's something to that,

the Middle Ages also saw theologians like Thomas Aquinas,

who was quite an important philosopher,

And women like Hildegard of Bilgen,

who wrote all this important liturgical music and also basically invented the genre of the morality play.

All that noted, things were certainly brighter in the Islamic world, or Dar al Islam.

So when we last left the Muslims,

they had expanded out of their homeland in Arabia and conquered the rich Egyptian provinces

of the Byzantines and the entire Sassanian empire,

all in the space of about 100 years.

The Umayyad Dynasty then expanded the empire west to Spain and moved the capital to Damascus,

because it was closer to the action, empire-wise but still in Arabia.

That was really important to the Umayyads

because they'd established this hierarchy in the empire with Arabs like themselves at the top and in fact

they tried to keep Arabs from fraternizing with non-Arab muslims throughout the Empire.

This of course annoyed the non-Arab Muslims, who were like,

“I don't know if you're reading the same Quran we are, but this one says that

we're all supposed to be equal.”

And pretty quickly the majority of Muslims weren't Arabs,

which made it pretty easy for them to overthrow the Umayyads,

which they did in 750 CE.

Their replacements, the Abb(ah)sids, Abb(uh)sids? Hold On...

D'ahh, I'm right twice!

Right, so the Abbasids were from the Abb(ah)si or the Abb(uh)-see family

which hailed from the Eastern and therefore more Persian provinces of the Islamic Empire.

The Abbasids took over in 750 and no one could fully defeat them —

until 1258, when they were conquered by — wait for it —

the Mongols.

The Abbasids kept the idea of a hereditary monarchy,

but they moved the capital of the empire to Baghdad,

and they were much more welcoming of other non-Arab Muslims into positions of power.

And under the Abbasids,

the Dar al Islam took on a distinctly Persian cast that it never really lost.

The Caliph now styled himself as a king of kings,

just like the Achaemenids had,

and pretty soon the caliph's rule was a lot more indirect,

just like the original Persians'.

This meant that his control was much weaker,

and by about 1000CE , the Islamic Caliphate which looks so incredibly impressive on a

map had really descended into a series of smaller kingdoms,

each paying lip-service to the caliph in Baghdad.

This was partly because the Islamic Empire relied more and more on soldiers from the

frontier, in this case Turks,

and also slaves pressed into military service, in order to be the backbone of their army,

a strategy that has been tried over and over again and has worked exactly zero times.

Which you should remember if you ever become an emperor.

Actually our resident historian points out that that strategy has worked--

if you are the Mongols.

More important than the Persian-style monarchy that the Abbasids tried to set up was their

openness to foreigners and their ideas.

That tolerance and curiosity ushered in a golden age of Islamic learning centered in Baghdad. The Abbasids

oversaw an efflorescence of culture unlike anything that had been seen since Hellenistic times.

Arabic replaced Greek not only as the language of commerce and religion, but also of culture.

Philosophy, medicine, and poetry were all written in Arabic

(although Persian remained an important literary language.)

And Baghdad was the world's center of scholarship with its House of Wisdom and immense library.

Muslim scholars translated the works of the Greek Philosophers including Aristotle and Plato

as well as scientific works by Hippocrates, Archimedes

and especially the physician Galen.

And they translated and preserved Buddhist and Hindu manuscripts that might have otherwise been lost.

Muslims made huge strides in medicine as well.

One Muslim scholar ibn Sina, wrote the Canon of Medicine,

which became the standard medical textbook or centuries in both Europe and the Middle East.

And the Islamic empire adopted mathematical concepts from India

such as the zero, a number so fascinating and beautiful

that we could write an entire episode about it but instead

I'm just gonna write it a little love poem:

Oh, zero.

Pretty little zero.

They say you're nothing but you mean everything to mathematical history...and me.

Oh it's time for the Open Letter?

An Open Letter to Science and Religion:

But first lets see what's in the Secret Compartment.

Oh, champagne poppers?

Stan, what am I supposed to do with these?

Dear Science and Religion,

You're supposed to be so irreconcilable and everything,

but not so much in the Abbasid Empire.

I mean, Muslim mathematicians expanded math to such a degree

that we now call the base ten number system

and the symbols we use to denote it “Arabic numerals.”

And religion was at least part of what pushed all that learning forward.

Like the great philosopher Ibn Rushd argued that

the only path to religious enlightenment was through Aristotelian reasoning.

And Muslim mathematicians and astronomers developed algebra

partly so they could simplify Islamic inheritance law.

Plus they made important strides in trigonometry

so that people understand where to turn

when trying to turn toward Mecca.

You were working so well together, science and religion,

but then like Al and Tipper Gore, just couldn't last forever.

Nothing gold can stay in this world, nothing gold can stay.

Best wishes, John Green

Baghdad wasn't the only center of learning in the Islamic world.

In Spain, Islamic Cordoba became a center for the arts, especially architecture.

This is perhaps best exemplified by the Great Mosque at Cordoba,

built by the Umayyad ruler Abd al-Rahman I In 785-786 CE.

That's right, this building,

still standing today and one of the most amazing mosques in the world, was built in a year,

whereas medieval cathedrals typically took, like, a million years to finish.

The Muslims of Spain were also engineers who rivaled the Romans.

Aqueducts in Cordoba brought drinkable water into the city,

and Muslim scholars took the lead in agricultural science,

improving yields on all kinds of new crops,

allowing Spanish lives to be longer and less hungry.

Everybody wanted to live in Spain, even the greatest Jewish philosopher, Maimonides,

wanted to live in Spain, but sadly he was expelled and ended up in Alexandria Egypt.

There he wrote his awesomely titled defense of rationality, A Guide for the Perplexed.

I'm translating the title, of course, because the original text was written …in Arabic.

Meanwhile, China was having a Golden Age of its own:

The Tang Dynasty made China's government more of a meritocracy,

and ruled over 80 million people across four million square miles.

And they might've conquered all of Central Asia

had it not been for the Abbasids, whom they fought at

the most important Battle You've Never Heard Of,

the Battle of the Talas River.

This was the Ali-Frasier of the 8th century.

The Abbasids won, which ended up defining who had influence where with the --

with the Abbasids dominating to the west of the river and China dominating to the east.

The Tang also produced incredible art that was traded all throughout Asia.

Many of the more famous sculptures from the Tang Dynasty feature figures who are distinctly not-Chinese,

which again demonstrates the diversity of the empire.

The Tang was also a golden age for Chinese poetry

with notables like Du Fu and Li Bo plying their craft,

encouraged by the official government.

And the Song Dynasty, which lasted from 960 to 1258,

kicked even more ass-it's-not-cursing-if-you're-talking-about-donkeys.

By the 11th century, Chinese metalworkers were producing as much iron

as Europe would be able to produce in the 18th century.

Some of this iron was put to use in new plows,

which enabled agriculture to boom,

thereby supporting population growth.

Porcelain was of such high quality that it was shipped throughout the world,

which is why we call it “china.”

And there was so much trade going on that the Chinese ran out of metal for coins,

leading to another innovation – paper money.

And by the 11th century, the Chinese were writing down recipes for

a mixture of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal,

that we now know as gunpowder.

That becomes kind of a big deal in history,

paving the way, as it does,

for modern warfare and arena rock pyrotechnics, and—

ohhhh, THAT'S WHY.

Not so dark after all.

Thanks for watching. We'll see you next week.

Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan Muller,

our script supervisor is Danica Johnson.

The graphics team is Thought Bubble,

and show is written by my high school history teacher Raoul Meyer and myself.

Last week's Phrase of the Week was also good advice: Quit Smoking!

If you want to suggest future Phrases of the Week or guess at this week's, you can do so in comments

where you can also ask questions about today's video that will be answered by our team of historians.

If you liked today's video please click the thumb's up button.

You can also follow us on Twitter @thecrashcourse or on Facebook.

There are links in the video info.

Our writer and historian, Raoul Mayer,

also tweets awesome Crash Course pop quizzes, so there's a link to follow him as well,

and me, you know, because I'm a narcissist.

[music outro] We get to be a continent, even though we're not a continent...

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Hi there my name's John Green, this is Crash Course World History and today we're going Olá, o meu nome é John Green, este é o Crash Course World History e hoje vamos

to talk about the Dark Ages, possibly the most egregious Eurocentrism in all of history, |||||||||abscheulichsten|Eurozentrismus|||| para falar da Idade Média, possivelmente o eurocentrismo mais flagrante de toda a história,

which is really saying something. o que é realmente algo a dizer.

(We're Europe! The Prime Meridian Runs Through us; We're in the Middle of Every Map; and (Nós somos a Europa! O Meridiano Principal passa por nós; estamos no meio de todos os mapas; e

We Get To Be a Continent Even Though Were Not a Continent.) Podemos ser um continente mesmo não sendo um continente).

But let's begin today with a pop quiz: Mas vamos começar hoje com um questionário:

What was the best year of your life, and what was the worst year?

Mr. Green, Mr. Green: Best 1994, Worst 1990. Sr. Green, Sr. Green: O melhor de 1994, o pior de 1990.

Oh, me from the past. It gets so much better, and also so much worse. Oh, eu do passado. Fica muito melhor, e também muito pior.

For worst year I'm gonna go with 2001; best year 2006. Para pior ano, escolho 2001; melhor ano, 2006.

Alright now it's your turn, dear pupils: share your best and worst years in comments during the intro. Muito bem, agora é a vossa vez, caros alunos: partilhem os vossos melhores e piores anos nos comentários durante a introdução.

[theme music]

Right, so what you will quickly find is that your worst year was someone else's best year. Pois bem, o que rapidamente descobrirá é que o seu pior ano foi o melhor ano de outra pessoa.

So, too, with history. O mesmo acontece com a história.

The period between 600 and 1450 CE is often called the Middle Ages in Europe because it O período entre 600 e 1450 d.C. é frequentemente designado por Idade Média na Europa porque

came between the Roman Empire—assuming you forget the Byzantines—and the beginning |||||vorausgesetzt||||||| entre o Império Romano - se esquecermos os bizantinos - e o início do

of the Modern Age. da Idade Moderna.

And it's sometimes called the Dark Ages, because it was purportedly unenlightened. |||||||||||unaufgeklärt E é por vezes chamada de Idade das Trevas, porque era supostamente pouco iluminada.

But was the age so dark? Mas será que a época era assim tão negra?

Depends on what you find depressing. Depende do que se considera deprimente.

If you like cities and great poetry, then the Dark Ages were indeed pretty dark in Europe. Se gosta de cidades e de grande poesia, a Idade Média foi, de facto, muito negra na Europa.

But if like me your two favorite things are Not Dying From Wars and not dying from anything else, Mas se, como eu, as tuas duas coisas preferidas são não morrer de guerras e não morrer de mais nada,

the Dark Ages actually weren't that bad— a Idade das Trevas não foi assim tão má.

at least until the plague came in the 14th century. ||||Pest||||| pelo menos até à chegada da peste no século XIV.

And meanwhile, outside of Europe, E, entretanto, fora da Europa,

the Dark Ages were truly an Age of Enlightenment.But we'll get boring Europe out of the way first. a Idade das Trevas foi verdadeiramente uma Era do Iluminismo, mas primeiro vamos tirar a Europa aborrecida do caminho.

Let's go to the Thought Bubble. Vamos para o balão de pensamento.

Medieval Europe had less trade, fewer cities, and less cultural output than the Original Roman Empire. A Europa medieval tinha menos comércio, menos cidades e menos produção cultural do que o Império Romano Original.

London and Paris were fetid firetraps with none of the planning of sewage management ||||verfaulten|Feuerfallen|||||||| Londres e Paris eram armadilhas de fogo fétidas sem qualquer planeamento de gestão de esgotos

of places 5,000 years older like Mohenjo Daro in the Indus Valley Civilization, let alone Rome. de lugares 5.000 anos mais antigos como Mohenjo Daro na Civilização do Vale do Indo, quanto mais Roma.

But with fewer powerful governments, Mas com menos governos poderosos,

wars were at least smaller, which is one reason why Europeans living in Medieval Times— As guerras eram pelo menos mais pequenas, o que é uma das razões pelas quais os europeus que viviam na Época Medieval-

Uhh THOUGHT BUBBLE I KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO DO THAT. Uhh PENSAMENTO BUBBLE Eu sabia que ias fazer isso.

Anyway, people in Medieval Times lived slightly longer — life expectancy was 30 — De qualquer forma, as pessoas na Época Medieval viviam um pouco mais - a esperança de vida era de 30 anos -.

than Europeans during the Roman Empire — when life expectancy was 28. do que os europeus durante o Império Romano - quando a esperança de vida era de 28 anos.

Instead of centralized governments, Em vez de governos centralizados,

Europe in the middle ages had feudalism, a political system based on reciprocal relationships ||||||Feudalismus||||||| A Europa da Idade Média tinha o feudalismo, um sistema político baseado em relações de reciprocidade

between lords, who owned lots of land, and vassals, entre os senhores, que possuíam muitas terras, e os vassalos,

who protected the land and got to dress up as knights in exchange for pledging loyalty to the lords. ||||||||||||||Treue schwören|||| que protegiam as terras e se vestiam de cavaleiros em troca de um compromisso de lealdade para com os senhores.

The lords were also vassals to more important lords, ||||Vasallen|||| Os senhores eram também vassalos de senhores mais importantes,

with the most important of all being the king. sendo o mais importante de todos o rei.

Below the knights were peasants Abaixo dos cavaleiros estavam os camponeses

who did the actual work on the land in exchange for protection from bandits and other threats. que faziam o trabalho real na terra em troca de proteção contra bandidos e outras ameaças.

Feudalism was also an economic system, O feudalismo era também um sistema económico,

with the peasants working the land and keeping some of their production to feed themselves com os camponeses a trabalharem a terra e a guardarem uma parte da sua produção para se alimentarem

while giving the rest to the landowner whose land they worked. e o restante ao proprietário das terras em que trabalhavam.

The small scale, local nature of the feudal system was perfect for a time and place where |||||||feudale||||||||| O carácter local e de pequena escala do sistema feudal era perfeito para uma época e um local onde

the threats to peoples' safety were also small scale and local. as ameaças à segurança das pessoas eram também de pequena escala e locais.

But of course, this system reinforces the status quo – Mas, como é óbvio, este sistema reforça o status quo

there's little freedom and absolutely no social mobility: há pouca liberdade e absolutamente nenhuma mobilidade social:

Peasants could never work their way up to lords, Os camponeses nunca poderiam chegar a senhores,

and they almost never left their villages. e quase nunca saíam das suas aldeias.

Thanks, Thought Bubble.

One more point that's very interesting from a world history perspective:

this devolution from empire to localism has happened in lots of places at lots of different times. |||||Lokalisierung||||||||||| esta devolução do império ao localismo aconteceu em muitos sítios e em muitas épocas diferentes.

And in times of extreme political stress, E em tempos de extrema tensão política,

like after the fall of the Han dynasty in China, como após a queda da dinastia Han na China,

power tends to flow into the hands of local lords who can protect the peasants better than the state can. o poder tende a fluir para as mãos dos senhores locais, que podem proteger os camponeses melhor do que o Estado.

We hear about this a lot in Chinese history and also in contemporary Afghanistan, Ouvimos falar muito disto na história chinesa e também no Afeganistão contemporâneo,

but instead of being called feudal lords, these landlords are called warlords. mas em vez de serem chamados de senhores feudais, estes proprietários são chamados de senhores da guerra.

Eurocentrism striking again. O eurocentrismo volta a atacar.

The other reason the Dark Ages are called Dark A outra razão pela qual a Idade Média é chamada de Idade Média

is because Europe was dominated by superstition é porque a Europa era dominada pela superstição

and by boring religious debates about like how many angels can fit on the head of a pin. e por debates religiosos aborrecidos sobre quantos anjos cabem na cabeça de um alfinete.

And while there's something to that, E embora haja algo nisso,

the Middle Ages also saw theologians like Thomas Aquinas, |||||Theologen||| a Idade Média também viu teólogos como Tomás de Aquino,

who was quite an important philosopher, que foi um filósofo muito importante,

And women like Hildegard of Bilgen, |||Hildegard von B||Bingen E mulheres como Hildegard de Bilgen,

who wrote all this important liturgical music and also basically invented the genre of the morality play. |||||liturgische||||||||||| que escreveu toda esta importante música litúrgica e que, basicamente, inventou o género da peça de teatro moral.

All that noted, things were certainly brighter in the Islamic world, or Dar al Islam. ||||||||||||Haus des Islams|| No entanto, no mundo islâmico, ou Dar al Islam, as coisas eram certamente mais brilhantes.

So when we last left the Muslims, Então, quando deixámos os muçulmanos pela última vez,

they had expanded out of their homeland in Arabia and conquered the rich Egyptian provinces tinham-se expandido para fora da sua terra natal na Arábia e conquistado as ricas províncias egípcias

of the Byzantines and the entire Sassanian empire, dos bizantinos e de todo o império sassânida,

all in the space of about 100 years. tudo num espaço de cerca de 100 anos.

The Umayyad Dynasty then expanded the empire west to Spain and moved the capital to Damascus, |Umayyaden|||||||||||||| A dinastia omíada expandiu então o império para oeste, até Espanha, e transferiu a capital para Damasco,

because it was closer to the action, empire-wise but still in Arabia. porque estava mais perto da ação, em termos de império, mas ainda na Arábia.

That was really important to the Umayyads Isso era muito importante para os Omíadas

because they'd established this hierarchy in the empire with Arabs like themselves at the top and in fact ||etabliert||||||||||||||| porque tinham estabelecido esta hierarquia no império com árabes como eles no topo e, de facto

they tried to keep Arabs from fraternizing with non-Arab muslims throughout the Empire. ||||||verkehren||||||| tentaram impedir os árabes de confraternizarem com os muçulmanos não-árabes em todo o Império.

This of course annoyed the non-Arab Muslims, who were like, Isto, naturalmente, irritou os muçulmanos não árabes, que ficaram do género,

“I don't know if you're reading the same Quran we are, but this one says that "Não sei se estão a ler o mesmo Alcorão que nós, mas este diz que

we're all supposed to be equal.” é suposto sermos todos iguais".

And pretty quickly the majority of Muslims weren't Arabs, E rapidamente a maioria dos muçulmanos não eram árabes,

which made it pretty easy for them to overthrow the Umayyads, ||||||||stürzen|| o que lhes facilitou bastante o derrube dos Omíadas,

which they did in 750 CE. o que aconteceu em 750 d.C.

Their replacements, the Abb(ah)sids, Abb(uh)sids? Hold On... |Ersatz||Abb(1)||Abbasiden||||| Os seus substitutos, os Abb(ah)sids, Abb(uh)sids? Espera aí...

D'ahh, I'm right twice! D'ahh|||

Right, so the Abbasids were from the Abb(ah)si or the Abb(uh)-see family |||Abbasiden|||||||||||| Certo, então os Abássidas eram da família Abb(ah)si ou Abb(uh)-see

which hailed from the Eastern and therefore more Persian provinces of the Islamic Empire. |stammte|||||||||||| que provinham das províncias orientais e, por conseguinte, mais persas do Império Islâmico.

The Abbasids took over in 750 and no one could fully defeat them — ||||||||||besiegen| Os abássidas tomaram o poder em 750 e ninguém conseguiu derrotá-los completamente.

until 1258, when they were conquered by — wait for it — ||||erobert|||| até 1258, quando foram conquistados por - esperem por isso -

the Mongols. os mongóis.

The Abbasids kept the idea of a hereditary monarchy, |||||||erblicher| Os abássidas mantiveram a ideia de uma monarquia hereditária,

but they moved the capital of the empire to Baghdad, mas mudaram a capital do império para Bagdade,

and they were much more welcoming of other non-Arab Muslims into positions of power. e eram muito mais receptivos à entrada de outros muçulmanos não árabes em posições de poder.

And under the Abbasids, E sob os Abássidas,

the Dar al Islam took on a distinctly Persian cast that it never really lost. o Dar al Islam assumiu um carácter nitidamente persa que nunca perdeu.

The Caliph now styled himself as a king of kings, O califa intitulava-se agora o rei dos reis,

just like the Achaemenids had, |||Achaemeniden| tal como os Aqueménidas o fizeram,

and pretty soon the caliph's rule was a lot more indirect, ||||Kalifen|||||| e rapidamente o domínio do califa passou a ser muito mais indireto,

just like the original Persians'. tal como os persas originais.

This meant that his control was much weaker, |bedeutete||||||schwächer Isto significa que o seu controlo era muito mais fraco,

and by about 1000CE , the Islamic Caliphate which looks so incredibly impressive on a e, por volta do ano 1000 d.C., o Califado Islâmico, que parece tão incrivelmente impressionante numa

map had really descended into a series of smaller kingdoms, O mapa tinha-se transformado numa série de reinos mais pequenos,

each paying lip-service to the caliph in Baghdad. cada um deles a falar em nome do califa de Bagdade.

This was partly because the Islamic Empire relied more and more on soldiers from the Isto deveu-se, em parte, ao facto de o Império Islâmico depender cada vez mais de soldados da

frontier, in this case Turks, fronteira, neste caso os turcos,

and also slaves pressed into military service, in order to be the backbone of their army, e também de escravos que eram obrigados a prestar serviço militar, para serem a espinha dorsal do seu exército,

a strategy that has been tried over and over again and has worked exactly zero times. uma estratégia que já foi tentada vezes sem conta e que funcionou exatamente zero vezes.

Which you should remember if you ever become an emperor. |||||||||Kaiser Que deves recordar se alguma vez te tornares imperador.

Actually our resident historian points out that that strategy has worked-- De facto, o nosso historiador residente salienta que essa estratégia tem funcionado...

if you are the Mongols. se fordes os mongóis.

More important than the Persian-style monarchy that the Abbasids tried to set up was their |||||||||Abbasiden|||||| Mais importante do que a monarquia de tipo persa que os abássidas tentaram instaurar foi a sua

openness to foreigners and their ideas. abertura aos estrangeiros e às suas ideias.

That tolerance and curiosity ushered in a golden age of Islamic learning centered in Baghdad. The Abbasids ||||leiteten ein|||||||||||| Essa tolerância e curiosidade deram início a uma idade de ouro da aprendizagem islâmica, centrada em Bagdade. Os Abássidas

oversaw an efflorescence of culture unlike anything that had been seen since Hellenistic times. beobachtete||Blüte der Kultur||||||||||| A partir de então, a cultura floresceu de forma inédita desde a época helenística.

Arabic replaced Greek not only as the language of commerce and religion, but also of culture. O árabe substituiu o grego não só como língua de comércio e religião, mas também de cultura.

Philosophy, medicine, and poetry were all written in Arabic A filosofia, a medicina e a poesia eram todas escritas em árabe

(although Persian remained an important literary language.) (embora o persa continuasse a ser uma língua literária importante).

And Baghdad was the world's center of scholarship with its House of Wisdom and immense library. |||||||Wissenschaft|||||||| E Bagdade era o centro mundial da erudição, com a sua Casa da Sabedoria e a sua imensa biblioteca.

Muslim scholars translated the works of the Greek Philosophers including Aristotle and Plato ||||||||Philosophen|||| Os académicos muçulmanos traduziram as obras dos filósofos gregos, incluindo Aristóteles e Platão

as well as scientific works by Hippocrates, Archimedes ||||||Hippokrates|Archimedes bem como obras científicas de Hipócrates, Arquimedes

and especially the physician Galen. ||||Galen e especialmente o médico Galeno.

And they translated and preserved Buddhist and Hindu manuscripts that might have otherwise been lost. Traduziram e preservaram manuscritos budistas e hindus que, de outra forma, se teriam perdido.

Muslims made huge strides in medicine as well. Os muçulmanos também fizeram grandes progressos no domínio da medicina.

One Muslim scholar ibn Sina, wrote the Canon of Medicine, ||Gelehrter||Ibn Sina||||| Um estudioso muçulmano, ibn Sina, escreveu o Cânone de Medicina,

which became the standard medical textbook or centuries in both Europe and the Middle East. que se tornou o livro de texto médico padrão durante séculos, tanto na Europa como no Médio Oriente.

And the Islamic empire adopted mathematical concepts from India E o império islâmico adoptou conceitos matemáticos da Índia

such as the zero, a number so fascinating and beautiful como o zero, um número tão fascinante e belo

that we could write an entire episode about it but instead que poderíamos escrever um episódio inteiro sobre isso, mas em vez disso

I'm just gonna write it a little love poem: Vou escrever-lhe um pequeno poema de amor:

Oh, zero.

Pretty little zero. Um pequeno zero.

They say you're nothing but you mean everything to mathematical history...and me. Dizem que não és nada, mas és tudo para a história da matemática... e para mim.

Oh it's time for the Open Letter? Oh, está na altura da Carta Aberta?

An Open Letter to Science and Religion: Uma carta aberta à ciência e à religião:

But first lets see what's in the Secret Compartment. ||||||||Abteil Mas primeiro vamos ver o que está no compartimento secreto.

Oh, champagne poppers? ||Sektknaller Oh, champanhe?

Stan, what am I supposed to do with these? Stan, o que é suposto eu fazer com isto?

Dear Science and Religion, Caro Ciência e Religião,

You're supposed to be so irreconcilable and everything, |||||unversöhnlich|| É suposto serem tão irreconciliáveis e tudo mais,

but not so much in the Abbasid Empire. ||||||Abbasidenreich| mas não tanto no Império Abássida.

I mean, Muslim mathematicians expanded math to such a degree Quero dizer, os matemáticos muçulmanos expandiram a matemática a tal ponto

that we now call the base ten number system que atualmente designamos por sistema numérico de base dez

and the symbols we use to denote it “Arabic numerals.” ||||||bezeichnen||| e os símbolos que usamos para o denotar "algarismos árabes".

And religion was at least part of what pushed all that learning forward. E a religião foi, pelo menos em parte, o motor de toda essa aprendizagem.

Like the great philosopher Ibn Rushd argued that |||||Averroes|| Tal como o grande filósofo Ibn Rushd defendia que

the only path to religious enlightenment was through Aristotelian reasoning. o único caminho para a iluminação religiosa era através do raciocínio aristotélico.

And Muslim mathematicians and astronomers developed algebra E os matemáticos e astrónomos muçulmanos desenvolveram a álgebra

partly so they could simplify Islamic inheritance law. ||||||Erbrecht| em parte para poderem simplificar o direito sucessório islâmico.

Plus they made important strides in trigonometry ||||||der Trigonometrie Além disso, fizeram progressos importantes no domínio da trigonometria

so that people understand where to turn para que as pessoas saibam onde se devem dirigir

when trying to turn toward Mecca. ||||in Richtung| ao tentar virar para Meca.

You were working so well together, science and religion, Estavam a trabalhar tão bem juntos, a ciência e a religião,

but then like Al and Tipper Gore, just couldn't last forever. mas, tal como Al e Tipper Gore, não podia durar para sempre.

Nothing gold can stay in this world, nothing gold can stay. Nada de ouro pode ficar neste mundo, nada de ouro pode ficar.

Best wishes, John Green Felicidades, John Green

Baghdad wasn't the only center of learning in the Islamic world. Bagdade não era o único centro de aprendizagem no mundo islâmico.

In Spain, Islamic Cordoba became a center for the arts, especially architecture. Em Espanha, a Córdova islâmica tornou-se um centro de artes, especialmente de arquitetura.

This is perhaps best exemplified by the Great Mosque at Cordoba, ||||veranschaulicht||||Moschee|| A Grande Mesquita de Córdova é talvez o melhor exemplo disso,

built by the Umayyad ruler Abd al-Rahman I In 785-786 CE. |||||Abd al-Rahman||Rahman I||| construído pelo governante omíada Abd al-Rahman I em 785-786 d.C.

That's right, this building, É isso mesmo, este edifício,

still standing today and one of the most amazing mosques in the world, was built in a year, |||||||||Moscheen|||||||| ainda hoje de pé e uma das mais espantosas mesquitas do mundo, foi construída num ano,

whereas medieval cathedrals typically took, like, a million years to finish. während|||||||||| enquanto que as catedrais medievais demoravam, tipicamente, um milhão de anos a serem concluídas.

The Muslims of Spain were also engineers who rivaled the Romans. ||||||||konkurrierten mit|| Os muçulmanos de Espanha eram também engenheiros que rivalizavam com os romanos.

Aqueducts in Cordoba brought drinkable water into the city, Em Córdova, os aquedutos levavam água potável à cidade,

and Muslim scholars took the lead in agricultural science, e os académicos muçulmanos assumiram a liderança na ciência agrícola,

improving yields on all kinds of new crops, |Erträge||||||Pflanzen melhorar o rendimento de todos os tipos de novas culturas,

allowing Spanish lives to be longer and less hungry. permitindo que a vida dos espanhóis seja mais longa e menos esfomeada.

Everybody wanted to live in Spain, even the greatest Jewish philosopher, Maimonides, |||||||||||Maimonides Todos queriam viver em Espanha, até o maior filósofo judeu, Maimonides,

wanted to live in Spain, but sadly he was expelled and ended up in Alexandria Egypt. |||||||||ausgewiesen|||||| queria viver em Espanha, mas infelizmente foi expulso e acabou por ir para Alexandria, no Egipto.

There he wrote his awesomely titled defense of rationality, A Guide for the Perplexed. Foi aí que escreveu a sua defesa da racionalidade, intitulada "Um Guia para os Perplexos".

I'm translating the title, of course, because the original text was written …in Arabic. Estou a traduzir o título, claro, porque o texto original foi escrito ...em árabe.

Meanwhile, China was having a Golden Age of its own: Entretanto, a China estava a viver a sua própria Idade de Ouro:

The Tang Dynasty made China's government more of a meritocracy, |||||||||Verdienstgesellschaft A dinastia Tang tornou o governo da China mais meritocrático,

and ruled over 80 million people across four million square miles. e governou mais de 80 milhões de pessoas em quatro milhões de quilómetros quadrados.

And they might've conquered all of Central Asia |||erobert|||| E poderiam ter conquistado toda a Ásia Central

had it not been for the Abbasids, whom they fought at ||||||Abbasiden|||| se não fossem os abássidas, contra os quais lutaram em

the most important Battle You've Never Heard Of, a batalha mais importante de que nunca ouviste falar,

the Battle of the Talas River. ||||Talas| a batalha do rio Talas.

This was the Ali-Frasier of the 8th century. ||||Frasier|||| Este foi o Ali-Frasier do século VIII.

The Abbasids won, which ended up defining who had influence where with the -- Os abássidas venceram, o que acabou por definir quem tinha influência em que parte da --

with the Abbasids dominating to the west of the river and China dominating to the east. com os Abássidas a dominarem a oeste do rio e a China a dominar a leste.

The Tang also produced incredible art that was traded all throughout Asia. Os Tang também produziram arte incrível que foi comercializada em toda a Ásia.

Many of the more famous sculptures from the Tang Dynasty feature figures who are distinctly not-Chinese, ||||||||||zeigen||||deutlich|| Muitas das esculturas mais famosas da Dinastia Tang apresentam figuras que são claramente não-chinesas,

which again demonstrates the diversity of the empire. ||||Vielfalt||| o que demonstra mais uma vez a diversidade do império.

The Tang was also a golden age for Chinese poetry O período Tang foi também uma época de ouro para a poesia chinesa

with notables like Du Fu and Li Bo plying their craft, ||||||||ausübend||Kunst com notáveis como Du Fu e Li Bo a exercerem o seu ofício,

encouraged by the official government. incentivado pelo governo oficial.

And the Song Dynasty, which lasted from 960 to 1258, E a dinastia Song, que durou de 960 a 1258,

kicked even more ass-it's-not-cursing-if-you're-talking-about-donkeys. ||||||Fluchen||||| deu ainda mais pontapés no rabo - não é um xingamento se estivermos a falar de burros.

By the 11th century, Chinese metalworkers were producing as much iron No século XI, os metalúrgicos chineses produziam tanto ferro quanto

as Europe would be able to produce in the 18th century. como a Europa seria capaz de produzir no século XVIII.

Some of this iron was put to use in new plows, ||||||||||Pflügen Parte deste ferro foi utilizado em novos arados,

which enabled agriculture to boom, o que permitiu o desenvolvimento da agricultura,

thereby supporting population growth. dadurch||| apoiando assim o crescimento demográfico.

Porcelain was of such high quality that it was shipped throughout the world, A porcelana era de uma qualidade tão elevada que era expedida para todo o mundo,

which is why we call it “china.” e é por isso que lhe chamamos "china".

And there was so much trade going on that the Chinese ran out of metal for coins, O comércio era tão intenso que os chineses ficaram sem metal para as moedas,

leading to another innovation – paper money. o que levou a outra inovação - o papel-moeda.

And by the 11th century, the Chinese were writing down recipes for E no século XI, os chineses já escreviam receitas de

a mixture of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal, |||Salpeter|Schwefel(1)||Holzkohle uma mistura de salitre, enxofre e carvão vegetal,

that we now know as gunpowder. que hoje conhecemos como pólvora.

That becomes kind of a big deal in history, Isso torna-se uma espécie de grande coisa na história,

paving the way, as it does, den Weg ebnen||||| abrindo caminho, como acontece,

for modern warfare and arena rock pyrotechnics, and— ||Kriegführung||||Pyrotechnik| para a guerra moderna e a pirotecnia do rock de arena, e-

ohhhh, THAT'S WHY. ohhhh|| ohhhh, É POR ISSO.

Not so dark after all. Afinal, não é assim tão escuro.

Thanks for watching. We'll see you next week. Obrigado por estarem a ver. Vemo-nos na próxima semana.

Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan Muller, Crash Course é produzido e realizado por Stan Muller,

our script supervisor is Danica Johnson. ||Skriptüberwacherin|||

The graphics team is Thought Bubble, A equipa gráfica é a Thought Bubble,

and show is written by my high school history teacher Raoul Meyer and myself.

Last week's Phrase of the Week was also good advice: Quit Smoking! A Frase da Semana da semana passada também era um bom conselho: Deixar de fumar!

If you want to suggest future Phrases of the Week or guess at this week's, you can do so in comments ||||vorschlagen||||||||||||||||

where you can also ask questions about today's video that will be answered by our team of historians.

If you liked today's video please click the thumb's up button. ||||||||Daumen|| Se gostou do vídeo de hoje, clique no botão de polegar para cima.

You can also follow us on Twitter @thecrashcourse or on Facebook.

There are links in the video info. Existem ligações na informação do vídeo.

Our writer and historian, Raoul Mayer,

also tweets awesome Crash Course pop quizzes, so there's a link to follow him as well, também escreve tweets sobre os fantásticos questionários do Crash Course, por isso há um link para o seguir também,

and me, you know, because I'm a narcissist. |||||||Narzisst e eu, sabes, porque sou narcisista.

[music outro] We get to be a continent, even though we're not a continent... |Abspann|||||||||||| [music outro] Podemos ser um continente, apesar de não sermos um continente...