Feudalism, Islam, Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Modern Age
Feudalism
Feudalism refers to the social, political, and economic system based on the fief that dominated Western Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. This system involved land holdings cultivated by serfs, part of whose production had to be given as “census” (lease) to the lord of the land, in most cases a minor noble (Lord) nominally loyal to a king. The castle, perched on high, represented power and strength. In principle, it was a bulwark to protect people from depredations. It served as the home of the Lord and a place of protection for subjects during conflicts. From there, justice was administered to all subjects. Initially, free people were subject to certain minimum standards of obedience and mutual defense, and promised services. The others were serfs.
Islam
Islam is a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which states as a fundamental premise for its believers that “There is no God but Allah,1 and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”2 The Arabic word Allah, translated into Spanish as Alá, means ‘God,’ and its etymology is the same as the Semitic word El, used to refer to God in the Bible. Islamic scholars define Islam as “submission to God Almighty through monotheism, obedience, and abandonment of idolatry.”3 The holy book of Islam is the Quran,4 given by Allah to Muhammad through Jibril (the archangel Gabriel). Followers of Islam are called Muslims (Arabic muslim, meaning ‘one who submits’). They testify that Muhammad is the last prophet sent by God and the seal of Prophethood.5
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic is a prehistoric stage characterized by the use of carved stone tools, but also by the use of other organic raw materials to build various tools, such as bone, horn, wood, leather, and fibers. It is the longest period in the history of man (in fact, it comprises 99% of it), and extends from 2.5 million years ago (in Africa) until about 10,000 years ago. The Paleolithic is characterized, broadly speaking, by the use of heavy, unwieldy tools, mostly poorly crafted. Paleolithic people were nomadic, meaning they established themselves in a place and stayed there until the natural resources were depleted. They had full capacity for building.
Neolithic
Neolithic: Initially, this name was given because of the findings of polished stone tools that appeared to accompany the development and expansion of agriculture. Today, the Neolithic is defined precisely by the knowledge and use of agriculture or livestock. Usually, but not necessarily, it is accompanied by the work of pottery.
Modern Age
The Modern Age is the third of the historical periods into which Universal History is traditionally divided in the West, according to Christopher Celarius. From this perspective, the early modern period would promote the values of modernity (progress, communication, reason) compared to the previous period, the Middle Ages, which is typically identified as a Dark Age or a parenthesis of backwardness, isolation, and obscurity. The spirit of the modern age looked to its previous benchmark, Antiquity, identified as the Classical Period.
In the Modern Age, human worlds that had been isolated since Prehistory were integrated: the New World (America) and the Old World (Eurasia and Africa). When the continent of Australia was discovered, the term “Novísimo World” would be discussed. The bourgeoisie, the name given in the European Middle Ages to the inhabitants of the villages (the new quarters of the expanding cities), had an ambiguous position in the modern age. From a linear view, which takes the bourgeois revolution as its point of arrival, they sought locations outside the feudal system. As free men in Europe, they became powerful through the creation of commercial networks that ranged from north to south. Cities that had achieved a life free from the empire and the papacy, such as Venice and Genoa, created true business empires. In Western Europe, from the late Middle Ages, some monarchies tended towards the formation of what, in the late modern age, could be identified as national states in geographically defined areas and unified markets of a size adapted to economic modernization.