Crusades in the 12^th century: causes, events, effects

In the 12^th century, there were 3 civilisations around the Mediterranean basin: the Christians in the west, the Muslims in the East and the South, and the Byzantines in between.

The first crusade was between the Christians and the Muslims. The crusade was asked by the Pope Urban II. Urban II wanted a crusade to set the holy shrine free from the Muslims. The holy shrine is situated in Palestine, but it is a holy land for the Muslims too.

For the Pope, The Turks (who were Muslim) were his enemies because they had another religion. He promised that crusaders who went crusade would be forgiven of all theirs sins and they were dead sure to go to Heaven.

During the first crusade, Christians conquered new lands because there were many landless lords who wanted to get a land for themselves; but the Pope never asked them to conquer new lands.

However, Christians divided Palestine into four crusaders states: the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli and d the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Muslims did not want Christians to conquer their lands, so they launched their own holy war: the Djihad. From 1099 to 1204, there were four crusades.

Christians were very cruel during the crusades and in their testimonies they exaggerated saying in the streets there were piles of heads, hands, feet; people had to wade in blood up to the knees… Whereas Muslims spoke of death too, but not so exaggerated and, they were more open-minded: when Christians were defeated, if they wanted to stay in Palestine, they could, but they had to pay a tax.

In a short term, crusades were a success because crusaders created new states in Palestine, BUT it was a long-term failure because today, Jerusalem is no longer a Christian city.

Nowadays, we don’t understand crusades very well because the Pope said they were wanted by God, but we can’t imagine God, who symbolises peace, asking Christians to kill and exterminate the Muslims. However, for medieval people, crusades were an act of piety, charity and love.

Our first Geography lesson was about the distribution of population in the world. First, we have located the main population centres and low populated areas in differents maps and cartograms.  Then, to understand how population is distributed in the world, we have studied demography. And to finish we’ve alluded to its consequences on people’s living conditions.

The “demographic transition” shows us the different steps of the evolution of population in history. It goes from a high birth rate and a high death rate to a low birth rate and a low death rate. This evolution had been engendered by different elements such as : new scientific discoveries, improvement of medicine, hygiene and medical cares, wars, the drift from the land... But nowadays, all the countries in the world are not in the same step of the “demographic transition”. Indeed:

Ÿ Poor countries are still in step  B or C. It means that their population increases fast: their natural increase in high, between 2 and 3% a year.

Ÿ Rich countries are in step D or E, so, their population increases slowly, stagnates or decreases even in some cases.

As a result, this shows a paradoxical situation because on the one hand poor countries shouldn’t have as many kids, to be taken out from poverty. On the other hand rich countries don’t have enough kids and that will be a real problem in the future.

To mesure development of a county, there is an index called the Human Development Index (or “I.D.H” in French”) which takes into account: the Gross Domestic Production (P.I.B) per inhabitant, life expectancy and literacy rate. When this index is close to 0, the country is developing, on the opposite when it’s close to 1 the country is developed (it means it can provide for the basic needs of its population: water, food, housing, education).

Examples: -the H.D.I of Niger is 0,292

                  -the H.D.I of France is 0,932

Thanks to this index and to the demographic transition, we can notice that there is a link between demography and development: it’s a BOTH-WAY-RELATIONSHIP.

Demography is a key element to understand people’s linving conditions in a country.

Indeed, a high birth rate is one of the reasons which can explain that a country isn’t developed. But in poor developing countries, kids work for their parents so, they are a source of income for the family. Therefore, people need to have a lot of kids. Besides, poor people have many children because they haven’t  means of contraception.

On the opposite, in rich developed countries, parents have about one or two kids. That can be explained because in rich countries kids are not seen as a source of income but as a source of expense. Enven if people have  high standard of living, it’s costly to raise a child and most of them are spoiled. What’s more, school is mandatory and parents must spend money in their kids’education. Now, women work and they can’t have as many children as before. They also have new means of contraception ( the pill, the morning after pill…)

To put it in a nutshell, it is extremely important to know that there is a link between demography and development. It’s a key element to take into account to take poor developing countries out from poverty. Birth control seems to be a reliable solution to poverty. Besides, rich developed countries have to take some measures to raise birth rates. There is some solutions, for example: to encourage immigration of young workers, to increase the financial support for parents...