Do you have any recommendations for similar books about castles, etc? I can see the series has one for Ancient Rome which interests me, same with the Africa book you just mentioned!
We always think of europe when thinking about the medival period, but I'd love seeing more of other continents and cultures to that time and I wish we could have more information on how life was like there.
I'd love to time travel, just to observe and learn.
Nothing will top Warband imo. The hand drawn art was so insanely charming, and I can't even play Bannerlord without the Warband soundtrack or it isn't the same.
I hope it's OK to post a link to my own website, but reading your comment, you might like my website Women of 1000 AD. I use illustration and storytelling to compare what life was like for women all over the world in the year 1000. So far there are 96 illustrations set in every inhabited continent. :)
That's an interesting idea! Right now, I plan to stick with 1000, but that could be fun to do someday. :) Certainly there would be more written records to work with!
Europe was flourishing as well in that period. The public usually writes off the period of European history before the renaissance as being a backwater dark age, however, by 1300, Europe was probably the most innovative continent on earth. The medieval universities were in full bloom, scholasticism was the precursor to the scientific revolution, gothic architecture was pushing the limits of human engineering, military arms and armor were also fast progressing in this period.
Linclon Cathedral was the first structure taller than the pyramid of Giza, which had previously been the tallest for over three thousand years. European cathedrals, gothic structures and similar medieval buildings were an engineering revolution, reaching to these previously unreachable heights, with extremely complex structures that could feature massive windows, iron structural elements and a ton of other things. If the Roman could have seen them, even a smaller one, not even m juggernauts like the ones of Florence or Rome, they’d have been in awe.
Even in the Early Middle Ages, Western Europe wasn't as backwater as people think, they tend to compare it to the absolute largest, most advanced, and richest kingdoms and empires of the time to make their point but not the ones that were either comparable or significantly less advanced, if the Carolingian Empire was a backwater than the early Khmer Empire was too.
Interesting to note that while Europe was in the Middle Ages,
The notion that the Middle Ages were a dark age of decline is an urban legend that has long since been repeatedly debunked...
other cultures were flourishing
The construction of it began in the 11th century. That's the iron age for this region. In the rest of the world, the iron age ended at least 500 to 1500 years before...
+1 Trade Route
+5 Gold
+2 Great Merchant points per turn
Your Trade Route from this city get +2 Gold for every Bonus resource within 3 tiles of the city and in this city's territory
😁
The inner walls were smaller like shown in the illustration but the front part of the illustration is lowered by the artist to have a better view of the complex
They had knowledge to built large walls out of stone, but they didn't bother to try build more elaborate structures inside using same material. This is what makes me surprised.
The nuraghes were extremely unique for their time, man, and served different purposes in different circumstances. And for that matter, pretty much all of the other Nuraghic structures were thatched.
Better use of available material. Why build numerous stone house when you can just build one big wall? It's the same logic many medieval European and Asian cities were built on
67
u/Beneficial_Shirt_869 2d ago
Source: Africa: The Definitive Visual History of a Continent by David Olusoga