The Crusades and Diffusion Crusade- A holy war. Is this case it was the European Christians fighting to take control over the Holy Land. There were several Crusade over the 300 year period 1st the Crusaders were not prepared, not even a plan. Won a narrow strip of land 1099, and lost it 1144 2nd failed to recapture the city, and Jerusalem fell to a Muslim leader, Saladin 3rd Richard the Lion-Hearted and Saladin end the Crusade in a truce in 1192. Muslims kept Jerusalem, but Christian pilgrims could visit the cities holy places.

4th- failed to capture Jerusalem. Other attempts were made but religion was no longer the motivating factor. The search for personal gain grew. The Crusades increased the interaction between the Western and Eastern worlds and between Christianity and Islam Exposure to Muslim culture in Spain and Italy, as well as the growth of “colonies” established by the Crusaders in the Holy Land made Europeans aware of the goods available in the Muslim world that were not available in Europe advancements in medicine were also developed as a result of these interactions.

The Islamic faith in the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) dates back to 711 AD when much of the country was conquered by Tariq ibn-Ziyad , who brought the country under Islamic rule. This control lasted until 1492, when Muslims were forcibly removed from much of Spain during the Reconquista. The Reconquista was an almost eight-hundred-year period in which the northern Catholic kingdoms of Spain successfully defeated and pushed out the southern Muslim states.

The economic interdependence between nations was a direct result of the development of trade between those nations. This economic growth was spurred by the growth of banking system in many European countries that were used to finance trade in those regions. Cultural interactions led to the spread of religion, political systems, and other social institutions.