The medieval ages are one of the three main periods in European history. They range from the 5th to 15th centuries and begin with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 A.D. This period is considered a deviation from the path of classical learning of the first period and the Renaissance scholarship of the modern period. North Africa and the Middle East, once part of the Eastern Roman Empire, became Islamic in this period. The medieval period witnessed sustained urbanization in northern and Western Europe. Art and architecture flourished during this period. The struggle for power between the Church and the emerging nation states in this period shaped the western world.
