title: The Medieval World, 500–1500 CE
abstract: Between 500 and 1500 ce, as people multiplied in numbers and pushed back the frontiers of inhabited lands, the tug-of-war between them and the rest of nature began to shift toward the human race.Human numbers grew and settlements multiplied.Forests and wetlands retreated.The tools and techniques used to squeeze more food out of the biosphere grew more sophisticated and efficient.Yet this was also a time when natural disasters demolished the achievement of once-proud civilizations.The human posit