Islam         Muhammad began his ministry at the age of 40, when, he claimed, the archangel Gabriel appeared to him in a vision. Muhammad told only his family and close friends about this and about all the other succeeding visions. After four years he had converted at least 40 people to his views, and he then began to preach openly in his native city of Mecca. Ridiculed by the Meccans, he went in 622 to Medina. It is from …showed first 75 words of 1060 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1060 total…Franks penetrated German borders. The movement stopped for a while in the late 3rd century during the reigns of the emperors Diocletian and Constantine the Great, but it resumed under pressure from the non-Germanic Huns, who came out of Central Asia in the 4th century. In the 5th century the Germans occupied the whole Western Roman Empire. Over the next few hundred years, the Germanic tribes adopted Christianity and laid the foundations of medieval Europe.