The Early Middle Ages - Late Antiquity - Early Medieval Times

Sometimes called the Dark Ages, sometimes known as Late Antiquity, the early medieval era overlaps the period of time in which the western Roman Empire as a governmental entity declined and disappeared. Generally considered to last until the end of the first millennium, the Early Middle Ages witnessed the Carolingian Empire, the Iconoclastic Controversy, Viking raids, and the birth and rapid expansion of Islam in Northern Africa and Spain.