Crusaders

The crusades were a group of people that carried crosses on their shields, representing their religion Christianity. Their main goal was to fight back and earn their territory, the holy land, located in Jerusalem. This place was sacred for the Christians because they were told Jesus was raised there, and that is where he started his main teachings. They fought for their religion, and the Holy Land. Since they were traveling to Jerusalem, the Holy Land, which was considered sacred by the religions of Christianity, Muslims, and Jews. All these people that would travel to a sacred place including the crusaders, are called pilgrims, they are people that travel to sacred places.
Jerusalem was once controlled by the Arab Muslims that actually welcomed the Christians, but then in the 1000’s the Turks took over.
Not long after that a war broke out. Between the Crusaders (Christians) and the Seljuk Turks (Muslim). The war was started by a Christian Pope; he mainly wanted to fight for their rights to enter Jerusalem. He wanted his pilgrims to visit other religious sites as well. But he had another reason in mind the reason that the Crusaders may unite the Europeans against enemies, (Turks), as well as gain power and prestige for himself and the Church. . Coming from the Holy Land, the crusaders brought some goods with them. mainly rugs, jewelry, glass, and different spices. This helped there trade, in there regions. Thanks to the goods they took back to them it helped them grow there cities and towns, because of the money and power they collected fighting, and trading with the Holy Land. Returning Crusaders opened new ideas for people, and technology back to Europe. This is when the Middle Ages started, the Crusaders basically improved on everything they had at the time including, medicine, mathematics, and technology. They increased there knowledge! After coming back they built more efficient boats, and some became worldwide explorers!