How did the relative isolation of Western Europe affect its relations with its neighbors as it began to reassert itself in the eleventh to twelfth centuries?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A. Reassertion of Western Europe and its effect on neighbors
1. growth of Christianity
a. church and state grasped communities formerly isolated by forest, marsh, or mountain
b. reclaiming for God part of the terrain of paganism
c. projects to tame little-exploited and underexploited environments
d. Cistercians directed their efforts into "deserts" where habitation was sparse and nature hostile
2. expansion of settlements
a. new accessibility of highlands to settlement from below
b. forests fell, bogs were drained, farmers moved in
3. engineering helped expansion
a. new embankments and canals made rivers easier to navigate
b. searching out new routes and building roads and bridges were urgent tasks for the common good
4. production and population growth brought increased trade
a. new trade routes knitted Atlantic and Mediterranean seaboards in a single economy
b. new kinds of economic activity became possible in growing towns
c. Hanseatic League was a network of allied ports along the North Sea and Baltic coasts that collaborated to promote trade
d. states resumed large-scale ventures along Atlantic coasts
e. exchange across vast distances made geographical specialization possible