What is the dark ages?

In general, the term "Dark Ages" refers to a period of intellectual darkness and economic regression. The most widely known such period in western civilization is the Middle Ages, or the Early Middle ages, depending on how you approach the history. There have been other such period of regression in other regions at other times, and these, too, have been characterized as dark ages. The most widely known from antiquity is the Greek "dark ages' that fell between the period of Minoan Civilization and the later, classic Greek Civilization.

The term is intended to draw a contrast between periods of "light" before and after the dark period.

For the European Dark Ages, the light period before is the Roman Empire and the light period after is the Reawakening, or Renaissance. The European Middle Ages are considered to run from the 5th to the 15th centuries, and the Early Middle Ages from the 5th to the 10th centuries.

While the term "Dark Ages" continues in popular use, historians of the 20th century have been less and less inclined to use the term because of increasing knowledge of accomplishments that occurred during that period and the negative connotations of the Word "dark" in contrast to the preceding and following periods of "light."