The Middle Ages were a period of about a thousand years in European history. They started around the year 476 when the Western Roman Empire ended, and continued until around the time Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492. The 'Middle Ages' are called this because it is the time between the fall of Imperial Rome and the beginning of the Early modern Europe. This period of time is also known as the Medieval Age, the Dark Ages (due to the lost technology of the Roman empire), or the Age of Faith (because of the rise of Christianity and Islam). When used narrowly, the term "Dark Ages" refer only to a very early period, from 476 to 800 (when Charlemagne became Holy Roman Emperor). Because few could write, less is known about the Dark Ages than about earlier times.