Did the crusades have any effect on us today?

Answer 1

The Crusades led to several major outcomes, which include but are not limited to:

1) Civilizational Hatred & Conflict: The Crusades and the Arab Jihads before them led to the crystallization of hatred between Christendom and the Islamic World, including a general disrespect between European civilization and Arab Civilization, which has a number of military consequences today from the Iraq War, to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, to the Migration from the Arab World to European Union, to the internal debates in Islamic Countries between Islamists and Secularists (who are seen sometimes as emissaries of Western/Christian culture).

2) Christianity and "Whiteness" of Lebanon: As a result of being under Crusader control for a very long time, Lebanon became a majority-Christian polity and its people tend to be fairer-skinned than other Arabs. This is a result of European intermarriage with the local people and the spreading of their faith.

3) Renaissance: The Europeans who returned to Europe from the Crusades had seen some of the cultural and technological wonders of Middle East and a desire to bring these back to Europe led to an increase in both mercantile and ideological trade. As Greek and Roman documents made their way back to Europe from the Islamic World, it led to the Renaissance.

4) Jerusalem as a City of All Monotheisms: Part of the agreement that the Muslim leader Saladin made when he reconquered Jerusalem from the Crusaders was permitting the Christians to remain in part of the city and perform pilgrimages to the city as they had done before the Seljuk Turks had forbidden it. Additionally, Saladin permitted the Jews, who had been exiled from Jerusalem during the Crusader period to resettle in the city. As a result, Jerusalem became a city with sizable communities of all three monotheistic faiths, setting up the Old City of Jerusalem today with its four quarters.

5) International Trade and Commerce: The Europeans who returned to Europe from the Crusades had seen some of the cultural and technological wonders of Middle East and a desire to bring these back to Europe led to an increase in both mercantile and ideological trade. As a result, Europeans began to vastly increase trade with the Arab World and began to seek ways of directly dealing with East Asia and South Asia, which were the sources of the desired goods. This ultimately led to the rise of the Navigators, who sought sea routes to East Asia, and ultimately discovered the New World.

Answer 2

Yes. Lingering arab hatred of europeans.