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ethnicity  noun - belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition

Crusades - series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period

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We do not think about that often, but without some particular ethnicities, our world was not going to be the same. Of course, all people ever lived on Earth have left their footprints and contributed to what we are today, but some just added more. 

Normans began their expansion throughout Europe in the XI century. Franks gave them this name due to the direction they were coming from - North. Charles, king of the franks at the time, negotiated peace and gave them the territory we still now as Normandy today. They adapted to the new way of life. They converted to Christianity, took frank women, and adopted French as their language. With time they turned their ambitions to England, and not only their foot stepped on it but changed it forever. Thanks to them, English is the language we know today. 

Renowned as mighty worriers, they participated in the Crusades and helped establish Christian influence on specific areas. 

They made their way through Italy and created the kingdom of Sicily. In the dangerous period, Europe was at, Sicily was one of the few places people from different cultures and religions could live and prosper together. Even today, many pieces of evidence can be seen in Sicily like cathedrals and monuments in the Style of the Middle East, Byzantine Empire, and France.  There Muslim poets and musicians worked alongside Byzantine architects and philosophers.  

It is hard to realize how much the Normans changed Europe. Part of their success was the fact they disappeared. They mixed with the locals, and today there are no living representatives of this ethnicity. Yet their contribution can still be seen.

The contribution of normans to Europe.