Are the terms "Medieval Period" and "Dark Ages" interchangeable?

[Ad_Quid_Orator]

I've seen a lot of people use the term "Dark Ages" to describe the Medieval period from the Fall of Rome to the Renaissance (~500AD-1500AD). Although I've also seen a History channel documentary refer to the Dark Ages as the period from the from the Fall of Rome to the Crusades. But either way I think applying the term "Dark Ages" to this time period is misleading because while progress slowed down (or even stalled from 500AD-1000AD) it wasn't "undone".

I think the term "Dark Ages" would be best used to describe the 500 year time period between the Bronze age Collapse and the start of the Classical Period. That undid ~1900 years of progress by Western Civilization and within the lifespan of a human being, people went from living in cities to going back to the stone age.

Updates

+1 y

Also given that the Medieval Period was followed by the age Colonialism, Slavery and Imperialism, it wasn't much "darker" than the periods that straddled it.

[bean2k21]

The Dark Ages, which was the first part of the medieval period, saw the dwindling of society, art, and culture in Europe. Interestingly, the colonial period, as mentioned, saw a number of advancements and was actually quite an advanced societal structure, if you think about it, in spite of its dark side.

[NathanDavis]

I just call it "my teen years"

@dustybiker

[dustybiker]

*snort*

[dustybiker]

It’s always best to ask someone who actually lived through it all.