Old Stuff

1450-1750

Major European Developments

• By 1300s much of Europe was Christian… Feudal system dominated and Greece and Rome had been forgotten– Life dominated by local issues

• 1348- BLACK DEATH

The Renaissance

• Started 1400s• Born out of the Black Death• Movement toward cities• Middle class of bankers, merchants, and

traders emerge• More global trade

Humanism

• As money increased… more was spent on history

• Humanity– Personal accomplishment and personal happiness

• Re-emergence of Greek and Roman ideas• Focus on human endeavors… HUMANISM

Renaissance Arts

• MEDICI Family– Powerful bankers– PATRON of the Arts

• Michelangelo• Leonardo Da Vinci• Donatello

I “GUT” It• Johann Gutenberg– Mid 1400s– Develops printing press

– Led to more knowledge– Books were written in own vernacular

– Machiavelli’s THE PRINCE• Suggested how a monarchy should rule (for the state not the

people)• Suggested separation of Church and State

More Literature

• Erasmus– Praise of Folly• Made fun of politics

• Sir Thomas More– Utopia• Describes an ideal society

• William Shakespeare

Protestant Reformation

• Roman Catholic Church began selling INDULGENCES– Allowed people to buy their way into heaven

• Land owning nobles became resentful of the Church due to exploitation of resources

Martin Luther

• 1517• Nailed a list of 95 theses on a church door• It listed grievances with the church• Quickly distributed• Leads to Christianity splitting… again– LUTHERANS– Opened the floodgates to other thinkers

John Calvin

• In 1530s led Calvinists• Spread from Switzerland• Preached only a few would be saved

Around the same time…

• KING HENRY XIII (the tudors)• Wanted a son for an heir • Divorced, beheaded, and died… Divorced,

beheaded survived• Establishes the Church of England (Anglican)

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction

• Catholic Reformation or the COUNTER REFORMATION

• Reforms itself and wins back some losses• IGNATIUS LOYOLA – Formed the Jesuits

• COUNCIL OF TRENT – Presided over the reform and led interpretation of

religious doctrine

Scientific Revolution: Use it or lose it

• Mid 1500s• Focus in on scientific investigation• COPERNICUS– Mathematically shows Earth revolves around the sun

• Galileo– Creates telescope– Showed rotation of earth… clashed with the church

• They put him under arrest

Scientific Method: In search of truth

• Developed by Brahe and Bacon… late 1500s• Kepler– Laws of planetary motion

• Newton– Laws of Gravity– Laws of Motion

The Enlightenment: Out of the dark and into the light

• Born out of the Scientific Revolution• 17th and 18th century• Hobbes– SOCIAL CONTRACT• Leviathan… advocated an all powerful ruler

• Locke– Believed mankind was good– Believed government was to protect our rights• Life, liberty, and property

Enlightenment cont…• Rousseau– Argues for freedoms– General will of the people

• Montesquieu– Separation of Powers

• Voltaire– Religious toleration

• LED TO THE ENLIGHTENED MONARCHS– Joseph of Austria, Frederick II of Prussia, Catherine the

Great (although it comes back to haunt her)– They took on enlightenment beliefs, increased

opportunities for serfs, attempted to tolerate diversity

European Exploration

• Portugal is the major player at the start– Prince Henry the Navigator– Bartholomew Dias• Reaches Cape of Good Hope

– Vasco de Gama• Rounded Cape of Good Hope and reaches India

• Christopher Columbus – 1492– Thought he has found the West Indies

Other Explorers• Ponce de Leon

– Explored Florida• Balboa

– 1st found the Pacific Ocean• Magellan

– Crew was first to go round the world• Cortes

– Conquered Aztecs• Montezuma: Aztec Leader • Tenotichlan

• Pizzaro– Peru– Conquered Incans

Encomienda System

• Sort of like feudalism• Creoles– People born in the new colonies to Spanish

parents

• Mestizos– Euro and Native American ancestry

• Mulattos– European and African Ancestry

Columbian Exchange