c. 1450 to c. 1648
Renaissance and Exploration
The Renaissance and Age of Discovery were developed as European views and values shifted from being dominated by the Catholic Church to a period of intellectual development, not led by the Church's views, that saw many ideas that would stay with European society for hundreds of years.
The Black Death ended serfdom all across western Europe which brought a severe labor shortage then leading to many peasants being freed from serfdom.
The revival of classical texts during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance gave way for humanists, who studied the classical texts and focused on human beings and their inherent dignity, to break free of medieval philosophy that was controlled by the Catholic Church. Intellects like Petrarch, an early humanist who translated texts into Latin and some vernaculars, developed a new scholarly approach to ancient text analysis as well as putting a focus on human potential with broader education.
The Renaissance had a great effect on the political, intellectual, and cultural state of Italy. Humanism grew through new education systems that encouraged learning of the liberal arts as well as learning Latin, which further spread the availability of classical texts throughout Italy.
During the Renaissance, humanists began to think that humans have unlimited potential, thus the idea of the Renaissance Man was born.
Niccolo Machiavelli wrote the book “The Prince” which outlined a way of ruling that took ideas about ways to be an effective ruler from Greek texts and used them to show how to implement them into ‘modern’ society.
While many of the ideals formed during the Italian Renaissance stayed present as it spread into northern Europe, many of the the ideas went through significant changes.
Another notable change between the Northern and Italian Renaissance was the art forms. During the Italian Renaissance, the art focused mainly on the beauty of the human form and realistic settings, while art of the Northern Renaissance was focused more on people in their everyday life.
The printing press had a great impact on European culture by promoting the spread of new ideas of the Renaissance throughout Europe.
The invention of the printing press allowed for the translation of texts into their local vernaculars, which led to a wider audience for these texts.
The printing press’ ability to mass print texts would eventually become a cause for the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther’s “95 Theses” was mass printed and quickly spread all throughout Europe.
New relationship between townspeople and the king broke down feudalism, as townspeople became the king’s lawyers, foreign diplomats, and military tacticians. Merchants and financiers were gaining more power as well.
New ideas of secularism from the Renaissance prompted new forms of governmental and civil institutions that laid the foundation for the centralized modern state and furthered political fragmentation.
New monarchies established monopolies on tax collection, employed military force, dispensed justice and gained the right to determine the religion of their subjects.
Concordat of Bologna: treaty signed by emperor of Rome, Charles V, where Pope Leo X to establish relationship between church and state
Peace of Augsburg: treaty that ended the war with the Holy Roman Empire and the protestant states. Allowed monarchs to define the religion of their state.
Edict of Nantes: decree issued by King Henry IV of France, which gave religious freedom to the Huguenots (French Protestants) and ended the French wars of religion
New navigational technology improved European navigation, which made exploration more accessible, including the inventions of the compass, caravel, and astrolabe.
Advancements in cartography allowed navigators to make more accurate maps and charts which made navigation much easier
Improved military technology gave European countries an advantage when colonizing the western hemisphere, with technologies like gunpowder, wheel lock muskets, and cannons.
Europeans wanted direct access to gold, spices, and luxury goods. The Muslim rulers of the Ottoman Empire gained control of the trade routes connecting Asia to Europe, which meant Europeans had to purchase expensive spices and other goods from Muslim traders. Europeans wanted to discover an all-water route connecting Europe to Asia to bypass Ottoman lands and be less expensive.
Growing idea of mercantilism that promoted states in commercial development and acquisition of overseas colonies.
Spread of Christianity by both the government and religious authorities to justify the abusive treatment towards the indigenous civilizations.
The Portuguese Empire established a commercial network along the African coast, in South America, and parts of Asia.
Portugal and Spain were the first European countries to establish colonies overseas and became dominant powers. France, England and the Netherlands later established colonies and trading networks that competed with Portuguese and Spanish dominance in the 1600s, causing rivalry.
Dutch East India Company took over many Portuguese trading posts then began to compete on a global scale leading to the Dutch Golden Age.
Asiento - Contract signed by the Spanish crown with a private company that allowed the selling of African Slaves in their colonies, later expanded to many other European nations. This increased economic competition between these nations.
Seven Years' War - Conflicts about the domination of Europe and tensions in colonial territories fought between most major countries in Europe. Ending with the Treaty of Paris.
Treaty of Tordesillas - Treaty that settled land conflicts in South America between Portugal and Spain. The treaty laid out a line on the map that separated the land that was owned by Portugal (east) and by Spain (west).
Columbian Exchange - the global transfer of goods, flora, fauna, and cultural practices, and disease between the Old World and the New World as a result of European imperialism.
Prior to the colonial expansion of Europe, the social political and economic system was Feudalism, but with wealth flowing in from the New World, in some parts of Europe feudalism started to come to an end, as well as early capitalist systems coming into place.
During the age of exploration, economic powers shifter from states with access to the Mediterranean to states that were building empires overseas.
As Europeans expanded into the new world, the food, diseases, and cultural practices they brought with them changed the lives of the indigenous people that they colonized.
Indigenous people were forced into labor on European plantations.
Europeans brought smallpox, chickenpox, mumps, and measles to North and South America
The Europeans also pushed their religions onto the indigenous peoples which forced the native people to abandon their religions practices and traditions.
One major cause for the development of the slave trade was the lack of laborors especially after many of the native populations were killed by the introduction of European diseases.
The slaves brought into the Americas from Africa were subjected to harsh working and living conditions leading them to have a much higher mortality rate than the American enslavers.
Bank of Amsterdam - Dutch Bank established in the 17th century first modern central bank. Model for the other central banks that were later created
The Dutch East India Company was first Multinational company in history, facilitated economic ties between the Dutch and East Asia. Majorly contributed to the prosperity of the Dutch Republic.
The British East India Company granted a monopoly of East Asian traded goods to the English empire.
Enclosure movement - the consolidating of common land or open field into “enclosed” land owned by individuals. Negatively affected low class because they lost lands they needed for their livelihood
Advancements in farming and commerce deepened inequality and caused great demographic transformations.
Gold and silver were imported from the New World and were used as currency. Because of consumers now having more access to these metals, led to inflation.
Continued tradition of hierarchy and status, but growth of economic elite class
Population caused by an increased food supply leading to urban migration and increased power of middle class
New ideas coming from the Renaissance and Age of Discovery prompted social changes, increased commercial and agricultural production, and led to an advancement in agricultural work
More overseas expansion was caused by advancements in navigational technology
Capitalism rose due to the selling of slaves, using them to farm cash crops, the crops were sold to Europe to make goods, and the goods were sold back to the colonies
Religious motives for expansion disrupted and destroyed indigenous populations and forcibly removed people from Africa and forced them into slavery.
AP Euro Final Project - Tovi Lieberman
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