Vocabulary Flashcards: Renaissance to 20th-Century Global Developments

A set of vocabulary terms and concise definitions covering key people, ideas, events, and concepts from the Renaissance through early 19th-century European history.

Renaissance

The rebirth of Greco-Roman learning and culture in Europe, starting in Italy, influencing education, culture, art, and fostering early capitalism and new banking techniques.

Humanism

An intellectual movement that valued human potential, classical antiquity, liberal arts education, civic virtue, and secular inquiry during the Renaissance.

Petrarch

The father of humanism, who promoted the study of classical texts and liberal arts as a path to civic leadership.

Civic humanism

A facet of humanism encouraging scholars to study Greco-Roman documents to become better citizens and promote democracy.

Printing press

A technological advance that enabled mass production of texts, spreading classical works and promoting secular thought by reducing church control of information.

Oration on the Dignity of Man

Pico della Mirandola’s 1496 work asserting human free will and central place in creation; first printed book ever banned by the Catholic Church.

Pico della Mirandola

Renaissance philosopher whose Oration on the Dignity of Man celebrated human potential and free will.

Patronage

Wealthy individuals or families (e.g., the Medici) funded artists and commissioned works to glorify themselves and their cities.

School of Athens

Raphael’s fresco celebrating Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle, symbolizing Renaissance inspiration from classical thought.

Northern Renaissance

Renaissance movement in northern Europe with stronger religious focus and a shift toward human-centered naturalism in art.

Erasmus

Christian humanist who promoted Renaissance learning for religious reform, described as having “laid the egg that Luther hatched.”

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement dividing the New World between Spain (west) and Portugal (east) under papal authority.

Columbian Exchange

Transfer of crops, animals, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds, including the spread of smallpox to the Americas.

Smallpox

A deadly European disease whose introduction to the Americas devastated indigenous populations.

Spanish Inquisition

Catholic effort to enforce orthodoxy, leading to forced conversions and expulsions of Jews and Muslims as centralization of power occurred.

Absolutism

A political system in which a monarch holds centralized, unchecked power and authority.

Edict of Nantes

1598 decree by Henry IV granting religious toleration to Huguenots in France; later revoked.

Louis XIV

The Sun King who centralized power, built Versailles, and promoted mercantilist policies and royal control; revoked the Edict of Nantes.

Edict of Fontainebleau

1685 edict by Louis XIV revoking the Edict of Nantes, forcing Protestants to flee or convert.

Mercantilism

Economic policy prioritizing state wealth through a favorable balance of trade and accumulation of gold/silver, often with strong state regulation.

Colbert

Louis XIV’s controller general who promoted mercantilist policies and domestic production to strengthen France.

The Enlightenment

18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, progress, education, liberty, and secular governance.

Philosophes

French Enlightenment thinkers who applied reason to human nature and society (e.g., Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu).

Rousseau

Enlightenment thinker who argued for general will and equal rights, while criticizing private property and advocating centralized authority in some interpretations.

Montesquieu

Enlightenment theorist who proposed separation of powers among government branches.

Descartes

Rationalist philosopher, famous for “I think, therefore I am” and Cartesian dualism (mind–body separation).

Locke

Philosopher who argued for natural rights (life, liberty, property) and government by consent to protect those rights.

Hobbes

Philosopher who argued for an absolute sovereign (Leviathan) to prevent societal collapse and chaos.

Newton

Isaac Newton formulated universal gravitation and laws of motion; his Principia mathematica synthesized prior scientific work.

Copernicus

Astronomer who proposed heliocentrism, placing the Sun at the center of the universe.

Kepler

Astronomer who described the three laws of planetary motion, including elliptical orbits.

Galileo

Astronomer who supported heliocentrism and formulated the law of inertia; faced conflict with the Church.

Inertia

Concept that motion persists unless acted upon by an external force.

Universal gravitation

Newton’s principle that all bodies attract each other with a force proportional to mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Industrial Revolution

Period of rapid industrialization starting in Britain, marked by mechanization, urbanization, and new energy sources.

Spinning Jenny

Early spinning machine that boosted textile production.

Seed drill

Jethro Tull’s invention that seeded crops efficiently, boosting agricultural productivity.

Cottage industry

Putting-out system where rural workers produced goods at home for merchants, laying groundwork for factory-based industry.

Napoleonic Code

Napoleon’s civil code establishing legal equality before the law and safeguarding property, while restricting some rights (e.g., women’s).

Congress of Vienna

1814–1815 settlement to restore order after Napoleon, shaping a conservative balance of power and redrawing Europe’s borders.