hist 102 study guide

Mesopotamia 

The first modern city established around 3,500 BC, for cities to be established, needed a surplus of food (allows people to move on from agriculture) to allow us to diversify professions, which occurred due to easy access to rivers. Created engineering, numbers, mathematics (algebra), written law (Hammurabi code - “an eye for an eye”), the wheel, medicine (surgeries, use of herbs), Epic of Gilgamesh (2500 B.C.)

Monotheism 

(Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), developed by the Hebrew world by the end of the 7th century, Christianity saw divisions within the Chrsitian world (Catholicism, eastern orthodoxy, protestantism), Islam saw the creation of the Five Pillars (regular prayer - 5x a day, giving of alms, fasting for one month/year, pilgrimage to Mecca, faith - belief in only one God)

Black Death 

Killed about ⅓ of the western population in the span of 2 years, Believed to be a sign from God that he was displeased with human life, Concluded that God was not angry with humans, but the structure of the Church

Medieval Times

Ancient empires fell due to inability to manage large expanses of land and people, people believed their lives were unchanging, children and grandchildren were living the exact same lives as their grandparents

Medieval Venice

Wealthy Italian city-states with secular, urban culture - Italian wealth from trade (Venice, Genoa), Wanted spices → from India (to Middle East to Europeans)!, Italian schools, universities: practical education (educated heavily to procure trade, Home of the Pope)

Gothic

flashy, shows the significance of a human being in God’s house, most beautiful and elaborate to show the power of God

Feudal Society

Believed to be established by God? Clergy, nobility, town population, peasantry, slaves

Five Pillars of Islam

regular prayer - 5x a day, giving of alms, fasting for one month/year, pilgrimage to Mecca, faith (belief in only one God)

Humanism

People began to rediscover ancient Greek literature in the 1400s → included ideas of humanism, Petrarch (1304-1374) - wanted to go back to belief of antiquity, named medieval times “The Dark Ages”, Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494): human dignity - wanted answers to why humans are genius, believes God gifted humans free will (as opposed to specific role)

Niccolò Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527): The Prince: virtue as ability: “the ends justifies the means”, Human nature prevents humans from becoming “ideal”

Henry the Navigator

Henry the Navigator (1394 - 1460) - father of the naval power of Portugal, wanted to sail around Africa to get to India

Vasco da Gama

1497 - Vasco da Gama reaches India, control this trade route for the next 100 years, Results in newfound wealth in western Europe

Christopher Columbus

1492 - Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) reaches America, Wanted to try to reach India by going around the world, No one in Italy would agree, so he went to Spain (at the height of their war with the Arabs), Looking for gold, didn’t find much in the Caribbean Islands (where he landed), So, he kept going and looked for the “main land” (what he believed to be India - actually the Americas)

Jan Hus

Jan Hus (1371-1415) and his teachings, didn’t live through the black death, still in his mind when he became a preacher, believed the people had a responsibility to reform the Church, 1415 - Hus executed for heresy, became a martyr for the Bohemians, beginning of the Hussite movement

Council of Constance

The Church Council of Constance (1414-1417), Church was trying to fix itself, forced Popes back to Rome, removed many corrupt clergy

Martin Luther and “justification by faith”

Lived in Germany (1486-1546), Translated the Bible into German - not the first, but arguably the most important, Taught faith was the only path to salvation, called for free council to reform the Church, Credited with starting the Protestant reformation movement

• Pope and Council were protected by belief “walls”

  • Spiritual power was more important than temporal power

  • Only the Pope could call a council

  • Pope has the final say on interpretation

Justification by Faith - we are righteous not in our works but in faith in the son of God

Preached that “all believers were priests” - no one had a higher power than the other, scripture was the ultimate authority

John Calvin

John Calvin (1509-1564) - The Reformed Church, Salvation - a grace of God, Public Officials - vicars of God, Not displaying wealth, rather show their prosperity and success by working more

Council of Trent

The Council of Trent (1545-1563), only the fourth-century version of the Bible is correct, good works as prerequisite to salvation; celibacy of all clergy, validity of indulgences, but end of selling them; the ultimate authority of the Pope, the establishment of seminaries to teach priests, discipline among bishops

Peace of Augsburg

Role of Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (1519-1556) - “cuius regio, eius religio” (whose reign, his religion) → Germany split into 300 semi-independent countries practicing different religions

Philip II of Spain

The Greatest Power in Europe in the XVI Century, Catholic, controlled many other parts of Europe (including the Netherlands), Lots of money due to success in the New World, spent lots of it on luxury items and wars, Philip II bankrupted his state five times. After 1600, Spain in decline

St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

(August 24, 1572): civil war begins - King & his brother were told protestants were organizing a coup, decided to act pre-emptively, killing 3,000 people

Huguenots

French Protestant minority: Huguenots, Mostly merchants and aristocrats

Edict of Nantes

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685; power over the Catholic Church in France

James I of England or James VI of Scotland

Son of Mary (1603-1625), Calls for an absolute monarchy (all talk), opposed by the English parliament, Puritans-Presbyterian underground church: calls for a limited monarchy

Aristotle

Ancient Greek philosopher who developed influential ideas about virtue, ethics, politics, logic, and human nature. His philosophy became a major foundation of Western thought.

Leonardo da Vinci

Renaissance Italian artist and thinker known for the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. He embodied the Renaissance “Renaissance man” through his work in art, science, anatomy, engineering, and invention.

Gutenberg’s Printing Press

Mid-15th-century invention using movable metal type that made books cheaper and faster to produce. It helped spread literacy, ideas, and religious writings, contributing to the Renaissance and Protestant Reformation.

Aztecs and Inca

Powerful Indigenous American civilizations conquered by the Spanish in the 1500s. The Aztecs were centered in Mexico, while the Inca ruled a large empire in the Andes of South America. Their conquest contributed to European colonization of the Americas.

Ignatius Loyola

Spanish priest who founded the Jesuits in 1540. The Jesuits promoted Catholic education, missionary work, and defense of the Catholic Church during the Counter-Reformation.

Elizabeth I of England

Protestant Queen of England (1558–1603) who established the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. The Second Act of Supremacy (1559) made her Supreme Governor of the Church of England, strengthening Protestantism and royal control over the English church. Her reign also saw the defeat of the Spanish Armada and the flourishing of the English Renaissance.

The Great Armada

Spanish fleet sent to invade Protestant England in 1588. England defeated the Armada, strengthening Elizabeth I and England’s position as a Protestant and naval power while weakening Spain.

Triangle Trade

Atlantic trade network connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas. European goods went to Africa, enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas, and American raw materials were sent to Europe. It helped expand European wealth and colonialism while driving the Atlantic slave trade.

Witch Hunts

16th–17th-century European persecution of people accused of witchcraft, mostly women. Driven by religious beliefs, fear, and social tensions, they demonstrate the religious and social anxieties of early modern Europe.

Oliver Cromwell

English military and political leader who led Parliament’s forces during the English Civil War. After Charles I was executed in 1649, Cromwell ruled England as Lord Protector and temporarily replaced the monarchy with a republic.

English Civil War

Conflict between two Protestant factions—Anglicans/Royalists and Puritans/Parliamentarians. The Puritans won, Charles I was executed, and the monarchy was temporarily abolished.

Puritans

English Protestants who wanted to purify the Church of England of Catholic traditions and create a stricter, Bible-based church. They supported Parliament in the English Civil War and helped defeat the monarchy.

Thirty Years’ War

Major European conflict that began as a Catholic-Protestant religious struggle in the Holy Roman Empire but developed into a broader political war. Ended with the Peace of Westphalia, which strengthened independent states and helped shape modern Europe.

Defenestration of Prague

Protestant Bohemian nobles threw Catholic officials out of a window in protest against Habsburg religious policies. This event sparked the Thirty Years’ War.

Louis XIV

1643-1715, French “Sun King” who embodied absolute monarchy and divine right. He centralized power, controlled the nobility through Versailles, and made France a dominant European power.

Absolutism

A form of government in which a monarch holds centralized, almost unlimited power, often justified by divine right. Louis XIV of France is a major example of an absolute monarch.

Mercantilism

An economic system in which governments controlled trade to increase national wealth, using colonies for raw materials and markets. It encouraged European colonial expansion and competition.

Versailles

The grand palace of Louis XIV that symbolized French absolutism. Louis XIV used it to display royal power and control the French nobility by bringing them into his royal court.

Peter the Great of Russia

Russian tsar who westernized and modernized Russia, strengthened the military and government, expanded Russian territory, and founded St. Petersburg. He strengthened Russian absolutism and made Russia a major European power.

Dutch East India Company

Largest trading company of its time, controlling hundreds of ships, owned every step of trade patterns, one of the first companies in the world to sell shares, bought entire forests from Russia-Scandanavia to build new ships, created warehouses to store raw materials, selling things like grain (bought from other countries) during drought

The Three-Field System

One pasture field, wheat and rye, oats and wheats, fallows (recovery) - on rotation for which would become fallows, became new four field system (crop rotation) - wheat, barley, turnips, clover fields

Agricultural Revolution

Period of improved farming methods and technology that increased food production and population growth. It helped move people away from farming and provided workers for the Industrial Revolution.

Nicholas Copernicus

Renaissance astronomer who proposed the heliocentric model, placing the Sun at the center rather than Earth. His theory challenged traditional beliefs and helped begin the Scientific Revolution.

Heliocentric Theory

The idea that the Sun is at the center of the solar system and Earth and other planets orbit it. Proposed by Copernicus, it challenged the geocentric model and helped launch the Scientific Revolution.

Johannes Kepler

German astronomer who discovered that planets orbit the Sun in elliptical paths. His mathematical laws supported the heliocentric theory and helped advance the Scientific Revolution.

Galileo Galilei

Italian scientist who used the telescope and observation to provide evidence for the heliocentric theory. His ideas challenged traditional beliefs and led to a conflict with the Catholic Church, making him an important figure in the Scientific Revolution.

Francis Bacon and Empirical Method

Bacon promoted learning through observation, experimentation, and evidence. His approach challenged reliance on traditional authorities and helped establish the foundation of the modern scientific method.

Rene Descartes

(1596–1650): French philosopher and mathematician who promoted rationalism, using reason and logic to discover truth. His ideas, including “I think, therefore I am,” influenced the Scientific Revolution and modern philosophy.

Issac Newton, laws of motion

(1642–1727): English scientist who developed the three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. His use of mathematics to explain the natural world made him a major figure in the Scientific Revolution and helped establish modern physics.

William Harvey

British royal physician (lived from 1578-1657), 3 major claims: heart is a muscular pump circulating blood, arteries push blood through the entire body, veins carry blood back to the heart