Renaissance and Exploration

Humanism

The scholarly interest in the study of classical text, values, and styles of Greece and Rome. Humanism contributed to the promotion of a liberal arts, education based on the study of the classics, rhetoric, and history.

Christian Humanism

A branch of humanism associated with northern Europe. Like their Italian counterparts, the Christian humanist closely study classical text. However, they also sought to give humanism a specific Christian content, Christian humanist, like Desiderius Erasmus were committed to religious piety and institutional reform.

Vernacular

Every day language of a region or country. Miguel de Cervantes, Geoffrey Chaucer, Dante, and Martin Luther, all encourage the development of their national languages by writing in the vernacular. Desiderius Erasmus, however, continue to write in Latin.

New Monarchs

European monarchs who created professional armies in a more centralized administrative bureaucracy. The new monarchs also negotiated a new relationship with the Catholic Church. Key new monarchs included Charles VII, Lewis XI, Henry VII, and Ferdinand and Isabella.

Secularism

Promoted by the humanist, and the renaissance. Trend towards making religious faith, a private domain, rather than one directly connected to state power. Promoted a search for non-religious explanations for political authority and natural phenomena.

Columbian exchange

The interchange of plants, animals, diseases, and human populations between old world and the New World. Open new opportunities for Europeans, while at the same time, creating a demographic catastrophe for indigenous peoples in the Americas.

Mercantilism

Economic philosophy calling for close government regulation of the economy. Mercantilist theory emphasized building a strong, self-sufficient economy by maximizing exports and limiting importance. Mercantilist supported the acquisition of colonies as sources of raw materials in market for finished goods. This favorable balance of trade would enable a country to accumulate reserves of gold and silver. Mercantilism gave the new monarchies a leading role in promoting commercial development in the acquisition of New World colonies.

Commercial revolution

Initiatives in banking and finance that promoted the growth of urban financial centers in a money economy.

Joint-stock company

A business arrangement in which many investors raise money for a venture too large for any of them to undertake alone. They share the profits in proportion to the amount they invest. English entrepreneurs, used joint stock, companies to finance the establishment of New World colonies.