Unit 1 Review - Heimler

Three-field System

An agricultural practice where two fields are planted with different crops and one is left fallow each year, improving soil fertility and crop yields.

Encomienda System

A labor system in Spanish America where landowners were granted the right to compel native labor in exchange for protection and Christianization.

Lateen Sail

A triangular sail that allows ships to sail closer to the wind, significantly improving maritime navigation and exploration capabilities.

Humanism

A philosophy that emphasizes the potential of human beings, focusing on individual achievement and classical studies rather than religious doctrine.

Caravel

A small, fast sailing ship with lateen sails that enabled European explorers to navigate against the wind and explore new maritime routes.

Movable Type

A printing technology that allowed individual characters to be rearranged and reused, making mass production of printed materials possible.

Printing Press

A revolutionary invention that enabled rapid production of books, accelerating the spread of ideas beyond elite circles to universities, merchants, and the emerging middle classes.

Renaissance

A cultural and intellectual movement that revived classical Greek and Roman texts, ideas, and artistic models in Europe after the Middle Ages.

Commercial Revolution

A period of significant economic change marked by the emergence of a money economy, banking, and joint-stock companies, facilitating large-scale trade and investment.

Linear Perspective

A technique used in art to create the illusion of depth on a flat surface by using geometric principles to organize space.

Price Revolution

A period of prolonged inflation in Europe caused by the influx of precious metals from the New World and population growth, leading to changes in agricultural practices and land use.

National Glory

The pursuit of prestige and power through territorial expansion, colonization, and the establishment of overseas empires, driving European exploration.

Patronage

The support given by wealthy individuals or institutions to artists, often to enhance their own prestige or promote cultural ideals.

Mercantilism

An economic theory that measures a nation's wealth by its stock of gold and silver, advocating for a favorable balance of trade through exports and colonization.

Joint-stock Company

A business structure where investors buy shares in a company's profits, allowing for the pooling of capital for large-scale ventures.

Enclosure Movement

A process in England where common lands were fenced off and privatized, leading to the displacement of peasants and the emergence of a landless workforce.

Astrolabe

An astronomical instrument used to measure the altitude of stars, facilitating navigation and the determination of latitude at sea.

Favorable Balance of Trade

An economic condition where a nation's exports exceed its imports, leading to an inflow of gold and silver and considered desirable under mercantilist theory.

Middle Passage

The brutal trans-Atlantic voyage of enslaved Africans to the Americas, characterized by inhumane conditions and high mortality rates.

Naturalism

An artistic style that emphasizes realistic depiction of the human body and everyday life, often drawing on classical models.

Double-entry Bookkeeping

A ledger system that tracks both debits and credits, ensuring balanced accounts and facilitating more sophisticated financial management.

Columbian Exchange

A global transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds, significantly impacting cultures, economies, and environments on both sides.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A papally mediated agreement dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal along a longitudinal line, influencing colonial claims in the Americas.

Civic Humanism

The belief that educated citizens should actively participate in local politics, applying classical republican virtues to contemporary governance.

Reconquista

A centuries-long campaign by Christian kingdoms to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule, culminating in 1492.