Rise of Europe and Shift to Atlantic Trade

Renaissance

"Rebirth" of art, learning, and humanism in Europe (c. 1300s-1600s) that began in Italy and drew on classical Greece and Rome.

Causes of the Renaissance

Wealth from trade in Italian city-states, rich merchant patrons (like the Medici), rediscovery of classical texts, scholars fleeing Constantinople after 1453, and the aftermath of the Black Death changing how people thought about life.

Why did the Renaissance start in Italy?

Wealthy trade cities (Florence, Venice, Genoa), rich patrons, Roman ruins and heritage, and close contact with Byzantine and Muslim scholars through trade.

Effects of the Renaissance

New art and science, humanist education, growth of individualism, questioning of authority (including the Church), spread of ideas via the printing press, and a base for the Reformation and exploration.

Core ideals of the Renaissance

Humanism, individualism, secularism, classical learning, curiosity and scientific inquiry, and pursuit of excellence in art and knowledge.

Humanism

Renaissance movement focused on human potential, achievements, and the study of classical literature, history, and philosophy.

Individualism

The belief in the worth and abilities of each person; people were celebrated for personal talent and achievement.

Secularism

Interest in worldly (non-religious) matters and enjoyment of life, rather than focusing only on the church and the afterlife.

Patron

A wealthy person or family who financially supports artists and thinkers (example: the Medici family of Florence).

Medici Family

Powerful banking family of Florence who were major patrons of Renaissance art and learning.

Leonardo da Vinci

"Renaissance man" - painter (Mona Lisa, The Last Supper), inventor, and scientist.

Michelangelo

Renaissance sculptor, painter, and architect (David, Sistine Chapel ceiling).

Raphael

Renaissance painter known for harmony and realism (School of Athens).

Niccolo Machiavelli

Italian political thinker who wrote The Prince, arguing a ruler should do whatever is needed to keep power and order.

Desiderius Erasmus

Northern Renaissance humanist who wrote In Praise of Folly, criticizing Church corruption; called for reform from within.

Thomas More

English humanist who wrote Utopia, describing an ideal society.

William Shakespeare

English playwright of the Renaissance (Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet) who explored human nature.

Johannes Gutenberg

German inventor who developed the printing press with movable type around 1440-1450.

Printing Press

Machine using movable metal type that made books cheap and fast to produce; spread Renaissance, Reformation, and scientific ideas and raised literacy.

Impact of the printing press

Made books cheaper, increased literacy, spread ideas rapidly (like Luther's writings), standardized languages, and weakened the Church's control over information.

Vernacular

The everyday language of a people (not Latin); printed Bibles and books in vernacular reached ordinary people.

Impact of education

Humanist schools and more literacy led people to read and question for themselves, challenge Church authority, spread new ideas, and fueled the Reformation, science, and exploration.

Reformation

16th-century movement to reform the Catholic Church that led to the creation of Protestant Christianity and split Western Christendom.

Causes of the Reformation

Church corruption, selling of indulgences, wealthy and worldly clergy, humanist criticism, the printing press, rising nationalism, and rulers wanting independence from the Pope.

Problems in the Catholic Church

Selling of indulgences, simony (selling Church offices), clergy corruption and wealth, nepotism, pluralism (holding many offices), and priests who were poorly educated.

Indulgence

A payment to the Church that was said to reduce punishment for sins; a major cause of Luther's protest.

Simony

The selling of Church offices or positions.

Martin Luther

German monk and professor who started the Reformation in 1517 by challenging the Church's practices, especially indulgences.

95 Theses

Document written by Martin Luther in 1517 attacking the sale of indulgences and calling for debate on Church practices; spread quickly thanks to the printing press.

Luther's main beliefs

Salvation by faith alone (not good works or indulgences), the Bible is the sole authority, and the priesthood of all believers.

Salvation by faith alone

Luther's belief that people are saved by faith in God, not by good deeds or buying indulgences.

Sola Scriptura

Latin for "Scripture alone"; the Protestant belief that the Bible is the only authority for Christian faith, not the Pope.

Excommunication

Official removal of a person from the Church; Luther was excommunicated in 1521.

Diet of Worms

1521 assembly where Luther refused to take back his teachings; he was declared an outlaw but protected by German princes.

Protestant

A Christian who broke from the Catholic Church during the Reformation; the name comes from protests against the Church.

Lutheranism

Protestant faith based on Luther's teachings; spread across northern Germany and Scandinavia.

John Calvin

French reformer in Geneva who taught predestination and set up a strict church-run government.

Predestination

Calvin's belief that God has already decided who will be saved.

Calvinism

Protestant belief system based on Calvin; included predestination and strict moral discipline; spread to Switzerland, Scotland (Presbyterians), France (Huguenots), and Netherlands.

Henry VIII

English king who broke from the Catholic Church when the Pope refused to annul his marriage; created the Church of England.

Act of Supremacy (1534)

English law making the king the head of the Church of England instead of the Pope.

Anglican Church

The Church of England, created under Henry VIII.

Political implications of the Reformation

Weakened the Pope's power, strengthened monarchs and princes, caused religious wars, fueled nationalism, and split Europe along religious lines.

Peace of Augsburg (1555)

Agreement in the Holy Roman Empire that let each German prince choose Lutheranism or Catholicism for his own territory.

Thirty Years' War

1618-1648 religious and political war in Europe mostly in German lands, fought between Catholics and Protestants; ended with the Peace of Westphalia.

Catholic Reformation (Counter-Reformation)

The Catholic Church's response to Protestantism: reforming abuses, restating beliefs, and winning back followers.

Council of Trent

Meeting of Catholic leaders (1545-1563) that reaffirmed Catholic doctrine, ended abuses like indulgence selling, and rejected Protestant ideas.

Jesuits

Catholic order (Society of Jesus) founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540; highly educated and disciplined; set up schools, fought Protestantism, and did missionary work.

Ignatius of Loyola

Spanish founder of the Jesuits (Society of Jesus).

Missionaries

People sent to spread their religion to others; Jesuits and other Catholic orders spread Christianity in the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

Inquisition

Church court used to find and punish heresy; the Spanish Inquisition targeted Jews, Muslims, and Protestants.

Commercial Capitalism

Economic system in which merchants and investors seek profit through trade and investment; grew as trade expanded in the Renaissance and Age of Exploration.

Capitalism

Economic system based on private ownership, investment, and competition for profit.

Joint-stock company

Business owned by shareholders who pool money and share risks and profits (example: Dutch East India Company).

Mercantilism

Economic theory that a nation's power depends on wealth, so it should export more than it imports and gain colonies for raw materials.

Spices

Valuable goods (pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves) used for flavoring and preserving food; very high demand in Europe and a major motive for finding new sea routes to Asia.

3 G's

The three motives for exploration: God, Gold, and Glory.

God (motive for exploration)

Desire to spread Christianity through missionaries and convert native peoples.

Gold (motive for exploration)

Desire for wealth from precious metals, spices, and new trade routes and markets.

Glory (motive for exploration)

Desire for power, fame, and prestige for the explorer and for their country; competition among nations to build empires.

Improved technology (exploration)

Compass, astrolabe, caravel, lateen sail, and better maps and cartography made long ocean voyages possible.

Compass

Navigation tool with a magnetic needle that points north; helped sailors find direction at sea.

Astrolabe

Instrument used to measure the position of the sun and stars to find latitude at sea.

Caravel

Small, fast, maneuverable Portuguese ship with lateen sails that could sail against the wind; key to exploration.

Lateen sail

Triangular sail that let ships sail into the wind.

Importance of trade routes: Control

Controlling trade routes meant controlling wealth; nations wanted to control routes and taxes, and avoid Muslim and Italian middlemen.

Importance of trade routes: Location

Places on key routes (ports like Venice, Lisbon, Malacca) became rich and powerful; Atlantic nations looked for sea routes around Italy and the Ottomans.

Importance of trade routes: Products

Trade brought spices, silk, gold, sugar, tobacco, furs, and enslaved people, which fueled profit and competition among nations.

Why did Europeans look for a sea route to Asia?

To get spices and goods directly, avoid costly middlemen and Ottoman-controlled land routes after 1453, and gain wealth and power.

Triangular Trade

Atlantic trade network linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas: manufactured goods from Europe to Africa, enslaved Africans to the Americas (Middle Passage), and raw goods (sugar, tobacco, cotton) back to Europe.

Middle Passage

The brutal sea voyage that carried enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas.

Impact of Triangular Trade

Made Europe rich, forced millions of Africans into slavery, depopulated parts of Africa, and created plantation economies in the Americas.

Impact on Natives

Disease (smallpox) killed millions, forced labor and loss of land, enslavement, forced conversion, and destruction of native cultures and empires (Aztec, Inca).

Encomienda system

Spanish system giving colonists the right to demand labor and tribute from native people; led to harsh treatment and abuse.

Bartolome de las Casas

Spanish priest who spoke out against the mistreatment of Native Americans.

Impact on Slavery

Increased demand for labor (especially on sugar plantations) led to the Atlantic slave trade and large-scale race-based chattel slavery of Africans.

Chattel slavery

System in which enslaved people are treated as property and slavery is passed down to their children.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, people, diseases, and ideas between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres after 1492.

Columbian Exchange: items from the Americas

Potatoes, corn, tomatoes, cacao (chocolate), tobacco, squash, and beans; also syphilis.

Columbian Exchange: items from the Old World

Horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, wheat, sugar, coffee, and diseases like smallpox and measles.

Impact of the Columbian Exchange

Population growth in Europe and Asia from new crops, huge native population decline from disease, new foods worldwide, and the start of a global economy.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

Agreement between Spain and Portugal, mediated by the Pope, dividing newly found lands outside Europe along a line in the Atlantic; Spain got the west (most of the Americas), Portugal got the east (Africa, Asia, and Brazil).

Why was the Treaty of Tordesillas made?

To prevent conflict between Spain and Portugal over lands claimed after Columbus's voyage.

Prince Henry the Navigator

Portuguese prince who sponsored exploration and a school for navigation, starting Portugal's exploration of Africa.

Bartolomeu Dias

Portuguese explorer, first European to round the southern tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope) in 1488.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese explorer who reached India by sea in 1498, opening the direct sea route to Asian spices.

Pedro Alvares Cabral

Portuguese explorer who landed in Brazil in 1500 and claimed it for Portugal.

Christopher Columbus

Italian explorer sailing for Spain who reached the Caribbean in 1492 while seeking a western route to Asia.

Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese explorer sailing for Spain whose expedition (1519-1522) was the first to circumnavigate the globe; he died in the Philippines.

Amerigo Vespucci

Italian explorer who realized the Americas were a "New World"; America is named after him.

Hernan Cortes

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire (1519-1521) with help from native allies and smallpox.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire in 1530s.

Conquistador

Spanish soldier-explorer who conquered lands in the Americas.

Ponce de Leon

Spanish explorer who explored Florida and Puerto Rico.

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

Spanish explorer who was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas (1513).

John Cabot

Italian explorer sailing for England who reached North America (Newfoundland) in 1497; basis of England's claims.

Jacques Cartier

French explorer who explored the St. Lawrence River and claimed Canada for France.

Samuel de Champlain

French explorer who founded Quebec (1608) and is called the "Father of New France."

Henry Hudson

English explorer working for the Dutch who explored the Hudson River and Hudson Bay while searching for a Northwest Passage.

Northwest Passage

Hoped-for water route through North America to Asia that explorers searched for but never found at that time.