Social Studies 8 Final Exam

Super awwsome guidline:

THE BLACK DEATH (1347–1351)

ORIGINS & SPREAD:

• Originated in Central Asia (probably China or Mongolia)

• Spread westward along the Silk Road

• Arrived in Europe through the port of Messina, Sicily in 1347 via Genoese trade ships

• Spread rapidly through trade routes, port cities, and pilgrim paths

CAUSES:

• Caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis

• Carried by fleas → which lived on black rats → which lived aboard ships and in cities

• Three forms of plague:

  • Bubonic: swollen lymph nodes (buboes) in groin, armpits, neck

  • Pneumonic: airborne, affected lungs; spread from person to person

  • Septicemic: infected bloodstream; most deadly

SYMPTOMS:

• High fever, chills, vomiting, fatigue

• Buboes (painful swellings)

• Black patches (internal bleeding)

• Coughing blood (pneumonic)

• Death often in 3–5 days

WHY IT SPREAD SO QUICKLY:

• Crowded and dirty medieval towns

• No sanitation or garbage control

• Fleas and lice thrived in unwashed clothing and bedding

• Close living quarters + trade + war = perfect storm

• Medical knowledge was primitive and misunderstood the disease

FAILED TREATMENTS:

• Lancing buboes: caused infections, spread bacteria

• Leeching & bloodletting: weakened the sick even more

• Burning incense and carrying flowers: thought to ward off “bad air”

• Flagellants: whipped themselves in public to atone for sins

• Plague doctors: wore bird-beaked masks filled with herbs; totally ineffective

WHO ESCAPED & WHY:

• Poland: Largely spared thanks to King Casimir III’s quarantine laws

  • Quarantined all newcomers for 3–4 days — enough time to show symptoms and die

• Milan: Walled up infected houses early

• Rumors: Cats ate plague rats (might’ve helped); but in many places, cats were killed for being “evil,” which made rat populations worse

DEATH TOLL:

• Europe: 25–50 million people (1/3 to 1/2 of the population)

• Global: Possibly over 100 million deaths

CONSEQUENCES:

1. SOCIAL:

• Collapse of feudalism

• Serfs and peasants could demand higher wages

• Peasants left manors and moved to cities

• Rise of the middle class and merchants

2. RELIGIOUS:

• People lost faith in the Church (clergy died too, prayers didn’t work)

• Rise in antisemitism: Jews accused of poisoning wells

  • Massacres and forced conversions followed

3. ECONOMIC:

• Labor shortages

• Farmland abandoned

• Wages rose for survivors

• Trade routes disrupted and rerouted

WHAT TO MEMORIZE:

• 1347–1351: Years of the Black Death in Europe

• Bacteria: Yersinia pestis

• Poland and Milan’s quarantine strategies

• Why lancing didn’t work: infections, spread germs

• Types of plague: bubonic, pneumonic, septicemic

• Impact: death toll, fall of feudalism, weakened Church, rise of middle class

⚔ THE CRUSADES (1095–1291)

WHAT?

• A series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims

• Purpose: reclaim Jerusalem and the Holy Land

• Ordered by popes, fought by knights and peasants

MAJOR DATES & EVENTS

1. 1095: Pope Urban II calls for the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont

2. 1096–1099: First Crusade – captures Jerusalem

3. 1147–1149: Second Crusade – fails

4. 1189–1192: Third Crusade – ends in a truce between Saladin and Richard the Lionheart

5. 1202–1204: Fourth Crusade – Crusaders sack Constantinople (Christian city)

6. 1212: Children’s Crusade – thousands of kids die or are sold into slavery

7. 1291: Muslims retake Acre – marks the end of the Crusader states

WHY PEOPLE WENT:

• Religious: Forgiveness of sins, ticket to Heaven

• Social: Peasants and younger sons had no land; wanted opportunity

• Political: Pope wanted to unite European kingdoms and gain power

• Economic: Land, plunder, and trade opportunities

WHO FOUGHT:

• European knights, lords, peasants

• Peter the Hermit: led the failed People’s Crusade

• Saladin: great Muslim general, recaptured Jerusalem in 1187

• Richard the Lionheart: English king, skilled military leader

• Pope Urban II: called the First Crusade

RESULTS:

SHORT TERM:

• Only the First Crusade was fully successful

• New contact with Muslim world: trade goods, ideas, science

• Byzantines temporarily aided, but later betrayed (Constantinople sacked)

LONG TERM:

• Trade between Europe and the Middle East increased

• Ancient knowledge (Greek, Arabic, science, math, medicine) flowed into Europe

• Feudalism weakened: many nobles died, kings grew stronger

• Sparked growth of cities and the Renaissance

• Worsened Christian-Muslim relations (and Catholic-Orthodox tensions)

• Rise in antisemitism during crusading fervor

CHAIN OF EVENTS:

1. Pope calls Crusade

2. Christians go to Holy Land

3. War causes contact with Islamic world

4. Trade and knowledge increase

5. Ideas flow back into Europe

6. Cities and universities grow

7. Renaissance begins

MEMORIZE:

• Dates of Crusades: especially First (1096–99), Third (1189–92), and Fourth (1202–04)

• Important people: Pope Urban II, Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, Peter the Hermit

• Key effects: increase in trade and knowledge, weakening of feudalism, rise of Renaissance

🛡 THE CRUSADES

🗓 Date

• First Crusade: 1096–1099

• Last major Crusade (Ninth): 1271–1272

⚔ The Two Sides

• Christian Crusaders (mainly from Western Europe): Supported by the Pope and monarchs.

• Muslims (Seljuk Turks, then later unified by Saladin): Controlled Jerusalem and other Holy Land sites.

🧍‍♂ Key People

• Pope Urban II: Called for the First Crusade in 1095 at the Council of Clermont.

• Saladin: Unified Muslim forces, retook Jerusalem in 1187.

• Richard the Lionheart: English king, led the Third Crusade.

🔥 Major Crusades

• 1st Crusade: Captured Jerusalem, formed Christian kingdoms.

• 3rd Crusade: Richard vs. Saladin – ended in truce (Muslims kept Jerusalem, Christians could visit).

• 4th Crusade: Went rogue—attacked Constantinople instead of Muslims.

🧠 Why did they happen?

• Religious goal: Regain the Holy Land from Muslim control.

• Pope promised indulgences (forgiveness of sins).

• Knights and peasants were motivated by:
  

  • Faith

  • Adventure

  • Land/money (especially 2nd/3rd sons of nobility)

✨ What Europe Gained

• Spices, silk, sugar, knowledge (Greek/Arabic texts).

• Reintroduction of ancient science/math (translated by Muslims).

• Jump-started trade, ended some isolation.

🌅 SPIRIT OF THE RENAISSANCE

💡 What Changed in Europe

• More secularism (focus on this life vs. only afterlife).

• Growth of humanism – focus on human potential and achievements.

• Return to Greco-Roman ideals in art, education, science.

🧠 Humanism

• Francesco Petrarch: “Father of Humanism.”

• Celebrated individual ability and study of humanities (history, literature, philosophy).

• Encouraged critical thinking rather than blind Church obedience.

🔭 SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

📅 Dates: 1500s–1600s

🔬 Key Ideas

• Observation + experimentation over superstition.

• Math and logic used to explain the universe.

👨‍🔬 Important FigureS

• Galileo Galilei:

  • Improved the telescope.

  • Proved heliocentrism (Sun at center), clashed with Church.

• Nicolaus Copernicus: Proposed heliocentric model.

• Isaac Newton: Laws of motion & gravity.

🧠 Church’s View

• Opposed many findings (contradicted Bible).

• Accused scientists of heresy—Galileo was put on trial.

💡 Why Advances Happened

• Printing press spread new ideas.

• Rediscovery of Greek and Roman texts.

• Rise of universities and experimentation.

• Crusades brought back knowledge.

🏛 MEDICI FAMILY

💰 Where did their money come from?

• Banking empire in Florence.

• Sponsored artists and scholars (patrons of the arts).

👤 Important Members

• Cosimo de’ Medici: First big patron of the arts.

• Lorenzo “the Magnificent”: Funded Michelangelo, Botticelli.

• Catherine de’ Medici: Queen of France, linked to St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.

🔥 Bonfire of the Vanities

Led by Savonarola (a monk).

• Burned secular items (books, art, mirrors) to return Florence to religion.

• Medici briefly lost power after this.

🖨 PRINTING PRESS

🧠 Importance

• Invented by Johannes Gutenberg, ~1440.

• Books printed quickly and cheaply.

• Literacy rose. Ideas (especially controversial ones) spread fast.

💥 ImpactS

• Helped spread Martin Luther’s 95 Theses.

• Enabled the Scientific Revolution and Reformation.

• Challenged Church’s monopoly on knowledge.

✝ THE REFORMATION

👨‍⚖ Martin Luther (1483–1546)

• German monk. Posted 95 Theses in 1517.

• Criticized Church corruption—especially indulgences.

• Believed:

  • Salvation by faith alone.

  • Bible = highest authority (not Pope).

  • All people should read the Bible.

    💥 Effects

• Lutheranism formed.

• Sparked decades of religious wars.

• Shattered unity of Western Christianity.

🔁 COUNTER-REFORMATION

🧠 What It Was

• Catholic Church’s response to the Reformation.

🔧 Council of Trent (1545–1563)

• Clarified Catholic beliefs.

• Rejected Luther’s ideas.

• Reformed corrupt practices.

🚫 Inquisition

• Used torture and censorship to stop heresy.

• Enforced Church loyalty.

🔪 St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572)

• In France.

• Thousands of Huguenots (French Protestants) killed.

• Ordered by Catherine de’ Medici? (Still debated).

🌍 RENAISSANCE EXPLORATION

💀 Scurvy

• Caused by vitamin C deficiency.

• Killed many sailors.

⚙ Tech Advancements

• Compass (from China).

• Caravel ships (stronger + faster).

• Astrolabe (navigate with stars).

🧭 Explorers to Know

• Christopher Columbus (Spain): 1492, sailed west, reached the Americas.

• Ferdinand Magellan (Spain): Circumnavigated globe (1519–1522).

• John Cabot (England): Found Newfoundland.

• Jacques Cartier (France): Explored St. Lawrence River.

❄ Franklin Expedition (1845)

• Searched for Northwest Passage (Arctic sea route).

• Both ships and crew disappeared—died of starvation, lead poisoning, maybe cannibalism.

• Shows the risks of exploration even centuries later.

🧵 SILK ROAD

🗺 Route

• Overland trade between China and Europe (esp. Italy).

• Goods passed through Middle East.

🔄 Traded East → West

• Silk

• Porcelain

• Spices (cloves, cinnamon)

🔄 Traded West → East

• Glass

• Wool

• Horses

🌊 INDIAN OCEAN TRADE

📍 Trade Between Africa and Asia

🧠 Why It Was Important

• Safer and faster than land routes.

• Allowed for bigger ships and heavier goods.

🌐 Goods Traded

• Africa → Asia: Gold, ivory, slaves.

• Asia → Africa: Textiles, spices, porcelain.

🧭 Innovations

• Monsoon wind knowledge.

• Lateen sails (triangle-shaped—easier to steer).