West. civ. HN4 - Professor Luesink PDF

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P. 330-341 Europe discovers the world and the Atlantic Slave Trade Iberian imperialism and Mercantilism  The kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula were in constant conflict  Aragon government benefited from the extended commercial influence of Catalonia o Isabella became a queen in 1474, Ferdinand became king in 1479 o Castile and Aragon continued to be ruled as separate kingdoms until 1714  For more than seven centuries Spain’s Jewish communities had enjoyed the many privileges extended by their Muslim rulers and scholars refer to this period in history as a time of “Convivencia” - “Living together” or “harmonious coexistence”  Relations between many religions did not correspond nicely o Spanish expulsion of Jews = at least 100,000-200,000 men, women, and children were deprived of their homes and livelihoods  Tens of thousands of Jews had converted to Christianity between 1391 and 1420 o Spanish Jews = some traveled north to the Rhineland towns of Germany or to Poland, but most settled in Muslim regions of the Mediterranean and North Africa, or even the Ottoman Empire in which that empire benefited from all the Jewish laboring skills they had brought. Furthermore, new Jewish communities would form over time  The victory over the Muslims of Granada and the expulsion of Jews in 1492 were watershed events  Prince Henry aka “The Navigator” pioneered the Portuguese slave trade  The Vikings were the first to step foot on the new land before Columbus in the year 1000.  Columbus returned to Spain with gold and some of the natives to show that he saw the New World. These people were seen as potential candidates to join the Christian faith o The Treaty of Tordesillas aimed to break up the land that was claimed between the Spanish and the Portuguese but in the end the Spanish claimed most of the land  The fact that the bible didn’t tell people about the new land made them question if the two continents were really even there  Even though the Americas were not close to Asia the knowledge of its existence led to the discovery of the Pacific Ocean  Charles V was the ruler of Spain and its territories  Ferdinand Magellan made a voyage to see if there was a path to get to Asia by sailing around South America, but it only led to the discovery that it was impossible, and the world was too large o With Columbus moving into the New World, the Europeans spread diseases that extinguished whole generations and devastated the indigenous peoples.  There was a rise of conquistadores, which took control over territories  The plague is what caused his victory and in 1521 they gained control  The lands that were conquered including Mexico and Peru were searched by the Spanish for gold and silver o They used the natives to find the products which only killed them quicker.  The Spanish had to turn to cattle ranching in the Mexican area and sugar production in the Caribbean in order to save money  The sugar production turned into a high profit and slaves were sent there to do the labor  Spain took control over these industries and mining gained them the upper hand

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The trading of silver sparked their economy but led to inflation since there was so much of silver to go around

p. 369-378 The Emergence of the Atlantic World The Columbian Exchange  The Columbian exchange- global connections in 16th century that caused movement of people, plant/animal goods, cultures and diseases (p 370)  Consequences of the Columbian exchange: o New agricultural products and domesticated animals o Growth of invasive plants and animals leading to extinctions and the loss of land o Widespread diseases o Change in diet: exotic foods became “fashionable” and habitual  Syphilis – disease brought to Europe by Americans New Social Hierarchies in New Spain  Encomienda – a grant by the Spanish Crown to a colonist in America conferring the right to demand tribute and forced labor from the Indian inhabitants of an area  The Spanish were successful in converting native peoples to Catholicism  established governments that took advantage of Aztec and Inca empires  Mining provided most of the wealth from the colonies o The encomienda system was effective in collecting workers who were willing to discover the resources organizing the labor resources necessary to exploit the mines and the land in general  While collecting tribute from its native subjects and sometimes attempting religious conversion, the Spanish system did not seek to change the basic patterns of native life  Because Spanish males often took native women as their mates, a caste system of “pure-blooded” Spanish immigrants on the top, creoles (mixed descent people) in the middle and natives on the bottom Sugar, slaves, and the transatlantic triangle  

Native populations started to diminish as European populations participated in wars and dealt with more plagues o Due to this they sent slaves to do the work with the people recovered Sugar was a primary source of trade o Used in America, Europe, and Africa o Slaves were overworked on sugar plantations

Counting the human cost of the slave trade  

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The Portuguese were the first to take African slaves to Brazil o They continued to perfect the system of obtaining and delivering slaves About on 50% of slaves survived the travel distance from being captured to arriving at the Americas o About 2 years later only about 40% of those survivors were still living Slaves tried to resist this in any way they could including: o Revolting o Suicide

o Escaping o Infanticide Conflict and Competition in Europe and the Atlantic World New World silver and Old-World economies The inflation caused by American silver largely affected the European economy o Led to huge amounts of panic  From 1450 to 1600 Europe’s population increased by about 80% o During this time food production remained constant, which led to a rise in the price of food o The massive amounts of silver and gold from the Americas downgraded the value of the coins themselves and also contributed to the rise in prices The New European Poor 

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Wages for workers did not rise as fast as the cost of living rose People and governments had less money o As a result, governments had to raise taxes just to keep up with the pace of expenses After 1600 the pace slowed down, but people had already been forced off their lands o These people became prime candidates for slavery in the Americas

The Legacy of the Reformation: The French Wars of Religion  

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As the monarchies of Europe became strong, they raised taxes and held religious uniformity under their control o both of these contributed to the causes of wars The peace of Augsburg of 1555 had imposed religious conformity on an increasingly religiously diverse Europe o The religious battles first broke out in France where, by 1562, Calvinists comprised 10 to 20 percent of the population of France In 1589 Henry renounced Protestantism, converted to Catholicism o Became the French King Henry IV In 1598 he established Catholicism as the official religion o And the Huguenots were allowed to worship, attend universities, and serve as public officials and reinforcing the regional autonomy of southwestern France o All of this religious turmoil is one reason why France joined the effort to gain Atlantic colonies relatively late in the seventeenth century

Pgs. 425-447 IV. Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment New Sciences  Scientific Revolution brought a new mathematical physics o Science emerged as a distinctive branch of knowledge  Heliocentric view of the planetary system o Required patrons, states, and communities of researchers o Marks one of the decisive breaks between the Middle Ages and the Modern World

Rooted in earlier developments Religious belief spurred scientific study Neoplatonists→ searched for the ideal and perfect structures Humanists made important works available to a wider audience o Greek classics were translated into Arabic o The new translated texts encouraged new study and debate Renaissance encouraged collaboration between artisans and intellectuals Medieval cosmologists view of a geocentric universe was influenced by the teachings of Aristotle Earth and heavens were made of different matter and subject to different laws of motion Earth was composed of four elements (earth, water, wind, fire) The motion of the planets and the stars was produced by God Copernicus was a conservative thinker o He believed he had restored a pure understanding of God’s design and his ideas contradicted centuries of astronomical thought Copernicanism represented the first “serious and systematic” challenge to the Ptolemaic conception of the universe Tycho sought to correct the contradictions in traditional astronomy but he was a theoretician Kepler believed that everything in creation had been created according to mathematical laws Galileo became famous through his discoveries with the telescope and eventually devised his own. He studied the moon and found earth like landscapes on it o He was positioned in Italy’s networks of power and patronage, Galileo was able to pursue his goal of demonstrating that Copernicus’s heliocentric model of the planetary system According to Galileo, the Church did the sacred work of teaching scripture and saving souls. Argued that one could be a sincere Copernican and a sincere Catholic o Church ruled that Copernicanism was foolish and heretical Inquisition forced Galileo to repent his Copernican position, banned him from on or even discussing Copernican ideas and placed him under house arrest for life Sir Francis Bacon: “Knowledge is Power” Descartes first rule was “never to receive anything as a truth which did not clearly know to be such” o o

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Primary Sources Aphorisms from Francis Bacon’s Novum Organum  Men of experiment collect and use while the reasoners make cobwebs out of their own substance  Philosophy neither relies solely or chiefly on the powers of the mind  The human understanding of its own nature is prone to suppose the existence of more order and regularity in the world than it finds  Our senses sometimes deceive us  Everyone is prone to mistakes...