Chapter 13: European Visions The Atlantic

1. Chapter 13: European VisionsThe Atlantic • North Atlantic was home of raiders and sailors rather than traders (8th-12th centuries) • Vikings were the major actors • Were explorers and raiders • Settled new areas and established cities such as Dublin • Swedes (Vikings) moved eastward into Russia • Became more peaceful after 1000 • No records of non-Viking activities

2. Decline of Trade in the Mediterranean • By 950, Mediterranean was “Muslim Lake” but consisted of different cultural zones • Mediterranean now a war zone • Trade continued but was affected by fluctuations in European economy • European merchants frustrated by lack of link from Mediterranean to Indian Ocean • Europeans seek alternative routes

3. Trade and Social Change in Europe • Guilds/City-States Confront Rural Aristocrats • Trade organized by guilds that controlled wages, prices, production, and job training • Most were local; exception was Hanseatic League of Germany • Controlled trade from London to Novgorod • Faded with rise of new states such as Netherlands, England, and Sweden

4. Trade and Social Change in Europe • Economic and Social Conflicts within the City • Textile manufacturers dominated some cities • Capitalist traders organized manufacture based on estimates of market demands • Production organized hierarchically with lower pay for tasks at bottom of production process • Women and children got even less pay • Class antagonism led to revolts

5. Trade and Social Change in Europe • New Directions in Philosophy and Learning • Renaissance based on new urban wealth • Church renaissance from 11th century stressed intellectual dimension of faith • Anselm, Abelard, and Bernard of Clairvaux • New monastic orders sought ties to early church • Intellectual opening to Arab world in 11th century • Links through Spain • Philosophers: Avicenna, Averroes, and Maimonides

6. Trade and Social Change in Europe • New Directions in Philosophy and Learning [cont.] • University emerged and promoted practical knowledge such as medicine, law, and theology • St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) paved way for Renaissance (accepted ideas of Aristotle) • Assemblage of bright minds promoted wide range of ideas, criticism of status quo and its leaders

7. Trade and Social Change in Europe • Disasters of the 14th Century: Famine, Plague, and War • Italian prosperity brought population growth and strain on natural resources • Rural depopulation followed by mid-13th century • Plague reduced European population from 70 million (1300) to 45 million (1400)

8. Trade and Social Change in Europe • Social Unrest Follows the Plague • Depopulation benefited survivors with higher wages and ability to buy land • Ciompi (lowest class in Florence) demanded access to guilds, right to unionize, and participation in government • Successes were short-lived

9. The Renaissance • Motivating philosophy was humanism, the belief that the proper study of man is man • Asserting importance of individual challenged authority of the Church • Strong belief in God tied to belief that God gave mankind the power to shape its own destiny

10. The Renaissance • New Artistic Styles • Religious themes influenced by humanistic and commercial values • Masaccio, Trinity with the Virgin (1427) • Van Eyck, The Arnolfini Wedding Portrait (1434) • Florence and Medici family influenced art • Michaelangelo, sculptor and painter • Da Vinci, inventor and painter • Machiavelli, political philosopher

11. The Renaissance • Developments in Technology • Improvements in sailing aided merchants • Caravel and lateen sails • Astrolabe • Cannon • Printing • From China but better suited for alphabetic writing • Decimal system

12. The Renaissance • Church Revises its Economic Policies • Had been critical of quest for private profit • Opposition to money-lending led to Jewish role as lenders and bankers who were segregated from rest of society • Rise of commerce led Church to be more open to commercial practices • Economic growth in secular city-states of Flanders and Italy

13. A New World • Portugal situated to lead exploration • First goal was to gain supremacy over Muslims • Second goal was oceanic route to India • Prince Henry the Navigator, 1394-1460 • Outflanked Muslims by sailing around Africa • Interested in oceanic exploration • Circumnavigated Africa to reach India • Explorations around African coast opened commercial opportunities in slaves, ivory, grain, and gold

14. A New World • Portugal [cont.] • Bartolomeu Diaz rounded southern tip of Africa in 1488 • Portuguese rejection of Columbus’ services led him to sail for Spain and connect Europe to what he initially believed was China • Vasco da Gama made Europe-to-India voyage • Defeated some Muslims and left armed force in India

15. A New World • Columbus funded by Spanish monarchy • Underestimated size of globe • Larger second voyage not a commercial success • Third voyage confirmed discovery of “new world” • Later voyages of Amerigo Vespucci and Vasco Nunez de Balboa confirm “new world” finding; discover the Pacific Ocean • Magellan circumnavigated the globe

16. Oceana • Australia largely untouched by European voyages • Abel Tasman circumnavigated Australia for Dutch East India Company (1642) • British sent James Cook and Joseph Banks to Australia (and also Antarctica) • These voyages completed the process of gaining understanding of the globe and its land masses

17. Legacies to the Future • Participants had different goals • Chart the unknown • Pressure to find a new home • Quest for profit • Desire to proselytize the world • Lust for conquest and global supremacy • Eastern and Western Hemispheres now connected