WW Ch 13, 14 & 15

Blog_WW Ch 13, 14 & 15

Early Modern World 1450-1750

The Early Modern World consisted of a time of explorations, conquering of new territories, establishing of societies with political structures developed in many nations giving way for Globalization. Although these 3 centuries “marked less in entry into the modern era than the continuing development of older agrarian societies” (613) they made an impact that changed many nations. New empires like European, Middle Eastern and Asian set the stage for this globalization thru long distance trade of spices, sugar, silver, fur and slaves.  And “the global silver trade allowed Europeans to use New World precious metal to buy their way into ancient Asian Trade routes” (611).  

This period in history “lay in the oceanic journeys of European explorers and the European conquest and colonial settlement of the Americas” (611) The Europeans colonies were made up of Spaniards who built an empire in the Caribbean then went on the conquered and destroy the Aztec and Incan empires in the Americas. The colonization of these empires meant the start of mixed races known as “mestizos”.  The Portuguese who “established themselves along the coast of present day Brazil” (618) and colonized there became known as “mulattoes”. The British, French and Dutch explorers “launched colonial settlements along the eastern coast of North America” (618) what is today Canada. We to this day still see evidence of these European explorers colonization, in Central and South America where Spanish is the native language, in Brazil where Portuguese is the native language and in North America where French is still spoken.  

This Era marked a new way of connecting 4 continents, with goods from other nations and made commerce a means of economic wealth for some people. Connecting peoples meant the growth of population in certain parts of the world which nearly doubled while in other parts there were many loss of lives. In the Americas the Spaniards brought diseases the wiped out most of the native Aztecs and Incas.  “The Atlantic slave trade linked Africa permanently to the Western Hemisphere” (611), and many lives were loss crossing the “Middle Passage” to the new world. While the Europeans were out exploring and conquering other nations, Russia, China and the Ottoman Empire were at home conquering and expanding their neighboring lands.   

Religion most certainly played on role during this time as well, the “Scientific Revolution” was a way of explaining the “why” of the different beliefs. “If human reason could discover the laws that governed the universe, surely it could uncover ways in which humankind might govern itself more effectively.” (745) Thus enlightenment is to use ones’ own understanding without the guidance of anyone to belief or not belief in a higher power.