MODULE II DISCUSSION QUESTIONS_REVIEW

Students: You should be finished with Module II discussion questions. Take a little time and review your answers by comparing your answers with required focus below. You may revise what you have done. THESE ARE NOT ANSWERS, THEY ARE SUGGESTIONS!!!
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MODULE II
DISCUSSION



1. Explain the causes and effects of rural poverty in Europe between 1200 and 1500. What role did the natural environment play in people's survival?

1. Students should understand that nine out of ten people lived in rural areas and that this majority of people were subjected to famine as well as epidemics such as the Black Death. Rural people worked hard in the fields, and the fruits of their labor went to the noble landowner. From 1110 to 1300 the European population more than doubled, partly because of environmental changes such as increases in average temperature. This explosion in the population led to the use of the three-field system as well as the opening of new agricultural settlements; however, it also led to the reality that most Europeans would experience extreme hunger at least once in their lives. This was a world of social inequality, where serfs worked and the nobility and the church owned the land. Students should also emphasize inefficient farming practices, widening class differences, and burgeoning population as the root factors creating rural poverty.








2. What is humanism? What technological innovation encouraged the spread of humanist texts in Renaissance Europe?
2. Students should understand that humanism refers to an interest in the humanities: the disciplines of history, poetry, and ethics. Humanist writers such as Petrarch and Boccaccio were well known for encouraging the rebirth of classical study. Humanists were influential in reviving secondary education and revising the curriculum to include classical tests. The influence of humanism was enhanced because of new printing technology. Printing originated in China, but western Europeans improved it significantly and used printing for many purposes. Johannes Gutenberg is credited with making at least three major contributions—the mechanical printing press, uniform cast-metal letters for movable type, and a suitable ink. The subsequent explosion of printing encouraged both the spread of literacy and the standardization of languages and was a great boon to European intellectual development.

3. One of the most significant events in Europe in the later Middle Ages was the rise of the new monarchies. What three closely related transformations led to this rise? Choose one of the monarchies to illustrate your answer.
3. The three transformations were (a) monarchs' successes in struggles with their vassals; (b) the development of military technology; and (c) the closer relationship of monarchs with both the commercial elites and the church. The pace and form of these transformations, however, differed from state to state. Italy, for instance, did not unite under one powerful monarch. Britain and France struggled through the Hundred Years War. Britain's monarch reluctantly accepted the Magna Carta. France had less control of the noble vassals, and Spain was finally united after driving out the remaining Muslims.

4. What was the impact of the Spanish in the Americas, as compared with the Portuguese in Africa and the East? What enabled the Spanish to conquer such an enormous territory with so few men?

4. The Spanish were more likely to seek territory and conquest, whereas the Portuguese preferred trading partners. Besides, Amerindians had been completely isolated from the rest of the world—in contrast to the peoples that the Portuguese encountered, who were not strangers to world commerce. Epidemic disease reduced the Amerindian population dramatically, allowing the Spanish to gain a foothold. Spanish steel swords, armor, horses, firearms, and deceit, along with allies among the Amerindians, finished the conquest that disease had begun. Spanish imposition of forced labor and religious conversion helped control Spain's new empire.

5. How significant was the role of religion in driving the forces of exploration from Europe?

5. While not a prime factor in the era of exploration, religious motives did exist. The two main areas that sent explorers, Iberia and Genoa, differed in their religious approaches. The argument could be made that Genoa's purpose was entirely commercial, while the Spanish and Portuguese were competing in both religion and commerce with the Islamic areas that had already established trade, technology, and navigation ventures within Africa, around it, and extending into India and Southeast Asia. Conversion was a stated mission of Prince Henry the Navigator's voyages, which were funded at least in part by the Order of Christ but which also established diplomatic and trade contacts in Christianized Africa. Islamic contenders in Iberia and North Africa had also established roots and routes in Africa that predated Christianizing missions.

6. How did the ideas of the Renaissance, Reformation, and Scientific Revolution affect the Enlightenment? Was the Enlightenment only an intellectual concept?

6. The ideas of the Renaissance and Reformation were important to the development of the Enlightenment because they established a precedent of thinking outside the realm of the Catholic Church. The Reformation proclained that nature and religion could coexist, as could science, without direct involvement from the pope or the church. Scientific revolutionaries such as Copernicus, Brahe, Galileo, and Newton used the ideas of Greek and Roman (pre-Christian) thinkers as a jumping-off point for their notions about the world around them, although many did not totally discount the idea of Christianity working in harmony with science. The Enlightenment took advantage of the relative acceptability of using knowledge to challenge political institutions and proposed new models, such as the idea of natural rights, that challenged the existing monarchies. The resulting changes in society therefore made the Enlightenment much more than an intellectual concept.

7. How did the basic tenets of Lutheranism and Calvinism differ from those of Catholicism? What was the Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation?

7. Students should recognize the different paths to salvation—the Catholic belief in salvation through good works, the Lutheran emphasis on faith, and the Calvinist belief in predestination. They should also understand the different philosophies regarding church ornamentation and hierarchy. The “Catholic Reformation” addressed the Protestant challenge at the Council of Trent. While many Catholic beliefs were clarified, the council mostly reaffirmed papal and church power.

8. Warfare was nearly constant in Europe during the early modern era. Using the chronology at the beginning of the chapter, list the wars and examine their economic and human costs. Why were these wars fought, what was their outcome, and what was their significance in European history?

8. Students should acknowledge the widespread death and destruction of the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants, as well as of the internal and international wars of the era. Their financial expense should also be addressed. Despite the enormous costs in human life and money, these wars led to tremendous innovations in weaponry and skill. All states developed armies and navies to suit their particular needs. For instance, England, an island nation, had no standing army and a large navy. The continental states had much larger armies than navies. Refinements (rather than revolutions) in technology in such areas as firearms, shipping, and metallurgy were important, as were advances in communications and transportation. The development of modern diplomacy was a lasting result of that era of warfare and was evident in the precarious and shifting balance of power.

9. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, how did the European states “pay the piper,” as the chapter suggests? Were politics and warfare related to European economies and economic development?

9. Wars were waged for political gain, and the high cost of warfare demanded further increases in revenue. Monarchs promoted alliances with commercial elites, as well as across religious boundaries. States also began to tax the nobility and raise those taxes directly. Colonialism helped promote economic growth, and government protection and stimulus further increased economic development. On the other hand, Spain is an example of a country that kept increasing its military expenditures without promoting economic development. It also ignored alliances for the sake of religious uniformity and aristocratic privilege.

10. Describe the Scientific Revolution. Why did it begin? Who were some of the notable minds responsible for this revolution? Was there widespread acceptance of their ideas?

10. Students should explain that the Scientific Revolution emerged out of the Renaissance rediscovery of Greek thought. In the sixteenth century some great thinkers began to challenge the discoveries of the Greeks, particularly Aristotle, and began a movement to explain the workings of the universe based on natural causes and mathematics. The contributions of Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton all combined to alter the way of thinking established by Aristotle. Student should understand the heliocentric theory of the universe. Galilieo was condemned for his writings. The scientific method also made contributions to social thought, which, along with economic and political changes, resulted in the Enlightenment.

11. What role did religion play in European settlement of the Americas? Discuss Spanish, Portuguese, French, and British uses of Christianity as a tool of colonization.

11. Students should discuss the role that the Catholic Church played in assimilating Amerindian peoples and in suppressing Amerindian traditional religious practice. Students should also explain how religion was an important force in the English and French North American lands. Among the Catholic colonies of the French, Spanish, and Portuguese, conversion was a strong motivation for colonization. The Catholic Church became the main agent for the transmission of European language and culture to the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. The British colonies became a refuge for Protestants who wished to escape what they believed were less-than-devout European practices. Several Protestant groups, such as the Pilgrims, Puritans, and Quakers, settled American lands. French Jesuit missionaries established hospitals, schools, and churches in an effort to convert the indigenous population.

12. Compare and contrast the different colonial regions established in British North America. In what ways were they similar or different?

12. Students should group the colonies into three basic geographic categories: New England, the Middle Atlantic, and the South. The motives for colonization differed. Some were private ventures whose purpose was escape from religious persecution, and others were private ventures designed to gather wealth. Some colonies were established by the monarchy, while others were given only a royal blessing. Their modes of settlement and the types of societies they established varied as widely as their means of supporting themselves. The English added a new system of compulsory labor to the Americas: indentured servants eventually accounted for approximately 80 percent of all English immigrants to Virginia and Maryland. However, as life expectancy in the colonies improved, planters purchased more slaves. As a result, the slave population of Virginia grew rapidly. In the northern part of the Carolinas, an economy based on tobacco and forest products encouraged a slow expansion of slavery. In Charleston and the interior of South Carolina, settlers began to imitate the slave plantation systems of Brazil and the Caribbean. The introduction of rice and indigo crops attracted an increasing flow of African slaves. The New England colonies differed dramatically from the southern economies. New England climate and resources did not favor cash crop agriculture. Instead, New Englanders traded fish, timber, fur, and other forest products. New England also provided commercial and shipping services to the American colonies. Slaves and indentured servants were present in New England, but in very small numbers because of the lack of cash crop agriculture. Therefore, environmental factors and geography played a role in the experience of slaves and the demand for slave labor.

13. What were the effects of the Middle Passage on both slave traders and slaves?

13. Students should be able to describe the trade relations between Europe, Africa, and the Americas at each leg of the Atlantic Circuit. The Middle Passage was the leg of the voyage bringing slaves from Africa across the Atlantic. Students should be able to discuss the status of slaves largely as prisoners of war and to describe the journey, which took six to ten weeks. They should be able to relate the slave traders' desire to maintain a population that was alive and healthy to the risks of the voyage. They should know that there were twice as many male slaves as female. Finally, they should be able to discuss the individual experiences and hardships of the slaves during this voyage.

14. What were the pieces of the new Atlantic economy? Explain how each piece was necessary for the economy's success.

14. As the chapter opener states, slave ships like the Hannibal, though they did not always turn a profit, were an important part of the Atlantic trade network. However, students should recognize that slavery was only one part of the Atlantic economy. The Atlantic system comprised many things that are discussed throughout the chapter. Students should discuss the importance of the capitalist and mercantile systems and the new partnership between government and individual private investors. Also, they should discuss how African and European merchants and elites formed a working economic relationship. Finally, the decision to grow a single cash crop on a plantation gave rise to the Atlantic slave trade and allowed European traders to participate in the global marketplace more effectively and profitably.

15. Compare and contrast the European mercantilist and capitalist systems.

15. Mercantilism comprised the policies used by European states to promote overseas trade and defend national interests. Capitalism grew as an internal European system that involved the management of large financial resources through banks, stock exchanges, and trading companies. Mercantilist policies that supported capitalism included chartered companies, tariffs, and trade laws. The largest capitalist overseas investments were in the sugar plantations of the Caribbean. To defend their West Indian plantation colonies from other countries, European states used military actions as well as protective laws.

16. Discuss the role played by African traders and political leaders in the Atlantic slave trade. What steps did Africans take to control the trade with Europeans and how successful were they? How did the slave trade differ across different regions of Africa?

16. Europeans were initially interested in trade, not in colonizing and controlling Africa. It was African kings and merchants who controlled the trade, not Europeans. Africans did not barter people for cheap goods, as is often described. They demanded high-quality goods that they could not produce, or at least could not produce in large quantities. African gold, ivory, and timber remained important features of European trade. African governments controlled both the price and the quantity of slaves and could unilaterally suspend the trade when they wished. Students should realize that the trade differed widely from region to region within Africa, depending on both the African and European nations that were involved.