Universal Empire• Many rulers used their status

and family power to continue to hold on to the crown.

• Charles V attempted to re-define the empire from solely German, back into a universal entity.

• His vast cosmopolitan conglomerate was far from a regular empire with a border around it.

• He controlled many countries all over the world and tried to hold them together.

• They were governed by the Imperial Public Law, but had no common legal system, no single administrative structure, or even a single language.

Conquering The Ocean• The early view of the Earth

was very crude, inaccurate, and impressionistic.

• Prince Henry of Portugal looked to rejuvenate his poor nation by exploring Africa for direct access to gold and other precious commodities.

• These Portuguese navigators sailed into waters that many thought to be unnavigable.

• Most importantly, they returned to prove that it was possible.

• These voyages brought them in contact with land and peoples the European’s had never known existed.

Spreading The Word• Christianity accompanied

the ever expanding European empires almost until their final demise.

• After Constantine’s conversion, Christianity became the empires most valuable ally.

• Where there were conquerors, settlers, and traders, closely behind were the missionaries.

• A man named Montesinos was one of the first to attack his own religious population for the enslavement and mistreatment of Indians.