European

ExplorationFROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO COLOMBUS

Europe in the Middle Ages

Europe in the Middle Ages

What did you notice about the graph?

What did it show us about the European population in 1400s? 1500s? 1600s?

Changes in population in Europe

Why?

The Plague/ Bubonic Plague/ “Black Death”

Harsh living conditions

Disease and famine conflict/ war

Changes in technology and farming practices

Society in Europe

Feudalism

Catholicism

Small land-owning elite and harsh living conditions

How would this influence the desire to explore?

Europe after the Middle Ages

Changes in farming practices more commerce and trade; a new merchant

class; and,

Increase in population overpopulation the problem of “not enough

space”

Changes in power

More centralized states

Alliance between monarchs and merchants

The Crusades and the Renaissance desire to explore

Crusades clash of societies route to Asia

Renaissance individual vs. God

The compass, gunpowder, and print (Asia)

European Exploration

Based on what we have discussed so far, what were some of the causes of exploration?

Causes for Exploration

Harsh living conditions

Feudalism

Overpopulation

Tools (compass, gunpowder, etc.)

Knowledge (Renaissance)

Glory

God

Oh yeah…gold

Spanish Exploration—1492, “the Big

Year

Columbus and the New World

Christopher Columbus, Italian mariner

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain

Route to China

Arriving in the Caribbean Hispaniola

The Spanish and the Natives

Settlers and natives

Priests and natives

Change in Spanish-Native Relationships

The Columbian Exchange—From the Old

World, to the New World, and Back

The Implications (or future impact)

of Columbus

Take a few minutes and think about what you have just learned

What connections can we draw between Columbus and the discovery

of the New World and other things we know about US History

Discuss your connections with your group and record at least two

responses

The Effects of Columbus and the

Discovery of the New World

So what are some of the enduring consequences of Columbus’s

“discovery”?

Mercantilism (a concept we will discuss again later in this unit) is a concept that claims that trade created conflict involving rivalry for markets and exploitation of human and natural resources

Using force to subjugate (conquer) a population for profit

Creating communities based on social inequality

Mistreatment of non-European (or minority groups) because the Indians died, the Spanish needed new slaves Africa

Many of the issues we see with Columbus and the Indians, we will see with the English and the Algonquin and Iroquois in Virginia and New England

Homework

Based on what you know, in 1-2 paragraphs answer the following question:

Should we celebrate Columbus Day? Why or why not?