EUROPEAN CULTURES

EUROPEAN SOCIETY

• For centuries, the Roman Empire controlled much of Europe with stable social and political order.– Fall of the Roman Empire

isolated Western Europe from the rest of the world.

– Trade declined– Cities, bridges, roads, law

and order, and money all fell into despair.

– Life for most people did not extend past where they were born, lived, and died.

Middle Ages

• The Crusades– Pope Urban II– Worried about the Holy Land, the birthplace of

Christianity, being controlled by Muslims– Launched a series of “holy wars” to regain the

Holy Land– The Crusades pulled Western Europe out of a

period of Isolation and despair. – It reformed European Society, and

encouraged them to start exploring the world around them.

FEUDALISM• Political system

• The King gave estates to nobles in exchange for their loyalty and military support.

• The lack of a strong central government however, often led to warfare.

• Most nobles built castles for defense.

MANORIALISM• The economic ties

between nobles and peasants is called manorialism.

• In exchange for protection, peasants provided various services for the feudal lord on his manor, or estate.

• Most peasants were serfs who could not leave the manor without permission.

• An Improving Economy– New agricultural

inventions– Food surplus– Plow and horse collar– Revived trade in

Europe and encouraged the growth of towns

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

• After the fall of Rome, the Church provided stability and order in Europe.

• People who disobeyed the Church laws faced excommunication.– Excommunication barred people from

practicing church rites.

EXPANDING HORIZONS• The Crusades helped change western European

society by bringing Europeans into contact with Muslim and Byzantine civilizations of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

• Trade increased between western Europe, eastern Mediterranean area, and the Middle East.– This heightened demand at home for Eastern luxury

goods, like spices, sugars, melons, tapestries, silk, and other items.

– (Asia) Chinese and Indian merchants—Arab merchants (moved goods)--Italian merchants

– Common medium of exchange (gold coins): increased demand for gold from Africa to make gold coins.

• Mongol Empire who controlled China– Broke down trade barriers– Opened borders– Secured roads– This encouraged more trade between all parts

of Asia and Europe.

• 1300’s the Mongol Empire collapsed and trade became increasingly difficult.– The flow of goods decreased– Prices on spices increased

• Europeans began to look for a way to reach Asia by sea.

NEW STATES, NEW

TECHNOLOGY

• Beginning in the 1300’s, a number of changes enabled Europeans to send ships into the Atlantic looking for a water route to China.– Crusades and trade with

Asia weakened feudalism.– New towns and merchants

gave monarchs a new source of wealth to tax

– Armed forces protected trade routes

– Monarchs relied less on nobility and created strong central governments.

• By the mid-1400’s, Portugal, Spain, England, and France emerged as powerful states in western Europe.

• The Renaissance– An intellectual

revolution– Produced great

works of art and started a scientific revolution.

• Europeans acquired new technologies to make long distance travel across the ocean possible.– Astrolabe: a device that uses the positions of

the sun to determine direction, latitude, and local time.

– From Arab traders, they acquired the compass and lateen sails, which made it possible to sail against the wind.

– The Portuguese invented the caravel, a ship that was easier to steer and that made travel much faster.

PORTUGUESE EXPLORATION

• Prince Henry the Navigator set up a center for astronomical and geographical studies in Portugal.

• Bartolomeu Dias, reached the southern tip of Africa.

• Vasco da Gama rounded the southern tip of Africa, across the Indian Ocean, and landed in India.– Found a water route to Asia