emergence of the modern world 1

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EMERGENCE OF THE MODERN WORLD

Indian Ocean was the centre of both commercial and culturalactivities during the ancient and medieval periods. The 'SilkRoute' connecting the West with China through Central Asia andthe sea route from South East Asia to the West were the maintrade routes.

During the Greco-Roman and feudal ages goods necessary forthe Mediterranean people from the East passed through theseroutes.

Indian Ocean trade was controlled by the Jews, Arabs and Turksafter the spread of Islam. They controlled the trade through thePersian Gulf and Red Sea. The port city of Constantinople(present day Istambul) connecting the Mediterranean with theBlack Sea was held by the Greco-Roman traders who controlled

EMERGENCE OF THEMODERN WORLD 1

Map 1-Trade Routes

List out the major trade routes and the countries connectedby them from Map 1

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Standard X - Social Science I

the Central Asian trade. Even whenfeudalism emerged after the decline of theRoman Empire, the Byzantine Empire withits capital Constantinople continued toflourish.

Though certain restrictions were imposedon the quest for knowledge and rationalthinking in Europe, the age witnessed a greatprogress in the field of literature, physics,mathematics and medicine in the EasternCountries. Arab traders brought to Europeproducts like gun powder and paper as wellas technologies like the mariner's compassand subjects like algebra. This culturalrelation was further promoted during thetime of the Crusades.

Map 2-Indian Ocean World

Notice Map 2. How does the position of Constantinople make it important?Discuss.

Byzantine Empire

Byzantium was a small city founded by the Greekson the Bosphorus which connects theMediterranean and the Black Sea. It was themeeting place of ancient Greek and Persiancultures. Later this city and the adjacent regionof Asia Minor became parts of the Roman Empire.This city was the centre of trade between the Eastand West. Because of its strategic importance, theRoman emperor Constantine made the city hissecond capital in the 4th century A.D andrenamed it as Constantinople. By the end of the4th century, when the Roman Empire was dividedinto two, Constantinople became the capital of theEastern Roman Empire, also known as ByzantineEmpire.

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Mediterranean WorldOf the three peninsulas jutting into theMediterranean sea from Europe, Italyoccupies the central position. The Alps inthe north and the fertile Lombardy plainsjust south of it make Italy distinct from theother peninsulas. You have already learntabout the rise of an empire with itsheadquarters at the Italian city of Romewhich became a great centre of wealth andcivilization. This empire declined andseveral feudal chieftains assumed power.After a few centuries, a number ofcommercial cities arose in the Italianpeninsula.

The residents of these cities were traderswho bought eastern goods from the Arabsand sold them to the landlords and feudalchieftains of Western Europe. Besides trade,they also practised money-lending. Thus a

wealthy class of merchants emerged in thesecities. The Italian peninsula surrounded byseveral small islands was congenial foroceanic trade. In each of these cities severalrich families joined together with a view topromoting trade activities. These familiescontrolled the administration of the cities. Itwas different from the administration of thefeudal states in the rest of Europe.

Italian CitiesThe main commercial cities which grew upin the Mediterranean were Venice, Milan,Piza, Florence, Genoa, Bologna and Naples.Wealthy families like the Visconti in Milanand the Medici in Florence managed theadministration of the cities. The populationof the cities varied from five thousand to onelakh. The trade and administration of these

Italian cities

What were the factorsbehind the growth. Howdid their administrativestructure differ fromthose in feudal Europe?

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cities were controlled by wealthy familiesnumbering between one hundred and onethousand. The land trade throughConstantinople and the oceanic trade whichcontrolled West Asia and North Africaenabled these merchants to become mastersof the Mediterranean. Gibraltar, the gatewayto the Atlantic, was also controlled by them.Thus the Indian Ocean world, which hithertoacted as the hub around which world tradeand civilisation revolved, was graduallyreplaced by the Mediterranean. The morning

star of the modern age had risen in the West.

The wealthy families of the Italian cities ledan extravagant life. They built beautifulhouses. For this they brought architects andartists from different parts of the world.Sculptors, artists and men of letters from faroff places thus reached Italian cities. Amongthem were the people from the decliningByzantine Empire. The exponents of arts,literature and science from both the East andWest thus reached these cities. It generateda new awakening in the intellectual field.

RenaissanceThe word 'Renaissance' means rebirth orrevival. But it connotes the awakening of theartistic and intellectual activities which hadtaken place in the Italian cities and the restof the European countries in the 14th and 15th

centuries.

The wealthy families of the Italian citiesstarted looking into the past in search oftheir roots. It was an enquiry into the past tofind out if the roots of their heritage extendedto the ancient Greco-Roman cultures. As aresult, manuscripts of several ancient textswere discovered. The scholars appointed bythem showed keen interest in the history ofthese cultures. They had to learn the ancientGreek and Latin languages to understandthese texts. The prevailing medieval Latinwas different from that of the ancient period.This led to the study of philology, since

How did the Italian cities become the meeting place of Western andEastern knowledge?

ancient Greek and Latin had gone out of use.The texts in those languages were translatedinto the newly emerging vernacular ofItalian. Along with this, new texts were alsoproduced. Thus Italian grew very fast.

Certain features which distinguished themedieval from the modern emerged duringthe Renaissance. They were:

• Spirit of inquiry

• Spirit of criticism

• Rational thinking

• Growth of vernacular literature

• Humanism - the concept that man is themeasure of all things

Italian RenaissanceRenaissance in Italy is thought to havecommenced with the literary contributionsof Petrarch (1304-1374) who lived in the 14th

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century. He wrote several sonnets dealingwith love in the style of the ancient Greekwriters. His sonnets deal with humanfeelings and aspirations. The Decameron ofBoccaccio (1313-1371) dealt with theimmoral life led by the feudal lords. It wasa collection of one hundred stories in whichthe influence of the Arabian Nights could beseen. The Divine Comedy of Dante criticisedcertain medieval religious beliefs. It dealswith an imaginary journey undertaken byDante along with the ancient Roman poetVirgil into heaven and hell in search of his

love who died an untimely death. All thesetexts are replete with the Renaissance spiritof criticism and humanism.

Renaissance ArtThe Italian artists inaugurated a new style inarchitecture, sculpture and painting.Renaissance art was enriched by the creationsof artists like Leanardo da Vinci, MichaelAngelo, Titian, Donatello, Brunelleschi andmany others. Leonardo da Vinci madehimself immortal by his painting Mona Lisa,the picture of a beautiful lady with herenigmatic smile. This painting is of theenchanting face of a lady, the style of whichwas different from the monotonous mannerin which angels were painted in the medievalperiod. The painting, Last Supper depictsJesus who sits composedly and his twelvedisciples. In his Virgin Mary, the grief strickencountenance of Mary caused by the loss ofher son is painted. Both the pictures reflectthe humanism of Da Vinci. The notebooksof Da Vinci reveal that besides his excellenceas an artist, he was aware of the circulation ofblood and mechanical flight.

Petrarch

Why is Petrarchcalled the Father of

humanism?

How did changes in the mode of production reflect themselves in the humanlife of the age of Renaissance? Discuss.

Dante

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Renaissance in other parts ofEurope

Renaissance spread to other European

countries from Italy through traders and

money lenders. Vernacular languages like

Spanish, English, Dutch, German etc. grew

during this period.

The Spanish poet Cervantes wrote the Don

Quixote which depicts the hallucinations of

the war-crazy medieval feudal knights. This

text narrates the story of Count Quixote who

passes through bylanes on horseback

chopping the wayside plants and creepers

and tilting at wind mills.

It was at this time that the book titled 'In

Praise of Folly' by Erasmus (c.1466-1536) was

released. Erasmus wrote this book during

his stay with Thomas Moor whom the

European Church revered as saint. Erasmus

criticised, from within the church, the

attempts of certain people to distort the

beliefs and principles of the church.

Mona LisaLast Supper

William Shakespeare

The English Renaissance literature marked

its beginning with the publication of

Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. But

English Literature gained its originality in

the 16 th century. The world-famous

playwright William Shakespeare and the

blind bard John Milton were among the

illustrious writers of the age.

Political Thought

Nicolo Machiavelli was the most important

among the political thinkers of the

Renaissance period. The Prince by

Machiavelli marks the beginning of modern

political thought. In this book he depicts the

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dictum that the king should be the 'Lion and

Fox' at the same time.

The English Theologian Thomas Moor

whom the Catholic Church declared as a

saint wrote 'Utopia' in which he presentedan idealistic society based on equality andpeace and without poverty, misery or crime.The word 'utopia' means 'nowhere'. Thisbook sowed the seeds of socialism.

Did the spirit of enquiry, criticism and humanism expressed in the Renaissanceart and literature reflect themselves in the political thought of the age? Discuss.

ReformationThe changes which occurred in the socio-economic sectors reflected themselves in thereligious life also. The reform movementwhich took place in the European Churchin the 16 th century was known as theProtestant Reformation. Protests had ariseneven earlier against the church. Attempts ofJohn Wycliff (1324-1384) of Oxford and JohnHuss (1369-1415) of Prague are examples ofsuch protests. But their efforts could notproduce the desired results.

St. Peters' Church in Rome

The number of heretics increased in manyparts of Europe. Another reason was thegrowth of trade. The newly emergingmerchant class supported the princes morethan the clergy.

In the 16th century the European Church hadto face an economic crisis. The 'sale ofindulgence' was one of the means adoptedby the church to get around the crisis. Thispaved the way for opposition from differentquarters within the church itself.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)Martin Luther was a theologian whoquestioned the unethical practice of the 'Saleof Indulgence'. He was the professor ofTheology in the Wittenberg University ofGermany. He prepared 'Ninety-five Theses'detailing his arguments and nailed it on thewalls of the Wittenberg church on 31stOctober 1517. The Catholic Churchexcommunicated him. Those who opposedthe excommunication of Martin Luther were,in the course of time, known as Protestants.

Martin Luther

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With the invention of the printing press, the

Bible reached the hands of the common

people. The experience of directly reading

the Bible enabled the people to realise the

limitations of the European church. This was

also a cause for the wider acceptance of the

ideas of Luther in and outside Germany.

Besides it was also helpful in creating a

general intellectual awakening in the

European Society.

Ulrich Swingli of Switzerland and John

Calvin of France were the other leaders of

Reformation. The followers of John Calvin

were known as Huguenots. The English

Reformation had a political character. It was

Henry VIII who gave leadership to this.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the

Anglican Church was accepted as the official

Church of England.

Door of the Wittenberg church

The Renaissance ideas brought about changes in the European Church. Examinethis statement.

Counter ReformationAs a result of the Reformation movement,certain attempts of reform movementsoccurred within the church itself. This wasknown by different names such as CounterReformation, Catholic Reformation etc. Itwas with the accession of Pope John Paul IIin 1534 that the reform movement started inthe church. It was the assembly of Bishopsheld in Trent in Germany (1545-1563) thatdefended the criticism against the Church.This initiated reform activities in theadministration of the Church.

As a part of this, the church banned all thetexts which propagated heresy. The list ofsuch banned texts was known as 'Index'. Thechurch court called 'inquisition' used the

'Index' as a basic reference for punishingheresy. Rigorous punishment was imposedon the ones who were proved guilty.

The Society of Jesus was founded byIgnatius Loyola (1491-1550) for propagatingreligious faith. It was an organisation formedon military lines. This organisation foundedby Ignatius Loyola who was a formerSpanish soldier was another agency of theCounter Reformation.

Ignatius Loyola

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Thirty Years War (1618-1648)The reformation caused ceaseless wars. Themost important of these was known as theThirty Years' War. It was a war between theCatholic royal family of Hapsburgs and theProtestant princes of Germany. In additionto religious causes there were local issuesalso to be settled. Internal politics and conflictof power too were issues in these wars.Gradually almost all European countriesjoined the war. The war brought great havoc

in Europe. Many died in the war and manymore perished due to the famine caused bythe war. The war came to an end by the Treatyof Westphalia in 1648. It was a series oftreaties signed by the rulers of the HolyRoman Empire, Austria, Spain, France andSweden. The main feature of this treaty wasthat political leaders joined together andsettled boundary disputes. It led to theemergence of nation states in Europe.

Identify the major features of the Protestant and CounterReformations.

Geographical DiscoveriesThe geographical explorations of the 15thand 16th centuries and the discovery of newterritories and sea routes opened a newchapter in the history of the world. Severalfactors together led to these discoveries. Theaccounts of Marco Polo who travelled to theEast got wide publicity in Europe. Theyaroused the curiosity about the wealth andlives of the people of countries like Chinaand India.

The geographical explorations werelaunched in search of spices and otherprecious things of the East. Countries likeSpain and Portugal tried to put an end tothe monopoly of Mediterranean trade heldby the Italian cities. The commodities fromthe East reached Europe through the Red Seaand Persian Gulf. But these routes werecontrolled by the Arabs and hence not safefor the Europeans. They had to travel to theEast through the costly land route. When theTurks captured Constantinople in 1453, thisroute too was closed to the Europeans. Thus

they were compelled to discover analternative sea route to India and other Asiancountries. By the beginning of the 15thcentury big ships began to be constructed.A new Mariner's compass and the device ofthe Astrolobe came to be used widely inEurope. These devices enabled theEuropean sailors to set out on long voyages.The Portuguese and the Spaniards were the

Marco Polo

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pioneers in this field. Prince Henry theNavigator of Portugal founded a schoolwhere training was given to young sailorsin maritime explorations and navigation. In1488 the sailors sent from this school underthe leadership of Bartholomew Diaz reachedthe southernmost tip of Africa. ThePortuguese hoped that they could reachIndia by crossing the Arabian sea from there.Following this, other European countriesalso joined the race of maritime explorations.The Spanish navigator ChristopherColumbus applied the logic of sailing west-ward to reach the East as the earth wasspherical. In 1492 he reached the eastern coastof American continent. It was called the'New World' by the Europeans. In 1498 theexpedition led by Vasco da Gama reachedIndia by circumnavigating the Cape of GoodHope.

First route of voyage of Christopher Columbus (Christopher Columbus in inset)

Cape of Good Hope

The Portuguese King John II sent an ex-pedition under the captaincy ofBartholomew Diaz with a view to findingout a sea route to India. When he reachedthe southernmost tip of Africa, he couldnot proceed further because of heavystorms. He called it the Cape of Stormsand returned to Portugal . But John IIhoped that a route to India could be foundby rounding the cape. Hence he named itas Cape of Good Hope.

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A team of explorers under the leadershipFerdinand Magellan set out in 1519 tocircumnavigate the world. When he reachedPhilippines, he was killed by the natives inan encounter. His crew reached Spain in1522. Thus was accomplished the firstcircumnavigation of the world. The projectof explorations was followed by manyEuropean countries. The first batch ofvoyagers who explored the eastern coast ofNorth America was led by John Cabbot.Thus were discovered Newfoundland,Labradore, Hudson Bay, etc., where theEnglish and the French established theircolonies.

The results of Geographical Dis-coveriesThe Geographical Discoveries andexplorations produced far-reaching results.Asian trade made the Europeans rich. It ledto the rise of colonial empires. Papaya,banana, pineapple, tea, tobacco etc. reacheddifferent parts of the world. Large scaleaggressions and migrations took place. It ledto the rise of slave trade. Thesedevelopments led to the rise of greattransformations in environment, agriculture,human civilisations and similar fields.

As a result of colonialism, the Maya, Inca,Toltec and Aztec civilizations of SouthAmerica were destroyed. A sizable portionof the native population was destroyed byepidemics like small pox, chicken pox,syphilis etc. brought by the Europeans.

The main objective of the Europeans in Asiawas the monopoly of trade. They wieldedpolitical power and used military force toconquer territories to achieve it. This led tothe large scale colonisation of Asia andAfrica. The rich natural resources of the

Vasco da Gama

Sailors Country Landdiscovered

John Cabbot England Newfoudland

Balboa Spain Panama

Cabral Portugal Brazil

.......... .......... ..........

.......... .......... ..........

Complete the chart

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colonies came under the control of thecolonisers and they became wealthy by thisexploitation.

West European countries like Portugal,Spain, France and England came to exercisea monopoly of world trade. ThusMediterranean trade began to declinegradually. As a result of colonisation the

cultural gulf between East and Westwidened. Deliberate attempts were made todestroy native culture in the colonies.

The commercial relations with the coloniesled to the rise of the wealthy middle class inEurope. The old system of usury gave wayto banking. Merchants joined together andformed joint stock companies. The EnglishEast India Company is an example.

'The geographical discoveries and maritime explorations brought abouttremendous changes in the political structure and economic sector of Europeancountries'. Discuss.

Progress of ScienceHeralding a new age, science made greatprogress. Philosophers began to observe theuniverse in a new manner and tried toexplain natural phenomena with newmethods. The versatile genius, Leonardo DaVinci, observed anatomy and nature keenlyand drew his pictures.

Copernicus (1473-1543) put forward thehelio-centric theory in the place of the

prevalent geocentric theory. But it was notacceptable at that time. Galileo Galili (1564-1642) invented the telescope and proved thatCopernicus was right. The rejection of thegeocentric theory completely transformedthe European world view. Sir Isaac Newton's(1643-1727) book Principia Mathematica putforward the theories of gravitation and lawsof motion. Medical science, chemistry,

Copernicus Telescope of Galileo (Galileo in inset)

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mathematics, physics, natural science, newknowledge about magnetism and electricity,etc. made considerable progress.

By introducing a new method in the studyof science and experiments, Galileo effecteda revolution in science. His scientific methodwas followed by Francis Bacon andDescartes. Great contributions were made inthe fields of astronomy, physics, zoology,human physiology, etc. The Swedish

scientist Carl Linneaus contributed much tothe branches of zoology, botany and medicalscience. He is considered as the father oftaxonomy, scientific classification of animalsand ecology. He introduced the practice ofbinomial nomenclature in the classificationof plants and animals.

The progress achieved by science after theRenaissance opened a new age in history.

Sir Isaac Newton Carl Linneaus

The Renaissance thoughts and ideas led to many inventions which transformedhuman life. Can you find out the changes caused by each invention?

EnlightenmentThe Renaissance ideas of rationalism andhumanism were repeated in the age ofEnlightenment also. Enlightenment was anadvancement in the intellectual activities ofman which tried to explain the natural worldand the role of man in it in the light ofrationalism. The conflict between religiousfaith and rationalism was the feature ofEnlightenment. The Enlightenment thinkerstried to understand and explain things in thelight of reason based on facts and evidences.

Though Enlightenment began in England, itsbest expression could be seen in France. Thetheory of causation of Descartes and Spinozakindled the Enlightenment but the realexponents of this movement were Sir IsaacNewton (1642-1727) and John Locke (1632-1704). The contribution of Newton was thathe gave a mechanistic interpretation ofnature. John Locke who is known as thefather of epistemology argued that the basisof knowledge is empirical.

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Voltaire stood for religious freedom, freetrade and civil liberties. He supported thesocial reform movements. He was a critic ofintolerance, religious orthodoxy and theinequalities of the contemporary society.Rousseau believed that man is essentiallygood; in the state of nature - a 'noble savage'.Social experiences make men unhappy andcorrupt. In his treatise Social Contract, hestated that state came into being as a resultof a contract arrived at by the peoplethemselves.

Science was popularised by the philosophes.The Scientific Revolution led to theemergence of scientific organisations. Inaddition to the Encyclopedie, many otherpublications emerged in the study ofscience. The scientific method for enquiryand invention was made universal by theEnlightenment. People showed keen interestin the inquiry into 'truth' and 'naturalphenomena'. Philosophers began to writeabout governance, politics and humanrights. The political revolutions of Europein the 18th and 19th centuries wereinfluenced by the Enlightenment.Rationalism became the slogan of the age.

Enlightenment Thinkers

Denis Diderot 1713-1784

Montesquieu 1689-1755

Voltaire 1694-1778

Rousseau 1712-1778

Immanuel Kant 1724-1804

Thomas Paine 1737-1809

Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826

Diderot was interested in subjects likelanguage, literature, drama, law,philosophy, mathematics etc. He was theeditor of the multi-volume Encyclopedie,which was a collection of articles by theFrench writers of the 18th century. The ideasand opinions expressed in these articles ledto the spread of science and secular thoughts.New insights into the emerging politicalstructures came up during the age ofEnlightenment. Montesquieu believed thatthe separation of powers betweenlegislative, executive and judicial functionsof government would ensure more politicalfreedom. He also put forward the principleof checks and balances.

Voltaire

Rousseau

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Activities

• The decline of feudalism and the progress of trade pavedthe way for European Renaissance. Evaluate this statementin the Italian context.

• What were the changes brought about by the invention ofprinting press in religion and literature in Europe?

• All walks of human life in Europe were influenced by thevalues of Renaissance. Analyse the above statement.

• Collect paintings /pictures during the Renaissance periodand prepare an album.

• How did the German Reformation influence the rest ofEurope?

• How did the Geographical Discoveries enable theEuropean countries to establish their hegemony over therest of Europe?

• How did the basic ideas of Enlightenment help in theprogress of Science? Analyse and prepare a note.

• List which discoveries were termed as geographicaldiscoveries and who were the leaders of such discoveries.

emergence of the modern world 1

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