The History of EuropeMr. Belter

Europe in 1560

• Bullet point• Bullet point

– Sub Bullet

History and Government

Section 1: History and GovernmentsBIG IDEA The characteristics and movement ofpeople impact physical and human systems. Over the centuries, migrations and wars have brought different groups to power in Europe. As modern nations have taken the place of empires and kingdoms, ways of living and thinking havealso changed.

Who is that giant? Is it awarrior? A farmer? A king? One thing iscertain—at almost 230 feet (70 m) high,

the Long Man of Wilmington, in England, is one of the world’s largest carved figures. Originally a chalk outline that became overgrown by grass, the Long Man was restored in 1969 with 770 concrete blocks. As scientists study the earth around the giant, they will be better able to judge when it was made—and maybe even why it was made! Read this section to learn more about the history of Europe.

Picture This:

Ancient EuropeMain Idea Ancient Greece and Rome laid the foundations of European civilization.Geography and You Do you get to vote on family decisions or elect leaders to your student government?Read to find out how voting rights arose with the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Socrates, on the left, taught by asking students pointed questions. His most famous student was Plato, another great Greek thinker.Place: In which Greek city-state did democracy develop?

Sample Graph (3 colour)The story of European civilization begins with the ancient Greeks and Romans. More than 2,500 years ago, these peoples settled near the Mediterranean Sea. Eventuallytheir cultures spread throughout Europe and beyond. Even today, the influence of the classical world—meaning ancient Greece and Rome—lingers.

Ancient GreecePhysical geography naturally shaped the development of ancient Greece. The people felt deep ties to the land, which is ruggedly beautiful. At the same time, Greece’s many mountains, islands, and the surrounding seas isolated early communities and kept them fiercely independent.

The earliest Greek civilizations began among farming and fishing peoples who lived near the Aegean Sea. These civilizations became wealthy through trade. After warfare led to their decline, independent territories called city-states developed throughout Greece.

What is a City-State?

One of the most prosperous and powerful city-states was Athens. The people of Athens introduced the world’s first democracy, a political system in which all citizens share in running the government. Although women and enslaved persons could not vote because they were not citizens, Athenian democracy set an examplefor later civilizations

Where did the Ideas about Our

Government come from?

Who is This Dude?---

Philip II of Macedonia, conquered Greece. Philip’s son earned the name Alexander the Great by making even more conquests. As shown in Figure 1 on the next Slide, his empire included Egypt and Persia and stretched eastward into India. Trade boomed, Greek culture mixed with Egyptian and Persian cultures, and scientific advances spread.

Alexander’s Empire

RomeWhat in the Heck are These kids

doing?

The Romulus and Remus Myth:Birth of Romulus and Remus

• Romulus and Remus were twin brothers, the sons of a vestal virgin named Rhea Silvia (also called Ilia) and the god Mars, according to legend. Since vestal virgins could be buried alive if they violated their chastity vows, whoever forced Rhea Silvia to enter the equivalent of an ancient convent assumed that Rhea Silvia would remain childless.

The Republic

While Greece ruled the eastern Mediterranean, Rome became a dominant power on the Italian Peninsula. Rome began as a monarchy but changed to a republic in 509 b.c. In a republic, people choose their leaders. Rome was led by two consuls who were elected by the citizens. The consuls reported to and were advised by the Senate, an assembly of rich landowners who served for life. One of the government’s great achievements was the development of a code of laws. Written on bronze tablets known as the Twelve Tables, the laws stated that all free citizens had the right to be treated equally. Roman law led to standards of justice still used today. For example, a person was regarded as innocent until proven guilty. Also, judges were expected to examine evidence in a case.

Citizens?

• About 200 b.c., Roman armies began seizing territory throughout the Mediterranean region. Instead of ruling only by force, though, the Romans allowed many of the people they conquered to become Roman citizens. By granting people citizenship, the Romans were able to build a strong state with loyal members.

Julius Caesar

As the Roman Republic expanded, it evolved into the massive Roman Empire. The first emperor, or all-powerful ruler, was Augustus, who gained that position in 27 b.c. His rule brought order to Rome’s vast lands. This period, called the Pax Romana, was a time of peace, artistic growth, and expanding trade that lasted about 200 years.

What if His name was Brian?• During the Pax Romana,

Christianity was developing in Palestine in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. There, a Jewish teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, preached a message of love and forgiveness. Jesus soon attracted followers as well as enemies. Fearing public unrest, the Roman authorities had Jesus executed. Yet within days, Jesus’ followers, known as Christians, reported that he had risen from the dead. They took this as proof that Jesus was the son of God.

Peter and Paul, who?

Eager to spread Jesus’ teachings, two early Christian leaders, Peter and Paul, established the Christian Church in Rome. Roman officials at first persecuted, or mistreated, Christians. Despite this abuse, the new religion grew in popularity. In a.d. 392, Christianity became Rome’s official religion.

The Fall of Rome

By the late a.d. 300s, the Roman Empire was in decline. Rivals struggled to become emperor, and Germanic groups attacked from the north. About a.d. 395, the empire was divided into eastern and western parts. The eastern part remained strong and prosperous. Known as the Byzantine Empire, it lasted another thousand years. The western part was occupied by Germanic groups. In a.d. 476, Germanic leaders overthrew the last emperor in Rome and brought the Western Roman Empire to an end.

Where do we see Rome?

• Despite its fall, Rome had great influence on Europe and the West. It helped spread classical culture and Christianity. Roman law shaped the legal systems in many countries. The Roman idea of a republic later influenced the founders of the United States.

• Romance languages, such as Italian, French, and Spanish.

• Domes?

Expansion of Europe

• Main Idea During the Middle Ages, European society, religion, and government underwent great changes.

• Geography and You Are there still parts of the world left to explore? Read to learn about changes in Europe, including how Europeans began to explore the far reaches of the world in the 1400s

The Middle AgesAfter Rome’s fall, Europe entered the Middle Ages, a 1,000-year period between ancient and modern times. Christianity strongly influenced society during this period. In the 1300s, though, interest in education, art, and science exploded. Questions began to arise about earlier beliefs and practices. By the 1500s, Europe was experiencing changes that gave birth to the modern period.

Castle Conwy, Wales

A Christian Europe

• During the Middle Ages, Christianity held a central place in people’s lives. Two separate branches of the religion had formed, though. The Roman Catholic Church, based in Rome, was headed by a powerful pope. The Eastern Orthodox Church was centered in the Byzantine Empire. The Roman Catholic Church spread Roman culture and law to the Germanic groups living in western and central Europe.

• In eastern Europe, the Byzantine Empire passed on Eastern Orthodoxy and Greek and Roman culture to Slavic groups.

The Middle Ages: Surfs?

About a.d. 800, a Germanic king named Charlemagne united much of western Europe. After his death, this empire broke up. At that point, no strong governments existed to help western Europeans withstand invaders. To bring order, a new political and social system arose by the 1000s. Under this system, called feudalism, kings gave land to nobles. The nobles in turn provided military service, becoming knights, or warriors, for the king. As romantic as this may sound, life was hard for the masses. Most western Europeans were poor peasants. They farmed the lands of kings, nobles, and church leaders, who housed and protected them but who also limited their freedom.

The Crusades

In feudal times, the Christian faith united Europeans. Yet the religion of Islam, founded in the a.d. 600s by an Arab named Muhammad, was on the rise. Followers of Islam, called Muslims, spread through Southwest Asia to North Africa and parts of Europe. They also gained control of Palestine, alarming Christians who considered this the Holy Land. Beginning in the 1000s, nobles from western Europe gathered volunteers into large armies to win back the Holy Land. These religious wars, called the Crusades, were only partly successful. Muslims eventually recaptured much of the region.

Tariffs

• The Crusades, however, had a major impact on Europeans. Goods began to flow more steadily between Europe and the Muslim lands. This trade benefited European kings, who taxed the goods that crossed their borders. Kings also took over land from nobles who left to fight in the Crusades. As a result, feudalism gradually withered, and Europe’s kingdoms grew stronger and larger. Many of them later became modern Europe’s nation-states. A nation-state is a country made up of people who share a common culture or history.

Black Death Killed Feudalism

• Meanwhile, in the 1300s, people all across Europe were battling a frightful disease. The bubonic plague, or Black Death, spread rapidly and killed perhaps a third of Europe’s population. One consequence was a shortage of labor. Although the shortage hurt the economy, it helped workers earn higher wages and gain more freedom. In this way, the Black Death became another force that weakened feudalism.

What Are You Doing TomorrowThe Last Supper Leonardo da

Vinci 1495

The Renaissance

• thrived in Italian citystates, such as Florence, Rome, and Venice. Merchants in these city-states had gained great wealth through trade with Asia and the Mediterranean world. They then used this wealth to support scholars and artists. Poets, sculptors, and painters, such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, created stunning masterpieces. People also took an interest in the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome.

Humanism

• Another important element of the Renaissance was humanism, a way of thinking that gave importance to the individual and human society. Humanism held that reason, as well as faith, was a path to knowledge. Over time, Renaissance ideas and practices spread from Italy to other parts of Europe.

The Reformation

• During the 1500s, the Renaissance idea of humanism led people to think about religion in a new way. Some people felt there were problems in the Roman Catholic Church that needed to be corrected. In 1517 Martin Luther, a German religious leader, set out to reform, or correct, certain church practices. The pope in Rome, however, did not accept Luther’s ideas, and Luther broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. Luther’s ideas sparked a religious movement called the Reformation, which led to a new form of Christianity called Protestantism.

The Reformation

• By the mid-1500s, different Protestant groups dominated northern Europe, while the Roman Catholic Church remained strong in southern Europe. Wars between Roman Catholics and Protestants soon swept through Europe. The Reformation thus shattered the religious unity of Europeans. It also strengthened the power of monarchs. As the authority of church leaders was challenged, kings and queens claimed more authority for themselves.

European ExplorationsThe Age of Discovery

• As Europe’s kingdoms grew stronger, European seafarers began a series of ocean voyages that led to a great age of exploration and discovery. During the 1400s, Portugal wanted an easier way to get exotic spices from India and other parts of East Asia. Portuguese navigators developed new trade routes by sailing south around the continent of Africa to Asia.

The Age of Discovery

• Sailing for Spain in 1492, the Italian-born explorer Christopher Columbus tried to find a different route to Asia. Instead of sailing south around the coast of Africa, Columbus attempted to sail west, across the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus’s voyage took him to the Americas, continents

Gold

• In the Americas, Spain found gold and other resources and grew wealthy as a result of its overseas expeditions. Its success made other European countries, such as England, France, and the Netherlands, eager to send forth their own explorers. Conquests followed these voyages. Europeans began founding colonies, or overseas settlements, in the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

The Result

• The Columbian Exchange• The Columbian Exchange also known as the

Grand Exchange was a dramatically widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations (including slaves), communicable disease, and ideas between the American and Afro-Eurasian Hemispheres following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492

• Most Colonized poeples lost their culture!

Modern Europe

• Main Idea From the 1600s to the 1800s and beyond, new ideas and discoveries helped Europe become a global power.

• Geography and You How would your life be different without computers, cell phones, or other modern technologies? Read on to discover how new technology changed Europe after 1600.

The Enlightenment

• After the Renaissance, educated Europeans turned to science as a way to explain the world. Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish mathematician, concluded that the sun, not the Earth, is the center of the universe. An Italian scientist named Galileo Galilei believed that new knowledge could come from carefully observing and measuring the natural world.

Age of Enlightenment

• These and other ideas sparked a revolution, or sweeping change, in the way people thought. During this Scientific Revolution, many Europeans relied on reason, rather than faith or tradition, to guide them. Reason, they believed, could bring both truth and error to light. As a result, the 1700s became known as the Age of Enlightenment.

The Enlightenment

• Englishman John Locke was an important Enlightenment thinker. He said that all people have natural rights, including the rights to life, liberty, and property. He also said that when a government does not protect these rights, citizens can overthrow it. The American colonists later used Locke’s ideas to support their war for independence from Britain in 1776.

Napoleon

• Inspired by the American example, the people of France carried out their own political revolution in 1789. They overthrew their king, executed him three years later, and set up a republic. The French republic did not last long, however. A brilliant military leader named Napoleon Bonaparte gained power and made himself emperor. Napoleon was a small man with big ambitions. His armies conquered much of Europe, until several countries united to defeat him in 1815.

By 1900

• Most Monarchies were over

The IndustrialRevolution

• Instead of making goods by hand, people began using machines and building factories. Machines could produce goods faster and at lower cost. People could now afford more things, such as comfortable cotton clothes. Travel improved, too, thanks to new inventions such as the railroad. Machines also helped farmers grow more food, which led to population growth. Additionally, farms required less labor.

New Weapons

Devastating conflicts left much of Europe in ruins, with millions of people dead or homeless. A major horror of World War II was the Holocaust, the mass killing of 6 million European Jews by Germany’s Nazi rulers.

The Cold War

• This was not a war of bullets and bombs, but a struggle for world power. Much of Western Europe allied with the United States. Most lands in Eastern Europe allied with the Communist Soviet Union. Communism is a system in which the government controls the ways of producing goods.

EU

• In 1993 several democracies in Western Europe formed the European Union (EU). The goal of the organization, which now also includes eastern European countries, is a united Europe. The EU allows goods, services, and workers to move freely among member countries. It has also created a common EU currency called the euro.

Section 2:

• Cultures and Lifestyles BIG IDEA Culture groups shape human systems. Europe is a region of many peoples with different ethnic backgrounds, languages, religions, and traditions. Despite their differences, Europeans lead similar lifestyles and share a rich cultural heritage.