Rise of Protestantism, Part 1

I. Rise of Protestant England

A. Henry VIII


1. Marriage to Catherine of Aragon

a) Related to Spanish monarchy

b) Catherine was married briefly to Henry’s older brother, Arthur, who died shortly after the marriage. Rather than return the considerable dowry, Henry VII proposed Catherine marry his younger son Henry, 5 years her junior--but had to wait until he came of age.

c) Issue of marriage to a close relative (sister-in-law) was raised, but Catherine swore the marriage was never consummated (and the Pope would have probably granted dispensation, anyway)



d) Only one child from this union, Mary (later known as “Bloody Mary,” for reasons that will become obvious) lived past infancy. Henry felt marriage was cursed, no male heir, and attracted to one of his wife’s “ladies in waiting,” asked Pope Clement to annul the marriage

e) Pope’s decision--upset the most powerful monarchy (Spain), displease his “host” (pope was a “guest” of Catherine’s nephew, the king of what was left of the Holy Roman Empire), or anger the monarch of a minor kingdom located on some godforsaken island?

f) In response, Henry declared himself the head of the Church of England (and got English bishops to go along with it), granted himself an annulment, and sold off most of the land the Catholic Church owned in England



2. Edward VI--Henry died when Edward was nine, and he died when he was 15 in 1553--so most of the decisions made by his Regency council.


3. Mary Tudor--despite Edward’s efforts as he was dying to place his cousin Lady Jane Grey on the throne, his older half-sister Mary had the most legitimate claim to the throne. She attempted to return England to the religion of her mother and herself--Roman Catholicism. To make an example, she had 300 people who refused to convert executed--which put something of a dint in her popularity. She had her half-sister Elizabeth thrown in prison, and then under house arrest, because Mary suspected her of aiding her Protestant foes

a) Religious resistance--there was a sizable whose opposition to this directive was a matter of conscience. Those people derisively known as “Puritans,” influenced by John Calvin, had been agitating since the takeover of the Church of England for doing away with most of the ceremonies of the church (beyond the celibate priesthood) and simplifying worship services

b) Economic resistance--Henry had sold off the land held by monastic orders, and purchasers were resistant to being forced to give up these properties.





4. Elizabeth I--child of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, ascended to the throne when her half-sister Mary died in 1558.

a) Re-established Protestantism

b) The “Virgin Queen” left no heirs, never married



B. House of Stuart

1. James IV--named heir on Elizabeth’s death; son of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, became James I of England (while also retaining Scottish throne)




2. Charles I--his lack of political acumen led to a contentious relationship with Parliament, and his eventual downfall

a) Dismissal of Parliament--as was the king’s prerogative at the time; his decision to attempt to rule without the consent of Parliament was seen as high-handed, however. He raised money by levying new taxes and customs without consent, and by collecting customs on new imports.

b) Scottish rebellion--Calvinists threatened rebellion, which Charles assumed would be easily put down, but he had no money to spend on raising an army, and had to call Parliament back into session

c) House of Commons demands--

(1) Abolition of new taxes, and pardons for those who had resisted paying

(2) Dissolution of special courts

(3) End of king’s power to dissolve Parliament without that body’s consent

(4) Removal of bishops from House of Lords

(5) Amicable peace with Scottish Calvinists


d) King felt this was giving up too much, and attempted to quash dissent by force by raising a body of loyalists (known as the “Cavaliers”) to arrest leading members of Parliament. Those threatened caught wind of this plan, however, and were able to escape into the walled section of London, where the people there protected them.



III. The New Model Army


A. Harnessing popular discontent



1. Cavaliers--largely upper class bullies who gained a well-deserved reputation for despoiling every area they moved through

2. Resentment against the heavy-handed cavaliers led to street protests and the rise of street preachers who spoke against class privileges--as well as the need to work every day.

3. Rise of the Presbyterians--leading Puritans thought that there should be a uniform system of religious doctrine led by church elders--themselves--so that the “rabble” did not create chaos.


4. Oliver Cromwell--led a cavalry outfit he recruited from among his Puritan associates, made up of volunteers from the “middling classes” dedicated to their religious beliefs and bettering themselves by the dint of their hard work.

a) Cromwell realized that he could only motivate these kinds of people by allowing them to give expression to their values and views.



b) Permitted preachers who attached themselves to the New Model Army to proselytize-not only among the NMA, but among the people in the towns and cities they controlled as well.



5. Battle of Naseby 1645--king’s forces was routed, and he fled to Scotland. The Scots decided to turn him over to Parliament. While the debate went on about what to do with the King, he escaped to the Isle of Wight, where recruited a new army--which was defeated, and he was recaptured. Now realizing that he remained a threat to all their lives while alive, Parliament ordered him beheaded.



6. The Putney Debates and the Levelers--a radical democratic faction of the NMA, reacting against the Long Parliament’s seeming intention to deny them back-pay and send them off to Ireland to quell another disturbance, debated making demands on Parliament for the institution of more democratic measure--a wider granting of the franchise, etc.




a) The Levelers--position frightened the “moderates” of the Presbyterian party, who saw this movement as a dangerous development--as people see most developments that they think will undermine their influence.

b) While excluding the most radical elements, the Presbyterians formed a “council of the Army” half made up of rank and file members, and half officers; they relied upon the practice of deference to persuade the rank and file to go along with the officers’ proposals.

God and Gold

I. New Spain

A. The Caribbean--Spain quickly overcame natives on most of the islands of Caribbean, mostly through the microbes they introduced directly or through those that came with the livestock they introduced.


1. Pigs--the Spanish place male and female pigs on many of the islands in preparation for their exploration, ensuring they would have a ready food supply when they returned. The pigs, however, had no natural enemies on the islands, and in rooting for food destroyed much of the habitat that the natives had relied on for sustenance. In addition, these pigs carried a number of microbes that readily jumped to human hosts (like our present day concerns with the H1N1 virus), and promptly killed a number who had never been exposed to them.


B. Hernan Cortes and the Golden City--son of a lesser noble family; he studied for a time at the University of Salamanca in Spain to become a lawyer, but little evidence exists to confirm whether he finished his studies. Evidence does suggest, however, that he was a man of extraordinary ambition.

1. Government official on the island of Cuba, then the headquarters for Spanish government in New Spain (Cuba).

2. Led third expedition to the mainland, which he largely funded himself.

3. His hostile relationship with the appointed governor led to an attempt to stop his expedition. Cortes resisted this attempt, and began writing letters to the Spanish king, claiming he was merely working for the greater glory of his majesty, etc.


4. Dona Mariana (La Malinche)--native woman who acted as translator for Cortes; she spoke both Mayan and Nauhautal. Because of her language skills, the conquistadores were able to persuade a number of native peoples, resentful of the heavy-handed domination of the Triple Alliance (and particularly of the Mexica), to join with them to overthrow the then current power structure. Dona Mariana also became Cortes’ mistress, and had at least one child with him.

5. Veracruz--upon landing, Cortes ordered the ships beached, and then burned, so there was no returning for his crew.

C. Moctezuma--fatefully decided to allow the Spanish to enter Tenochtitlan with no resistance and lavished them with many gifts; the gold only made the Spanish want more. Eventually, the Spanish decided to hold Moctezuma hostage in order to get more gold, and finally murdered him when things began to go wrong.



1. Mexica forces expelled Spanish from city--Spanish only escaped because they were getting slaughtered so badly on the causeways that connected the island city of Tenochtitlan to the mainland that they were using the bodies of comrades to fill in the gaps the Aztecs had made.

2. Siege of Tenochtitlan--Cortes had previously returned to the coast to seek more reserves, where he defeated--and converted--yet another force sent to stop him. He returned with these reinforcements and lay siege to Tenochtitlan. The siege, in conjunction with the microbes already at work in Tenochtitlan, finally defeated the Aztec forces.

D. Spanish Rule

1. Encomiendo System—Spaniards with political connections were granted control of huge tracts of land, and the native workers to work the land. In return, they had to ensure that these workers were taught Spanish and instructed in the Catholic faith. There were few checks on how these workers were used, however, and many economiendos simply worked their laborers to death.


2. Bartolome de la Casas—a former economiendo, he became a Catholic priest, and eventually a severe critic of the economiendo system, because of the systematic abuse of natives that the system encouraged.

II. Francisco Pizzaro and the Inka

A. The Conquistadore--cousin of Cortes, of an even lesser noble family (Pizzaro was himself illiterate), but fired by even more ambition than Cortes

1. Early recognizance--Pizzaro made several earlier trips, and caught wind of a supposed fabulously wealthy kingdom.

2. Third expedition--Pizzaro heard of an ongoing civil war, and moved south with 106 foot soldiers and 62 horsemen

Part 1


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Part 3


Part 4



3. Cajamarca--this Inka town was largely abandoned because of the civil war. Pizzaro’s men hid themselves about the town, and Pizzaro sent word for the winner of the civil war, Atahualpa, to meet him there. Atahualpa agrees to the meeting; to impress the Spanish, he paraded into town accompanied by 5,000 to 6,000 of his largely unarmed people, leaving his army behind.

4. Spanish massacre--began with firing guns, cannon, attacking the crowd with men on horseback; the huge crowd panics, and most are crushed to death by falling over each other trying to escape.

5. Atahualpa held hostage. He notices Spanish “lust for gold,” agrees to fill two rooms with gold and silver in return for his release. While the valuables are being gathered, Atahualpa arranges for this remaining rivals to be murdered; he himself is garroted by the Spanish.

6. Inka resistance--continued until the Spanish were able to capture and execute the final Inka emperor, Tupac Amura, in 1572.

VI. Conclusion--the “Black Legend”

A. The Black Legend—The abuse that the Spanish subjected the native populations to became widely publicized, particularly after Casas’ book was translated and published by Richard Hakluyt, condemning the Spanish for this ill-treatment, and justifying attempts to wrest this land from their control—so they could ill-treat the native population.

God, Gold, and Spices

I. Portuguese Exploration


A. Henry the Navigator--younger son of ruling Aviz family. Became head of the religious military organization Order of Christ in 1420. Portuguese nobility, fired by the long, successful struggle against Islam in the Iberian peninsula, and were looking for allies to extend this struggle to retake Jerusalem from Islamic control--preferably with a partner east of the Holy City.




1. Legend of “Prester John”--a supposed long-lost Christian king, located somewhere in Africa (or maybe Asia--nobody is really sure). Henry’s plan seems to have been to seek out the kingdom of Prester John, and ally with it to “free” the Holy Land.

a) Basis in reality?--there were, of course, Christians in eastern Africa (the Coptic Church in both Egypt and Ethiopia), as well as Christians in the Arabian Peninsula, Persia, and India--none of them called Prester John, of course.

2. Systematic exploration--the Portuguese began a systematic exploration of the African Coast to look for the “western Nile” (apparently the Senegal River) that would take them to the kingdom of Prester John.

B. Benefits of Arab Contact



1. Navigational tools--from their Muslim contact, Portuguese sailors had learned to use an astrolab and a compass, and to build a modified ship they called the caravel, which had a lateran sail that allowed the ship to tack better--necessary to navigate on the open ocean (particularly against the wind)

2. Navigational maps--as the exploration process progressed, Portuguese mapmakers grew more skilled, and gathered more information, to draw more accurate maps. These new maps included not only more accurate depictions of land masses, but also indications of the direction and strength of trade winds and sea currents

3. Knowledge of Arab trade routes--Portuguese were also hoping to tap into some of the wealth the Arabs generated from their trade with Africa and Asia.


II. The Expeditions

A. To the “Western Nile”

1. Cape Bojador--the southernmost point known to Europeans to this time. It was a fairly unattractive place, port along the Atlantic coast with Sahara Desert as its hinterland. It eventually was discovered that sailing well into the Atlantic--out of the sight of land--was a better route.

a) Porto Santo (1419)-- “Discovered” by an expedition that got caught in a storm and blown off course; became an important launching point for future expeditions.


b) Madeira Islands (1420)--became an important source for wood to construct ships (madeira is portuguese for wood); it was colonized, and becomes an important source for industrial agricultural products.

2. Tangiers--Portuguese disasterous attack one this city, held by Berbers. Portuguese army surrounded and forced to surrender; only way to save the army was to send youngest Aviz brother, Prince Fernando, into captivity. He died in captivity four years later. This tragedy seemed to spur Prince Henry on, however.

3. Cabo Branco (Cape Blanco)--an expedition to “make peace” with Africans ended up capturing a number of them, including a chief named Adahu, who provided the Portuguese with much information.


B. The Atlantic Islands and the Development of Slavery--the Portuguese colonized the islands they “discovered” in the Atlantic, probably because they used these as stations during expeditions. Using the model of the islands of the Mediterranean, plantation agriculture using slave labor was quickly developed--particularly the cultivation of sugar cane, which used slave labor; many slaves from Africa were used to cultivate sugar cane in the Mediterranean, and the importation of African slaves to work the plantations on these Atlantic islands seemed a natural progression.
1. Madeira Islands--sugar cane, and grapes (Madeira wine)

2. Azores Island (1427)

3. Cape Verde Islands (1460)

4. Sao Tome (1470)--all these islands were colonized, in contrast to the “factories” that were established on the African coast as trading outposts.


C. Guineas and Gold--Guinea was the name applied to the land south of the Sahara Desert, and to the people living there. It later became applied to a several countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It also became a slang term for the gold coin minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1813, made with gold mined in Guinea--and those coins were often traded for slaves (Guinea slaves)


1. Caravel--in 1441, the first expedition to use the caravel was made, and at a village along the Rio do Ouro several people were kidnapped, taken back to Portugal, and sold as slaves--the beginning of the slave trade in Europe (Arabs had dealt in the African slave trade for hundreds of years to this point).



2. Bay of Arguin (1448)--first Portuguese fort constructed on African coast from which trade was conducted with Africans. The few Portuguese agents in these forts were called “factors,” which is how these establishments became known as “factories.”

3. Cape Verde (1444)--Dinis Dia, inspired by the earlier discovery that the Sahara Desert ended, found the westernmost part of Africa. From this point on, Portuguese merchants became more involved in the exploration process, because of the potential wealth to be gained from establishing trade networks; the Portuguese monarchy was happy to take a cut of the trade proceeds without having to risk anything.

a) Fenao Gomes--one of the merchants who financed their own expeditions. Gomes and his crew “discovered” the Gold Coast (modern Ghana).

D. King Joao II--succeeded his father Afonso V to the throne, he actively supported his own expeditions, and signalled a renewed drive on the part of the Portuguese crown to seek a sea route to Asia; within four years of his gaining the crown, Portuguese expeditions round the Cape of Good Hope.


1. Voyage of Diogo Cao (1482)--Cao discovered that the western coast of the African continent turned south and ran for over a thousand miles before turning again. Cao also became the first European to come into contact with the Kingdom of the Kongo, which became an important trading partner and the first successful effort to convert sub-Saharan Africans to Christianity.

2. Christopher Columbus--was turned down by King Joa in 1484 (and again in 1488).

3. Bartolomeu Dias (1487)--sent on expedition to find the southern cape of Africa. He was successful, but did not at first recognize his feat because his small fleet had been caught in a serious storm as they approached the cape, and passed in the midst of that. He reported back that his fleet had rounded the “Cape of Storms,” but king changed the name to “Cape of Good Hope” because investors would be scared off from an expedition that had to pass by the Cape of Storms.

II. Spanish Exploration


A. Christopher Columbus--son of a Genoese shopkeeper. Columbus aspired to greatness on the seas; from his early teen years on he gained sailing experience. He developed a theory that one could reach Asia by sailing west from Europe, largely because of a miscalculation.

1. Columbus in Lisbon--Portugal is the westernmost country in Europe, and had sailors sailing the Atlantic long before the rise of Prince Enrique (Henry) the Navigator. With the fall of Constantinople, Lisbon had become the place for seafaring adventurers.

a) Columbus’ proposal (1485)--to Joao (or John) II, that he be outfitted with three ships and a year’s time to make the voyage to Asia and back. King Joao turned this request over to his councilors, who concluded that Columbus had badly miscalculated the circumference of the earth, and that the trip was impractical.

b) Columbus’ proposal (1488)--same sales pitch, same result. Decision was also probably influenced by knowledge that a Portuguese expedition had yet to return from an attempt to round the continent of Africa.

2. Columbus in Cadiz--Columbus had already utilized his Genoese connections to find half the money for the expedition; he had to rely upon a European monarch for the other half of the funding, however.

a) Proposal to Henry VIII of England, who did not decide in favor before Columbus was finally able to persuade the dual monarchs of Spain to take the chance.

b) Ferdinand and Isabella--although the Kingdom of Spain was mostly broke from fighting the final battles to unite their kingdom, they were able to find some money in the treasury (and force contributions from some of their subjects) to fund the expedition

c) Departure--from Palos de la Fronterra on August 3, 1492. The three ships made a stop in the Canary Islands for final repairs, then departed on September 6.

d) Arrival--land was spotted on October 12 (Columbus Day in much of the Spanish-speaking world)


3. Columbus in the New World

a) Caribbean Islands--Columbus’ first encountered a gentle, friendly people the Spanish called the Tainos, who seemed to welcome the strangers

b) Columbus was attracted to their gold jewelry, and attempted to ascertain where they obtained it--but they had great difficulty communicating with each other, since neither party spoke the others’ language.

c) Kidnapped 12 “Indios” to take back to Spain (kind of like specimens); tellingly, all 12 died shortly after their arrival in Spain

d) Columbus made three other voyages, and served for a time as governor of “New Spain” (when he was accused of misusing his power and theft, and briefly thrown in jail), but it is not clear that he ever understood the importance of his “discovery.”


E. Treaty of Tordesilla (1494)--divided the world outside of Europe into two spheres of influence--Portuguese and Spanish. These spheres were divided by the Pope in a line running north/south from 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands.


1. Spanish proposal--after Columbus’ “discovery,” Spain insisted upon dividing world into two different areas for making claims of surzenity, or control. Spain’s proposal was to demarcate the line 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands.

2. Portuguese response--King Jao insisted that the line be drawn at 370 leagues--why? Why not 200, or 300? Did the Portuguese have information about the existence of a large land mass on the other side of the Atlantic?


III. Voyage of Vasco da Gama

A. Arming the caravel--in preparation for sailing into the Indian Ocean--known to be dominated by Islamic traders, a method was devised to put cannons below deck, behind doors built into the bulkhead. This provided da Gama and his successors an immense advantage, because they were the most heavily armed ships in the Indian Ocean.

B. The Voyage

I. Portuguese Age of Exploration 1415-1530
1. da Gama left in 1497. Hoping to avoid the difficulties faces by Dias, Gama used the trade winds of the Atlantic to his advantage--but still almost missed the Cape of Good Hope.

2. After rounding the Cape, the expedition made slow progress up the east coast of Africa, before finding a local pilot knowledgeable of the Indian Ocean, who guided the fleet across to India.

3. Returned to Portugal in 1499.

IV. The Aftermath

A. Spice trade--after reaching India, Portuguese explorers continued to press eastward, eventually reaching the Spice Islands, China, and Japan.
1. As on the coast of Africa, the Portuguese established factories to carry out trade, which allowed them to dominate the spice trade to Europe

2. Asciento system--in the early years of Portuguese dominance, they were able to insist that ships that traded in the Indian Ocean by a license to trade there; as more ships followed the Portuguese example of heavily arming their ships, this became less effective; Portuguese also found it difficult to maintain such a huge empire with fewer than 300 ships and less than 10,000 Portuguese to run it.

3. Succession problems--the fall of the House of Aviz, and the ascension of Philip II of Spain to the throne of Portugal, made the lucrative spice trade a ready target for Philip’s growing list of enemies--particularly the Dutch, who take over much of the Portuguese empire in Asia by 1620.

Europe--The Cultural Backwater

II. Europe--The Cultural Backwater

A. Producing the surplus--through the Dark Ages, it became apparent to Europeans, despite their lack of education and knowledge of the wider world, that the adoption of any technique that would make it easier to fill their bellies would make their lives easier.


1. Wheeled, iron-tipped plow--first appeared in Eastern Europe, and within 300 years was in wide use across the rest of Europe.

2. New grazing methods--allowing cattle to graze on fields after the harvest was completed permitted their dung to be used as fertilizer.

3. Raised productivity--the introduction of this new piece of technology and the new grazing technique permitted the average peasant family to raise their crop yield by 50%, while also increasing the supply of meat, dairy produce, hides, and wool.


B. Resident landlords

1. Feudal lords--the lack of urban development in most of Europe meant that most “lords of the manor,” although lacking in culture and education in comparison to their counterparts elsewhere (many were, in fact, illiterate), were close to the land from which they gained a living, and were more cognizant that they had to pay some attention to the well-being of the peasants on their estates.

2. Exploitation--lords still exploited the labor of peasants, but their closeness to them on estates led them to readily adopt and develop--and, perhaps most importantly, pay for--the technology that boosted productivity



C. Abandonment of Slavery

1. Shift to serfdom--serf were still “bound” to the land that they worked on (and required by law to live and work there), but they were only required to turn over a portion of what they produced to the lord of the manner--rather than the chattel property of the lord.

a. Slavery was not completely abandoned, of course. It continued in existence, but was limited to the enslavement of “outsiders”; it was limited to personal service for the rich, and to plantation cultivation after the rise of serfdom, however.

2. Production of the surplus--doubling of the production for each peasant family transformed European life. This surplus meant that the manorial lord (who received a portion of the surplus from each peasant family living on the estate) had a surplus that he could turn into a variety of goods--weapons, armor, furniture, wine, and especially spices.


a. Spice trade was extremely lucrative. In Europe, the spice trade was controlled by Italian merchant families, especially Venetians--like the Polos. Muslim merchants controlled the trade from Asia to the Middle East, however (which was part of the reason Marco Polo undertook his expedition).

b. The attractiveness of the spice trade is ultimately what drove European Exploration--attempting to find a sea route to the Spice Islands to cut out the Muslim traders.

3. Towns and cities--began to develop as a result of the increased trade spurred by the production of the surplus. This development also attracted artisans to begin manufacturing technology and luxury goods, as well as merchants--and both groups gave shelter to labor (like serfs who managed to escape from manors), building walls and developing an armed militia to defend themselves.

D. Development of European Civilization

1. Urbanization--kings used the developing towns and cities as a counterweight against the lords by granting the cities internal self-government and restricting the lords’ influence upon the cities system of laws and justice.

2. Intellectual life--was transformed completely. Accounting needs spurred the study of mathematics. Written laws developed so the legal decisions were not left to the whims of the lords. The importance of literacy grew; many people learned to read and write in the local vernacular language, which freed scholarship from the restraints of the monestary. Scholars quickly developed an interest in the ancient Greek and Roman world, and traveled to those places containing that scholorship.

a. The development of the European universities began at this time.

b. Advances occurred not only in abstract knowledge, but in technological innovations, as well. Europeans regained technological knowledge from Greece and Rome via Muslim centers of learning that had been lost to them previously, as well as knowledge the Muslims had gained from Asia.

c. Development of literature (Dante)

E. Crisis of the 14th Century

1. End of Economic Growth--and technological advancement, as the lords built ever-more opulent castles, chateaus, etc., sucking up more and more of the surplus, climatic changes (the beginning of the “Little Ice Age”) coupled with the lack of investment in infrastructure and technology decreasing the amount of the surplus eventually meant that the surplus disappeared--and that the ruling class was therefore appropriating the subsistence.



2. Black Death--epidemic disease that was introduced from Asia via trade (fleas on rats), combined with population densities in towns and cities (which provided lots of hosts) created hothouse conditions for the bublonic plague, which wiped out perhaps one-third of Europe’s population.

3. Religious fanaticism--these societal crises led to a growing religious fanaticism in Europe throughout this period.

a. Christian crusades--reforming popes attempted to intervene between feuding lords, and make the Church the final arbiter of disputes--and begins to demand greater religious orthodoxy, and limit local practices that had continued (the development of semi-deities like saints).

b. Christian crusaders--much of the energy that local ruling elites had formerly spent on fighting each other directed toward “liberating” Jersalem from the Muslim “infidels” (who to that point had not interred with Christian pilgrims); the riches available in Jerusalem was also attractive.



c. The Pillage of Constantinople--by the time of the 4th Crusade, the focus was upon punishing non-Roman Catholics, rather than on “liberating” Jersalem. Catholic forces sacked Constantinople, even though the city was a Christian island in an increasingly Muslim sea. Jews were also targeted for much abuse.



F. Growth of Religious Intolerance

1. Growing Stratification of Society--Lords and other ruling elites attempted to create a greater differentiation between themselves and other members of society.

2. Economic Malaise--created great stress on the lower orders of society; the powerlessness of the lower orders led them to seek scapegoats (usually outsiders like Jews, the occassional priest)

3. Church officials become more vigorous in enforcing religious orthodoxy (to Joan’s demise); eventually this leads to the establishment of the Inquisition to root out “heresy.”

4. Christianity and European Identity--Christianity became, for Europeans, a means of developing an identity beyond one's kin or village; eventually, this develops into a national identity (first in Portugal and Spain), that spreads around Europe.



G. Class Struggles and Millenarial Movements

1. Growing pressure on peasants--lords, to maintain their lifestyles, began extracting more surplus from peasants, but the aforementioned climatic changes meant that there was no surplus to extract.

2. Hundred Year’s War--fought between two families claiming the French throne, but involving England as well (as well as Joan of Arc); but who financed this battle? (See immediately above).


3. Peasant revolts

a. Flanders 1325
b. Seine Valley in northern France 1358
c. The “Peasants’ Revolt” in England 1381
d. These peasant revolts were often aided and abetted by the urban poor, but the target for discontent were often priests and Jews; Jews especially lacked the ability to protect themselves, and therefore made easy targets.



H. Market Feudalism

1. Crisis of European Feudalism--recovery was quicker, in large part because of the precipitous decline in population (through famine, Black Death, war)

2. Food output declined--but not as much as the population did, so productivity did not experience as steep a decline as it could have, and enough surplus could be created to keep the ruling elite left in the luxury goods the desired.

3. To fill the demand for goods--urban merchants began to encourage less prosperous peasants to take up the production of goods in the countryside, away from the control of urban crafts guilds, developing the “putting out” system of production.

4. The Land Rent system--lords, on the other hand, begin granting long-term leases to prosperous peasants, and allowing them to hire less prosperous, land-less peasants to work the land--and relying upon the rent they charged to keep them in the lifestyle to which they had grown accustomed.

a. The development of this land rent system acted differently in different areas, loosening the system of serfdom in much of Western Europe, while strengthening its hold in much of Eastern Europe.

1491

I. Native American Civilizations

A. Production of the Surplus


1. Maize--developed from a wild grass called teosinte, which produces a very small ear (smaller than the so-called “baby corn” sometimes served in some Chinese restaurants and in canned chow mein)--except no one eats teosinte because it takes more energy to harvest than it produces in grain. Early natives in the Valley of Mexico genetically modified the plant (it will not grow by itself past a couple of generations)



a.)Once invented, maize cultivation spread mainly northward from the Valley of Mexico, although the fact that it had to also be adopted to the shorter growing seasons north of the Ohio River slowed its spread.


b.) Introduction of maize cultivation allowed native peoples like the Mound Builders to flourish, and eventually many native peoples became semi-sedentary; i.e., while still relying on hunting to provide a source of protein, hunting game became a secondary food source, and people chose to remain relatively close to their crops to cultivate their main source of food.

c.) Cultivation dilemma partially solved by the adaptation of gender-specific roles (males hunted, females cultivated and gathered additional food); native peoples also eventually developed methods that minimized the labor necessary to grow the “three sisters.”






Olmec Civilization--the first great civilization of the Americas (that archeologists know about, anyway).
1. Located in the narrow “waist” of Mexico, recognizable civilization by about 1800 BCE.




2.Lived in towns and cities centered on temple mounds that they built. Created large stone heads with helmets, many over six feet tall, that are vaguely African in appearence and have sparked speculations that African peoples may have made contact with them.



3.Olmec practiced human sacrifice (as did the God of Abraham)

4.Intellectual feats--invented a dozen different systems of writing, tracked the orbits of planets, created a 365-day calendar (much more accurate than any used in Europe to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar), and wrote down their histories in accordian-folded books made of fig tree bark. Olmec scholars also invented the concept of zero, which didn’t appear in Europe until the 12th century (1100s)



General Point--the limitations of native civilizations--and civilizations in general--were largely a factor of their environment. For example, natives in Mesoamerica did not use wheels on carts--even though they had invented one and used it on all sorts of children’s toys--because they had no animals large enough to pull such carts, and it was just as effective for humans to use slides and log rolls.

II. Mesoamerican civilizations.




A. Mayan civilization--succeeded the Olmecs, centered in the Yucatan peninsula. Built huge temples and pyramids.

1. City of Kaan--the discovery of the City of the Snake, which covered as much as 25 miles and contained thousands of buildings, alterred the perception of Mayan civilization.

a.) By the year 2000, archeologists uncovered evidence that Kaan was involved in a devastating war that lasted more than a century, and which contributed to its downfall.



2. Mayan civilization was one of the world’s most intellectually sophisticated cultures; developed written language, science, math (invention of zero).

3. Mayans inhabited land that was poorly suited to intensive agriculture, but at the height of their civilization supported a population of upwards of a million people.

a.) Prolonged drought and war decimated the population; archeologists discovered that at the end, priest were inscribing gibberish on stone tablets--they appeared to have lost knowledge of literacy, but still attempted to follow their cultural function.



B. Toltec civilization--occupied the mile-high basin that Mexico City not sits on; their military expertise allowed them to defeat and subjugate most of their enemies.

1. Internal strife--including allegations of drunkeness and incest--led to the king leaving with a few followers, promising to return. He appears to have set up shop instead in the weakened Mayan sphere, and established a semi-Toltec fiefdom. But his promise to return was portentous for the Aztec civilization that followed.



C. Mississippian civilization--natives that lived in the fertile bottom land along the Mississippi River, near present-day St. Louis, established Cahokia about 1000 CE.



1. Cahokia at its apex supported upwards of 15,000 to 60,000 people. By c. 1400 CE, workers at the settlement had denuded the immediate area of trees for various building projects, which removed the means of preventing erosion during sometimes severe midwestern thunderstorms. Flooding and erosion during critical growing times meant the loss of the maize crop, and led to the destruction of the civilization

2. While at its apex, Cahokia was a major trade center, a place of exchange between the plains and the woodlands with the gulf coast--and even beyond, into present-day Mexico.

3. Was Cahokia a civilization?--Cahokia was not filled with tradesmen, as we usually picture a city being; however, being the first city-like entity north of the Rio Grande River, they had no idea of what a city was.





D. Aztec civilization--what we usually call Aztec is actually an alliance of three native peoples living in city-states around a large lake that was near present-day Mexico City, known as the Triple Alliance. Although this implies an equal share of the rule, in fact it was a very unequal partnership. The rulers in Tlacopan received one-fifth of the tribute, those in Nezahialcoyot received two-fifths, and the Mexica of Tenochtitlan received two-fifths.




1. Mexica people--arrived in the Valley of Mexico in the 12th century (1100s), and served as vassals of the people already living there. Feeling ill-treated, they made alliances with the aforementioned two other groups, and were able to overcome the Toltecs.

2. Usual practice of conquerers in the Valley of Mexico was to destroy the history of the conquered people; the Mexica went a step further and destroyed their own history so that they could re-invent themselves as a people of destiny.


3. Tlacaclel--when the Aztecs came to power, Tlacaclel believed the Mexica were destined for greatness, and was the principle developer of the ideology that the Mexica were responsible for maintaining order in the cosmos (meaning the daily rising of the sun)--but that this order could only be maintained by ritual human sacrifice.

4. Warfare--was the means of maintaining a steady flow of sacrificial victims. Mexica military technique was the mano a mano face-off, and the victims were usually beaten into submission--then taken into the victor’s home, and treated like family until sacrifice time. Warfare for native peoples was a means of displaying manhood, rather than killing one’s enemies.



5. Tenochtlitan, the capital of the Mexica, was far cleaner than its European counterparts--and far larger, as well; it probably was home to over 100,000 people by 1520. It had a large workforce to remove garbage, etc., and a sewer system to remove human waste (in Europe, they simply threw it into the streets, where it mixed with animal waste and garbage). But this system was teetering on the brink of collapse even before the Spanish showed up.

6.Vassal states--the ruling hand of Aztecs was rather heavy, with tribute and the constant threat of warfare to gain sacrificial victims, so when someone showed up promising to upset the balance of power, their were plenty of eager allies.



E. Inka civilization


1. The Inka Empire--was the largest empire in the world during its time, stretching nearly the entire west coast of South America; much of the empire was contained within the Andes Mountains, at heights were sustaining civilization is very difficult.

2. Inka reign--lasted just over one hundred years before its demise at the hands of Francisco Pizzaro; but as we shall see, like his cousin Cortez, he lucked into attacking an empire that was suffering from internal difficulties that contributed to its downfall.



3. Rise of the Inka--Inka was the name for the people, as well as incorporated into the name of the ruler.

a.) Originated near Lake Titicaca, in the Andes along the border of present-day Peru and Bolivia. Move then to area near Cusco (or Qosqo)


b.)Inka made enemies of the Chanka people, were suppose to be led into battle by Wiraqocha Inka and his designated heir (the Inka named their successors), Inka Urqon. The fled the Chanka, however, and the Inkas were led into battle by the youngest son, Inka Cusi Yupaki, who led them to victory. After being tipped off to his father’s plans to have him murdered, Yupaki foiled the plot, and his humiliated father fled. Yupaki then renamed himself Pachakuti (“Worldshaker”) in Runa Sumi, the Inkan language.


c.) The Hegemonic Empire--Pachakuti formed his empire largely by persuading other peoples to adopt Inka ways of life and Inka protections; then co-opting local rulers to do his bidding.


d.) Succession problems--naming the successor worked as long as it was a decisive decision--and the person named outlived the Inka. By the early 1500s, to successive ascensions to the throne were contested, setting off small civil wars in Inkan society; the second was only resolved just before the appearance of Pizzaro.

1421

The following are a series of embedded video from YouTube of the video shown in class, 1421

Episode 1:


Episode 2:


Episode 3:


Episode 4:


Episode 5:


Episode 6:

Early History of Africa

I. Africa

A. Production of the surplus--throughout the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, Europeans argued that Africans were “a people without a history”--or, at least a history that did not involve their dominance by Europeans.


1. West Africans--developed metalworking capabilities around 1000 BCE, about the same time as Eurasia--but independently of Eurasia, because they used significantly different techniques.

2. Agriculture--Sub-Saharan Africa domesticated different plants than Eurasia, because the plants that grow naturally through much of Eurasia will no grow in tropical or sub-tropical climates.


3. Trade--the creation of the surplus gave sub-Saharan Africans the opportunity to develop trade networks on the eastern coast of the continent--and connected them to traders from the Arabian Peninsula, India, and even the Far East.

a. The Slave Trade--from very early times, Africans provided other African people to slave traders. The early slave trade took place with Arab traders, who then transported the enslaved across the Sahara and sold them in slave markets in Middle East and Southern Asia--in relatively small numbers.

b. Early Plantation Slavery--also from early times, African slaves provided the labor on sugar plantations on some Mediterranean islands to cultivate sugar cane. As sugar cane cultivation moved out of the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic Ocean, slave traders and plantation owners thought nothing of transporting African slaves to these new centers of sugar can cultivation.




B. Climatic Differences

1. Eurasia v. Africa--the east-west orientation of the Eurasian land mass meant that people on the continent shared many food-raising techniques; Africa, because of its north-south orientation, did not share this advantage.

2. The Latitudinal Disadvantage--this north-south orientation of the continent means that many of the food crops grown domesticated in the Fertile Crescent did not become known in southern Africa until European contact


3. The Sahara--the northernmost portions of the continent of Africa are orientated toward the Mediterranean Sea, and share the foodstuffs and cultural practices of that region. Separating this fertile region from the rest of the continent is a huge swath of desert--the Sahara. Again, this inhibited the spread of Euro-Asian foodstuffs into regions on the continent where they could have grown


4.Equatorial jungles--another large part of the continent of Africa lies within dense equatorial jungles; while these areas are a rich source of plant foodstuffs for the peoples living within, again, most of these plants are not those first domesticated within the Fertile Crescent.


a. Domesticated animals--Equatorial jungles are also not conducive to raising domesticated animals--particularly cattle, which are a ready source of protein and clothing for those Africans residing just south of the Sahara--when they were able to import them. Again, those Africans living south of the tropic belt were not introduced to cattle until European contact