Since The Renaissance

Since the Renaissance

1400 to 1700

The World We've Made

With the Renaissance, people in Europe, developed new attitudes. As they became more literate and less dependent on the education of an elite, they began to feel more individually responsible for what happened to them and did not want institutions to wield unchecked authority over every aspect of their lives. The Roman Catholic Church was assaulted by the Protestant Reformation and demands for the right to religious dissent. Science provided a new framework for human investigation and understanding, and Europeans discovered continents and people they had not known existed.

We know an awful lot about the last 500 years, so like the rest of the time line, this chapter highlights a few critical periods or events that represent processes that have given our present world its unique character.

The Printing Press and the Renaissance

1453

Just over 500 years ago Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. The first book printed with movable type was the Bible. As printed material proliferated, its seditious potential for influencing public opinion and undermining the status quo gradually became apparent. The publication of books and pamphlets helped make Europeans more literate, better informed, and less credulous. The major institutions of Europe were about to be propelled into the modern age.

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The Renaissance

Columbus and Wold-Wide Exploration

1492

When Christopher Columbus landed on the Bahamas and Cuba and claimed them for Spain in 1492, he thought he was in India. He never actually set foot on the land that became the United States.

Yet the celebration today may underestimate his remarkable voyage. Although the Americas had been discovered thousands of years earlier nobody in Europe even knew about them. What Columbus found really was a new world for everyone in the old.

A 16th century Spanish watchtower,

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico0004jpg. Copyright P.L. Sissons. For conditions of use see Copyright and Acknowledgements link on the Home page.

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The Age of Exploration

Luther and the Protestant Reformation

1517

Luther by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1529. Public domain.

In 1517 Martin Luther, a scholarly young German monk, published his 95 theses by sending them to the Pope and, according to legend posted them on the door of the Wittenberg church. Among other things Luther was objecting to the selling of indulgences, a money raising scheme whereby people bought time off punishment in Purgatory after death.

Luther taught that salvation was justified by faith,

not earned by works, and that the demands of individual conscience were more important than submission to the Pope. He expressed the then radical view that a private relationship with God could be guided by personal study of the Bible without the mediation of the church. Luther's

teaching had far reaching political and religious implications that still impact the modern world.

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The Protestant Reformation

Spanish Conquest and European Colonization

1532

As their ships reached the Americas, Asia, China, and India, European powers fought in mendacious competition. They subjugated native peoples, pillaged their temples for gold and precious stone, exploited their natural resources, and brought missionaries to replace their cultures with Christianity.

Native American pueblo, Taos, New Mexico

Taos Pueblo, 1980, copyright P.L. Sissons. For use see Copyright and Acknowledgements page.

By the end of the 16th century, the Spanish had conquered vast lands in North, Central and South America. The Portuguese had claimed Brazil in South America and Goa in India, the French, Dutch and English had far flung trading centers and colonies. European colonizers were on a roll.As their ships reached the Americas, Asia, China, and India, European powers fought in mendacious competition. They subjugated native peoples, pillaged their temples for gold and precious stone, exploited their natural resources, and brought missionaries to replace their cultures with Christianity.

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The European Conquests

Galileo and the Scientific Revolution

1632

In 1632 Galileo Galilei published his book suggesting that the earth orbited the sun. Copernicus a century earlier had said the same thing, but Galileo had empirical evidence to support his argument. This was dangerous and heretical. If the sun did not orbit the earth, where was God? Where was heaven and what of the resurrection? Put on trial before the inquisition, under threat of being stretched on the rack, Galileo, old and sick, recanted.

Galileo by Ottavio Leoni. Public domain image.

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The Scientific Revolution

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The title background picture is of Siena, Tuscany by P.L. Sissons