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Given the drastic impact European exploration and colonization had upon the indigenous people of North and South America, was this interaction between these two hemispheres beneficial for humanity?

Outline for reference:
Renaissance Culture: The Renaissance was characterized by an awareness among Italians and other Europeans that they were living in a new era.

A.    Economic and Political Context: The Renaissance began in Florence, Italy, in the late thirteenth century. The wealth of Florentine bankers and merchants allowed for control of politics and culture.

B.    Intellectual Change: Although many of the supposedly new Renaissance ideas are actually found in the Middle Ages, scholars generally agree that the Renaissance was characterized by a number of distinctive ideas, including individualism and humanism.

C.    Secularism: Secularism involved a basic concern with the material, the secular world rather than with the eternal world of spirit.

D.    Christian Humanism: Christian humanists interpreted Italian ideas about and attitudes toward classical antiquity, individualism, and humanism in terms of Christian traditions. Some used these ideas to develop programs for broad social reforms.

E.    The Printed Word: The printing press using movable metal type ensured the rapid distribution of ideas.

F.    Art and the Artist: The best-known expressions of the Renaissance spirit can be seen in the painting, sculpture, and architecture of the period. During this period, the concept of the artist as genius developed.

II. Social Hierarchies: Many social hierarchies were evident during the Renaissance period.

A.    Race: The term race was used interchangeably for ethnic, national, and religious groups. Both free and slave blacks lived in Europe, and in the fifteenth century, sizable numbers of black slaves entered Europe.

B.    Class: The notion of class did not exist in the Renaissance, but the idea of a wealth-based hierarchy was beginning to develop.

C.    Gender: During the Renaissance, debates occurred that tried to answer questions about the role of women in society. Women earned about half to two-thirds of what men earned for the same work.

III. Politics and the State in the Renaissance (ca 14501521): In politics, the Renaissance produced new attitudes toward power and the state.

A.    France: The monarchs power was strengthened by the creation of a permanent royal army, by the addition of the duchy of Brittany, and by the Concordat of Bologna.

B.    England: The York victory in the War of the Roses led to a period of reconstruction of the monarchy and the consolidation of royal power.

C.    Spain: The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella allowed the two monarchs to pursue a common foreign policy, although they did not create a strong political union.

D.  The Habsburgs: Advantageous marriages aided the Habsburgs in strengthening their power and influence.

IV. The Protestant Reformation: For centuries the Catholic Church had faced calls for reform, but in the sixteenth century conditions were ripe for the revolution that came to be known as the Protestant Reformation.

A.    Criticism of the Church: Corruption and pluralism were two major criticisms of the Church.

B.    Martin Luther: Provoked by such worldly practices as the sale of indulgences, Martin Luther called for fundamental doctrinal changes based on his ideas of faith and salvation. Such ideas became the basic tenets of Protestantism.

C.    Protestant Thought and Its Appeal: The appeal of Protestant thought rested on many of the same reforms advocated by Christian humanists. Protestants emphasized religion based on faith, importance of Scriptures, and simplicity in worship.

D.    The Radical Reformation and the German Peasants War: Radicals insisted on a more complete break with the past. Some German peasants used Luthers ideas on freedom as support for their unsuccessful attempts to revolt against their landlords.

E.    The Reformation and Marriage: Luther and other Protestants believed vows of celibacy went against both human nature and Gods commandments, and most Protestant reformers married. This attitude made marriage virtually the only occupation for upper-class Protestant women.

F.    The Reformation and German Politics: Protestantism found political expression in the revolt of the German nobility against Rome and the Holy Roman emperor. This revolt amounted to an attack on religious and political unity that resulted in the collapse of what little unity Germany had. The Peace of Augsburg recognized Lutheranism.

G.    The Spread of the Protestant Reformation: By the later 1520s, the Protestant Reformation had spread not only to states within the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark-Norway but also to England, France, and eastern Europe.

H.    Calvinism: Outside of Germany, the Protestant reformer John Calvin had a greater impact on Europe than Luther. Calvins harsh and dogmatic religion spread from Geneva into northern Europe and England.

V. The Catholic Reformation: The Catholic Reformation represented the Catholic Churchs efforts to counter the inroads made by Protestants.

A.    The Reformed Papacy and the Council of Trent: With the Council of Trent of 15451563, the Catholic Church launched the Counter-Reformation to convince dissidents to return to the church. Long-standing clerical abuses were reformed, new religious orders were formed to advance Catholic education, and the new Holy Office worked to impose conformity within the church. Though only partially successful in its offensive against Protestantism, this movement did prompt the spiritual renewal of the church.

B.    New Religious Orders: The Ursuline order of nuns and the Society of Jesus were examples of the new religious orders founded in attempts to raise the moral and intellectual level of the clergy and the faithful in general.

VI. Religious Violence: The attempts by Catholic monarchs to re-establish religious unity and by both Catholic and Protestant rulers to establish strong, centralized states caused several destructive wars.

A.    French Religious Wars: The bitter wars of religion in France finally ended with the reign of Henry of Navarre whose Edict of Nantes (1598) granted French Protestants special rights.

B.    The Netherlands Under Charles V: Spains attempt to maintain religious and political unity within its empire led to a long war in the Netherlands against the Protestant Dutch and their English allies.

C.    The Great European Witch-Hunt: This age of religious violence saw the emergence of a remarkable increase in witch-hunting. Between 75 and 85 percent of those executed were women.

VII. The Indian Ocean: Hub of an Afro-Eurasian Trading World: The worlds third-largest waterway, the Indian Ocean was the center of the trade routes for many peoples.

A.    People and Cultures: The world of the Indian Ocean contained diverse peoples who lived mainly from rice farming, the traditional practice of which gave women special authority and economic power.

B.    Religious Revolutions: The arrival of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean prompted competition between Islam and Christianity for believers in Southeast Asia. Although both faiths won many new adherents, ultimately Islam made the biggest inroads into the region.

C.    Trade and Commerce: The greatest commercial-port city of the Indian Ocean was Malacca (which means market).

VIII. European Discovery, Reconnaissance, and Expansion: Recovery from the fourteenth-century crises helped fuel European interest in expansion.

A.    Causes of European Expansion: Europeans were initially drawn to this region in search of Southeast Asian spices to feed the lucrative market for those commodities in Europe. The eagerness of individual explorers, lack of opportunity at home, and the ongoing crusading spirit contributed to the cause for expansion.

B.    Technological Stimuli to Exploration: Technological advances such as the caravel ship, improvements in cartography, and navigational aids assisted the European desires for exploration.

C.    The Portuguese Overseas Empire: Urged on by the policies of Henry the Navigator, the Portuguese were the first to push out into the Atlantic, reaching Africa and India.

D.    The Problem of Christopher Columbus: Columbus believed he had landed off the coast of Asia, never realizing the scope of his achievementthe discovery of a new world.

E.    New World Conquest: The most spectacular of Spains overseas ventures during this period was the conquest of the Aztec and Inca Empires. These nations fell easily to small Spanish forces for a variety of reasons, including internal struggles, self-defeating religious systems, and technological and military disadvantages.

IX. The Impact of Contact: The impact of contact was felt on both native groups and Europeans.

A.    Colonial Administration: Spain divided its New World territories into four viceroyalties, administrative divisions that allowed Spain to govern the regions.

B.    The Columbian Exchange: Expansion, conquest, and trade also prompted the Columbian Exchange of foodstuffs and infectious diseases.

C.    Spanish Settlement and Indigenous Population Decline: These diseases, along with the Spanish encomienda system devastated the Native American populations.

D.    Sugar and Slavery: The decline of Native American populations and the demand for sugar created the demand for labor that, in turn, stimulated the Atlantic slave trade.

X. Global Trade Networks: European expansion east and west united the world through intercontinental seaborne trade. From this trade rose the great Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch commercial empires. These empires fed European demand that, in turn, stimulated commercial activity and population growth in Asia.

XI. The Chinese and Japanese Discovery of the West: By the fifteenth century, China was the largest geographical state in the world and possessed far greater maritime knowledge than the Europeans. In China, the lure of international trade encouraged the development of the porcelain and silk industries and the immigration of thousands of Chinese to Southeast Asia. In Japan, trade in spices, silks, and Indian cotton prompted the greater exploitation of Japans silver mines.

XII. The World-Wide Economic Effects of Spanish Silver: Spain initially benefited most from this era of expansion. Gold and silver from its New World holdings made the Spanish Netherlands the financial and manufacturing center of Europe, and Spain became Europes greatest military power. In the long run, however, overseas expansion ruined the Spanish economy, caused massive inflation as far away as China, and failed to prevent the decline of Spains power in Europe.