The Early Modern World 1450 1750 THE BIG

The Early Modern World 1450 -1750 THE BIG PICTURE CHANGE IN THE EARLY MODERN ERA CHAPTERS 13 -15

Chapter 13 -15 • These chapters cover what is usually called the “early modern era” • Suggestive of modernity (globalization, modern societies, European world presence) • Globalization: European exploration, conquest, and settlement of America • Slave Trade linked to Africa • American Silver and European trade with Asia • Columbian Exchange • Christianity grows into a global religion • Expansion in Russian, Ottoman, and Chinese Empire important as part of wider global web

Other things that point to the start of the Modern Era • Scientific Revolution transformed worldview of elite in Europe • Philosophical Enlightenment for social and political change in Europe • Population growth starts taking on modern characteristics • Commercialized economies (highly commercialized) develop in parts of Eurasia and America-urban based • Stronger more unified states develop: this promotes trade, manufacturing, and common cultures. Great increase in military power due to “gunpowder” revolution.

But wait… Maybe It is the Late Agrarian Era • Despite what we have just talked about, it is also possible to see this time period (1450 -1750) as NOT modern • European political and military power were quite limited in Asia and Africa • Islam was still the fastest growing major religion • India and China were each comparable in production to Europe

The Late Agrarian • In 1750 the only signs of industrial revolution might have been found in central England. • Dependent on muscle power, wind, and water everywhere • Long established cities still had the power; no transfer to industrial cities yet. • Rulers were monarchs and were not elected; male dominance was normal and assumed to be correct; “lower class” meant rural peasants not urban workers for the most part • 1450 -1750 was not a time of change for most humans but of continuity with the past • Chapters 13 -15 highlight change in this era rather than continutiy