Unit 5: Nations, Empires, Imperialism, and Peoples in an Industrializing Age
So far, we have focused on political revolution. While political upheaval and the reorganization of political boundaries have greatly impacted the development of society as we know it, social, scientific, and industrial revolutions have also shaped our modern world. Before the so-called "modern age" featured mass European exploration and colonization, Europe had existed on the sidelines of global history. Innovation, intellectualism, and trade were centered in the Middle East and Asia. After the Roman Empire fell in the 4th century, Europe plunged into a 1,000-year period known as the Dark Ages. Most Europeans forgot about the advances the Romans had made in philosophy, science, and technology, while innovation continued elsewhere around the globe.
In the Middle East, the Islamic Caliphates created great libraries and universities to maintain the knowledge of the ancient Greeks and Romans. They also studied the advances in philosophy, science, and engineering in ancient China and Korea. Around 1000, the Sung Dynasty invented gunpowder and produced the first gun. Choe Yun-ui, a Korean inventor, created the first movable type metal printing press in Korea in 1234, 200 years before Gutenburg's printing press. During the 11th century, China's Sung Dynasty began using paper currency, and the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty created a system of banking in the 14th century. The Islamic Caliphates created the first hospitals, physician training, and medical texts, while Abu Ali Sina (980–1037) (also called Avicenna) penned the Canon of Medicine. Many Europeans consider Avicenna the father of early modern medicine and pharmacology.
Since Europe had lived in intellectual darkness for so long, their reawakening in the scientific, philosophical, and medical fields probably seemed even more remarkable and exciting during Europe's scientific (1500–1600) and industrial revolutions (1800's). Europe began to reassert itself on the world stage in the 1400s. Their explorers and traders pushed into Africa, Asia, and the Americas, where they absorbed but frequently annihilated the knowledge, culture, and populations of the places they conquered.
European imperialism also revolutionized slavery. Although slavery had existed since the dawn of human civilization, European slavery centered on capturing and forcing all levels of African societies into enslavement without an ability to escape or earn their freedom from their new lives of forced labor. Europeans popularized the idea of skin-based racism, a new social construct that continues to stratify and divide communities to this day.
In this unit, we examine how European imperialism, slavery, and the scientific and industrial revolutions impacted culture, social class, and the rights of people. As you read, investigate, and explore, remember how the Enlightenment philosophers inspired the political revolutions we have studied so far. Consider how these political revolutions resulted from European imperialism and the other social events and ideas we will discuss in Unit 5.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 12 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- identify some critical milestones in the development of civilization;
- identify the roots and effects of European imperialism;
- explain the development of racism, imperialism, and Eurocentrism and how it contributed to revolution;
- discuss the significance of the transatlantic slave trade;
- describe the Scramble for Africa and how it contributed to revolution;
- give examples of some ways the scientific and industrial revolutions affected the development of the modern world; and
- explain how the scientific revolution led to the industrial revolution.
5.1: Historical Background to European Imperialism
Most historians trace the beginning of civilization to around 4500 BCE, when people began living in urban centers (cities) with an organized government, religion, and class structure. The first settlements were in Sumar, the southern region of Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Contemporary civilizations or kingdoms, such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Kush (in northern Sudan), and Caral Supe (in Peru), advanced religions and built pyramids. In Eurasia, complex civilizations developed in the Indus Valley (in Pakistan and Northern India) and in China around 2500 B.C. Thousands of tribes evolved in the Americas, while advanced empires, such as the Olematl and Mayan empires, had developed in Central America by the 15th century. The advanced empires of the Aztec and Tawantinsuyu (Inca) had also consolidated power in Central and South America.
In Eurasia, advanced civilizations developed in Babylon, Persia, India, China, and Greece. By the 8th century B.C., Rome was founded as a small city heavily influenced by Greece and an older Italian civilization known as the Etruscans. The Roman Empire spread from its original city to cover the entire Mediterranean, from modern-day Turkey and North Africa to most of Europe and the British Isles. Tribal cultures – collectively known as Celtic and Germanic tribes – populated pre-Roman Europe. Rome conquered most Celtic tribes but could not overcome the Germans or the tribes in northern England and Scotland.
Watch this video on the development of civilization, cities, and states. How do you think these social constructs relate to socio-political and economic development and eventually lead to European imperialism?
The Roman Empire was connected to China via the Silk Road, a series of trading routes that had allowed Europe and Asia to share their knowledge, technology, and culture. Rome had developed an advanced civilization with complex legal codes, citizenship rights, and a semi-market economy. However, Rome began to fall apart by the third century due to Germanic tribes they could not conquer in the north, political infighting and corruption, pollution in the city itself, and a shift to Christianity, which outlawed many Roman practices such as the gladiator games which were central to the Roman economy. By the 5th century, Rome fell to the Germanic tribes.
While the Roman Empire continued as the Byzantine Empire in Turkey for 1,000 more years, Europe was effectively cut off from the Middle East and Asia. Trade continued, but the interconnected nature of Eurasia ceased to exist. In 610, Muhammad ibn Abdullah (570–632) founded the Islamic religion, which spread throughout the Middle East. A series of Islamic empires or Caliphates consolidated control in the Middle East while powerful dynasties continued to advance in China. Japan and Korea also entered the written record and joined this league of powerful kingdoms that vied for power. In India, the Chola Empire spread to consolidate control of India and the Malay Archipelago (which included Indonesia).
Watch this video which discusses the importance Byzantium played during the medieval period. How did the Crusades help lay the seeds for European Imperialism?
In the 13th century, Genghis Khan (c. 1158–1227), an obscure Mongolian khan, began his campaign of conquest that reshaped the world. He moved into China, Korea, Japan, Russia, eastern Europe, India, and the Middle East from Mongolia. Genghis Khan established the largest land empire in history. Most importantly, he replicated the Eurasian trade routes that had existed during the Roman Empire and established an intricate system of roads, trading posts, and banks.
The Mongolian laws inscribed in the Yassa were progressive for this time, based on the semi-democratic nature of Mongolian society. Male and female leaders from various tribes elected the Khans who led the traditional Mongolian government. They recognized freedom of religion, criminalized torture, abolished slavery (at least for the Mongols), and punished anyone who raped or harmed Mongolian women. These rights for women were unheard of in other parts of the world. Some historians believe the Yassa and Mongolian traditions inspired the Enlightenment philosophers, especially with their belief that individuals are entitled to certain rights under the law.
Read about these laws excerpted from the Yassa. Do you think the Yassa could have influenced European thought and influenced the Enlightenment philosophers?
During the Dark Ages, Europe had devolved into a series of small kingdoms that constantly fought for dominion over their neighbors. The Holy Roman Empire, a multi-ethnic complex of territories in western, central, and southern Europe (in today's Italy, Germany, and France), and the Catholic Church established a firm grip on the European power structure. During this time, Scandinavians (the Vikings) pushed into England, northern and eastern Europe, and established Kievan Rus, which would become Russia in the 10th century. William the Conqueror (c.1028–1087), a Norman nobleman, deposed the Scandinavian monarchy in England and established the British monarchy.
As you watch this video, consider what life was like in Medieval Europe. How did feudal and manorial systems operate? How did they compare with the kingdoms in Eurasia during this period? How do you think medieval warfare and the frequency of military invasion influenced European imperialism in the 15th century?
As you watch this lecture, think about how we characterize European powers. How did the revolution and ideas of nationalism propel Europeans to venture beyond Europe to overtake the world?
The Caliphate of Córdoba (or Umayyad Caliphate) was an Islamic state the Umayyad dynasty ruled in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) from 929 to 1031. The caliphate prospered. It filled the void Rome had left in 711 and successfully promoted trade, literature, scholarship, the arts, and architecture. The Reconquista, an 800-year series of battles Christian states engaged in to expel the caliphate, was eventually successful and Christian rulers controlled the entire peninsula by 1492. A series of edicts (1499–1526) forced Jews and Muslims to convert to Christianity. King Philip III (1578–1621) eventually forced the Muslims and Jews to leave the peninsula for Tunisia and Morocco in 1609.
Watch this video to learn about the origins of the Reconquista, how it unfolded, and how it influenced the Spanish and Portuguese desire to expand beyond its borders.
5.2: Early and New European Imperialism
The Reconquista prompted Portugal and then Spain to look beyond the European continent for commercial opportunities. Portuguese sailors began exploring Africa and pushed south into the Indian Ocean to search for new trade routes. Western Africa had developed a series of trading empires, starting with Ghana (300–1100), Mali (1235–1600), and the Songhai Empire (1464–1591). These empires controlled the flow of trade between sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and were famous for their enormous stores of gold. Abraham Cresques, a Jewish cartographer, even featured Mansa Musa I (c. 1280–c. 1337), the "lion king" from Mali (who gave all of his gold away during a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324), in the Catalan Atlas in 1375.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach and begin to imperialize western Africa. The Songhai Empire had controlled this area, but the Portuguese were able to cut the Songhai kings and traders off from their vast stores of gold. The Portuguese also took over and revolutionized the slave trade, which had existed under Islamic control for so long.
What is the difference between imperialism and colonialism? A country is imperialistic when it extends its political and military dominance over another territory. Colonization involves taking an additional step – where the colonizer sends settlers to establish permanent settlements in the area once they have achieved political and military control. The colonial powers not only exploited the territory economically, but they changed the customs and culture of the colony. When the Europeans imperialized and colonized most of the world, they spread their culture, values, diseases, and political systems to the places they conquered.
By 1498, the Portuguese had also sailed into the Indian Ocean and overtook many key trading hubs and ports. In response, the Spanish sailed west, with the initial voyages of Christopher Columbus, to imperialize the American continent. They obliterated the Aztec and Tawantinsuyu (Inca) empires and eliminated entire populations, such as the Taíno people of the Caribbean. By the end of the 16th century, the Netherlands, France, and England had joined this imperial game, pushing into Africa, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, and the Americas. By 1780, the British began colonizing Australia.
These European empires were based on commercial gain and political aggrandizement. They were not the first people to conquer other countries, which had occurred since ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, but they were highly commercial and reduced the countries they conquered to mere tools to benefit the commercial, political, and cultural interests of the mother country".
Read this text. While it focuses on America, you can apply its lessons to the rest of the world. How did European colonization affect the lives of the people who lived in the colonies?
Examine this world map from 1674. Which European nations controlled the most and least amount of territory? Why do you think some parts of the world remained uncolonized?
The early imperial/colonial period lasted through the end of the 1700s. By the beginning of the 1800s, European imperialism had reached a new level. The newly-formed countries of Germany and Italy, which had missed out on early colonization, began to assert their stance on the world stage. The United States also became an imperial power. By the end of the 1800s, every inhabited continent and most islands ertr either colonized by a European power or, as in the case of Japan, galvanized by imperialism to act in an aggressive imperial manner. Imperialism defined world history from 1500 to 1900. By 1900, the British Empire – in addition to the French, Dutch, Germans, and other minor European powers to a lesser extent – had supplanted Spain. They said the "sun never sets on the British Empire".
Compare this world map from 1898 with the map of 1674 that we studied earlier in this unit. How did the colonial powers change? What areas did Europeans control in 1898 that had not been colonized in 1674?
Watch this video on the consequences of European imperialism and colonization. What were the objectives of the European powers? How did they affect the societies they colonized?
Watch this video. How did colonialism and imperialism divide the world? How did this stratification contribute to the revolutions we have studied in the course?
Many Europeans justified their commercial ambitions by promoting concepts of race and racial superiority. Many believed the sentiments Rudyard Kipling espoused in his 1899 poem, White Man's Burden, which claimed Christian Europeans had a duty to civilize, educate, and impart their religion on the non-White, "half-devil", and "half-child" people they colonized. The Atlantic slave traders justified their barbaric, inhuman actions with claims of European superiority. Equating skin color with value and claiming Europeans were superior to those with darker skin convinced slave traders they could treat the people they bought and sold as subhuman property. These ideologies gave birth to modern-day racism. This Eurocentrism places Europe at the center of the world and idealizes European culture, goods, and achievements above other cultures.
Watch this lecture which examines the effects imperialism and colonialism had on social stratification and racism. How did ideas of private property and capitalism influence social and race relations? How about feelings of racial superiority?
As you watch this video, think about the thesis in the previous video. Make a Venn diagram. Notate the main ideas of each video in the outside circles, and notate the similarities in the center.
5.3: The Scramble for Africa, Transatlantic Slavery, and Decolonization
Since the European powers had carved up most countries in the Americas, they turned their attention to Africa, parts of Asia, and the Pacific, including New Zealand and Australia. Many historians call this period the Scramble for Africa, when the European powers, including Germany and Italy, lay their claims throughout the African continent.
Watch this video. How did the Atlantic slave trade influence the so-called Scramble for Africa?
Interest in Africa predated this Scramble for Africa, which was propelled by a desire to extract Africa's vast natural resources and exploit its human capital. Slavery had existed since the Sumerians and Akkadians ruled Mesopotamia during the early days of written history. The Code of Hammurabi, written in Sumer in 1771 B.C., references slavery. It was also a part of society in Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, Mongolia, China, and Europe before this period of European imperialism. When the Islamic Caliphates took control of the Middle East, they established trade networks from east Asia to the Indian subcontinent through the Middle East and into Africa. Human trafficking and slavery were a big part of the economies of the premodern world.
However, slavery was much different before European imperialism. People were enslaved due to financial debts and war, or they were sometimes kidnapped and forced into service. But enslaved people were always considered human beings. In many cultures, they could own property, earn wages, and even hold high military and government offices. Ancient Rome had strict prohibitions against inflicting arbitrary harm or murdering enslaved people. Enslavers and enslaved people often traded places, such as during the festival of Saturnalia when the enslavers served enslaved people during lavish banquets. This holiday would influence modern-day Christmas.
The Ottoman Empire, the Islamic empire that conquered Turkey and plundered the Byzantian Empire, enslaved people from eastern Europe. Christian settlements were required to provide young boys to the Ottoman military as a form of taxation. These boys were trained as elite soldiers, known as Janissaries, and served as the elite bodyguards of the sultan and in other high-rank positions. In India, the Mamluk Dynasty (1206–1290) that was part of the Delhi Sultuanate, was known as the "slave dynasty" when Muhammad of Ghor (1149–1202) died without heirs and bequeathed his empire to four slaves who he had treated as his sons. These high-ranking generals, Malmuk, Yildiz, Aibek, and Qubacha, divided the empire among themselves.
Watch this lecture on slavery in ancient Rome. What rights did enslaved people have in ancient Rome? Make a chart that notes the most interesting aspects of Roman slavery. Compare this list to what you know about the enslaved people who were part of the transatlantic slave trade.
As you read this lesson, make a chart of each culture with slavery. Note the major characteristics of slavery in each culture and compare that to your chart about slavery in Rome and the Americas. Write a summary about these aspects of premodern slavery.
In the Americas during the 1500s, the Spanish Crown employed the Encomienda system of labor, which rewarded Spanish explorers, conquistadors, and military men with land in the New World" They were granted the labor of the people who lived on the land alongside their new land acquisitions" But their attempts to enslave the native populations were largely unsuccessful" European diseases such as smallpox had devastated the native people, and many escaped because they had much more extensive knowledge of the land"
The Europeans turned to Africa as their source of bonded labor" Most enslaved people were kidnapped against their will and forced into bondage" Rival tribes raided villages to capture prisoners who they sold to European slave traders" Families were broken up, and entire villages were destroyed" The enslaved people were stripped of their humanity and designated as chattel or moveable property" They were mistreated, beaten, and killed with impunity" No one was exempt, including the ruling elites – remember the father of Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L'Ouverture, who was an African prince"
Read this article, which describes key aspects of the slave trade"The transatlantic slave trade was a tool and outgrowth of European imperialism and colonization. It redefined the world in terms of race and social relations and divided individuals according to their skin color and ethnicity.
Slavery took many forms in the Americas. The Spanish initiated the transatlantic slave trade in 1518 when they began importing enslaved people from Africa because they had wiped out the local population and needed people to work in the fields. Conditions were especially harsh in the Portuguese plantations in Brazil, where only men were brought over and worked to death. France introduced slavery to its colonies in the 1500s, and the British brought the first enslaved people to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619.
Enslaved people were treated more humanely in Jamestown and the northern British colonies. Still, conditions were especially harsh and cruel in the sugar plantations in Brazil and the Caribbean Islands, where enslaved people were often beaten and killed. The planters who moved into the colonies in the American South brought this inhuman plantation system, which was based on abject cruelty, with them.
Before 1790, most plantations in the American South farmed rice and tobacco. Some historians claim the abolitionist politicians who met in 1787 agreed to incorporate slavery into the U.S. Constitution because they did not believe slavery would last. Tobacco was slowly depleting the soil and would no longer be able to serve as America's cash crop. These key legislators needed the southern votes to pass the Constitution. This could be wishful thinking on the part of these historians, since many people today do not want to believe the U.S. founders were crass or unethical. However, several U.S. legislators actively fought to retain slavery in their states.
Other historians point out that the U.S. Constitution failed to outlaw slavery despite its lofty statements about human rights. The three-fifths compromise proportioned slave populations for representation and taxation. Congress also had the power to ban the slave trade but pushed the date out to 1808. The Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3) also gave enslavers the right to capture enslaved people who ran away anywhere in the country. This clause codified slavery as a federally-protected enterprise.
As you watch this interview, consider how Laura Smalley was treated and the long-term consequences this culture of oppression has had on race relations in the United States.
In 1790, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, a machine that made it easier and faster to clean cotton. Although Whitney was an abolitionist and had intended to eliminate the need for slave labor, the opposite occurred. Many tobacco and rice farmers converted to cotton when the cotton gin made cotton production more lucrative. Consequently, the demand for free slave labor increased. The Industrial Revolution also began to take hold in the north, and the textile mills benefited from the low-cost cotton the southern plantations produced.
Slavery became a central component of wealth creation throughout the United States. In 1808, the United States outlawed the importation of enslaved people from Africa, but traders continued to smuggle them in. By this time, enslaved people were "produced" and traded domestically with inhumane consequences. Children and family members were divided and sold between plantations and across state lines. Nearly four million enslaved people lived in the United States when the Civil War began in 1860.
Watch this lecture on the domestic slave trade. Consider how slavery and racism became ingrained into every aspect of American society and how domestic slave traders helped perpetuate the system.
While the U.S. Civil War (1861–1865) may have had several causes, it ultimately came down to issues of slavery. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) signed the Emancipation Proclamation, an Executive Order that freed enslaved people in the Confederate states, but it did not free anyone enslaved in the Union – many officers and soldiers continued to enslave people throughout the war.
Legislators and three-fourths of the states had to amend the U.S. Constitution because the framers had written slavery into the document in 1788. With the passage of the 13th Amendment at the war's conclusion (1865), the U.S. Congress and 27 states amended the U.S. Constitution to formally end slavery, except in the case of incarceration.
The 14th Amendment (1868) granted automatic citizenship to African Americans and anyone born on U.S. soil. The amendment specified that citizens were entitled to equal treatment. The 15th Amendment (1870) granted American citizens the right to vote, regardless of skin color.
While these amendments were meant to revolutionize the United States' social structure and grant equal footing to newly-freed people, the southern states and the U.S. Congress passed a series of Jim Crow laws to weaken these Constitutional amendments and deny equality to formerly enslaved people. During Reconstruction, southern plantation owners turned to sharecropping, a system that allowed newly-freed people to remain on their plantations to lease their homes and land from the owner. Since they had no money, many formerly enslaved people had no choice but to accept this Faustian bargain.
The plantation owners gave the newly-freed people their houses and land on credit and charged exorbitant rates for seed, equipment, and food. The formerly enslaved people lacked the money ever to repay what they owed. Most were stuck in the same situation of servitude they had experienced while they were enslaved. Many states also passed laws that made it impossible for formerly enslaved people to vote. The U.S. Supreme Court also upheld segregation laws that separated white and black people in public facilities (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896). Although most of these laws were officially eliminated in the 1950s and 1960s, much of their societal effects remain today.
Read this text to explore how slavery has impacted race relations and racism in the United States. How do you think these systems and practices have affected racial equality in today's environment?
European colonization and slavery were devastating for Africa, where societies and kingdoms were plundered and destroyed. This destruction included the vast repositories and documents at the Library of Timbuktu, one of the great centers of knowledge in premodern Africa.
As you read this text, consider the personal horrors of the Middle Passage and how the slave traders treated their cargo as produce that was less than human. They had become mere chattel, or property. How did slavery lead to the American Civil War and the fall of the European powers?
Read this article on the global consequences of imperialism and slavery. What role did slavery play in Japan and Ethiopia?
Steps toward decolonization began in the 1950s with the work of Ghana's Convention People's Party and the Tanganyika African National Union. The calls for independence, racial equality, and justice coincided with the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Leaders on both sides of the Atlantic promoted boycotts, strikes, and civil disobedience. Many called 1960 the Year of Africa, when 17 countries gained independence. They had effectively ousted the European powers from the continent by 1980.
Watch this video to learn about the tactics the African revolutionaries used. How did these compare with the revolutionary uprisings we have discussed in this course so far?
European colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade have left deep scars. Racial injustice, such as the system of apartheid in South Africa, continued to oppress Black Africans. When the Europeans drew their colonial borders, they boxed rival tribes into the same countries, creating political unrest that led to military coups and genocide. Since the colonial leaders were never interested in economic growth or development, the newly-independent countries grappled with widespread poverty, lack of sanitation, and the absence of industrial development.
Watch this lecture about the challenges the newly-independent countries in Africa have faced as they shake off the literal and figurative chains of their colonial past.
As you review the next two resources, consider how colonialism has influenced today's social structures and race relations in Africa. Do you think the post-colonial powers are responsible for correcting the wrongs they inflicted on their colonies in Africa?
Read this study, which focuses on how British colonialism affected the role of women in Kenya.
Watch this video, which explores instances of racial insensitivity and racism that residents of post-colonial Brussels, Belgium, still harbor toward those who come from their former African colonies.
5.4: Scientific and Industrial Revolutions of Europe
Scientific and industrial developments in Europe gave Europeans a technological advantage, allowing modern Europe and its systems of colonialism and imperialism to prosper.
The European Scientific Revolution dated from 1543–1687. Other civilizations in Eurasia, the Middle East, India, Asia, and Africa did not experience the same gap in learning and technological evolution as Europe had during the Dark Ages. The Catholic Church filled the administrative void the Roman Empire had left, and progress in education, science, hygiene, and technology halted. Support for public projects, such as running water, public sewage projects, and even shopping malls, ceased when Rome fell in Europe in 395 (although the empire continued in Byzantium).
A Renaissance (1300–1600) followed the Crusades (1095–1291), when European military forces invaded the Middle East and Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, at the behest of the Catholic Church. The crusaders brought the treasures they looted from Byzantium and the Middle East, home to Europe. Historians suggest these acquisitions helped ignite the Renaissance with new ideas in art, literature, and philosophy. The Mongolian Empire also reconnected Europe with Asia and the Middle East, prompting advancements in philosophy, education, and technology.
Watch this video. What role did the Catholic Church play in the Scientific Revolution and the growth of scientific thinking in Europe?
The Renaissance introduced the philosophy of humanism to Europe, which shifted the focus of art, literature, and philosophy from the divinity and majesty of God to the achievements and splendor of humanity. Martin Luther (1483–1546), a Catholic priest, founded the Lutheran Church when he tired of the excesses and corruption of the Catholic Church. Luther's protests led to the Protestant Reformation, a period of religious, political, intellectual, and cultural upheaval that splintered the Catholic Church in northern and central Europe during the 1500s. Reformers like Luther, John Calvin (1509–1564), and King Henry VIII (1491–1547) challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church's ability to define Christian practice.
As you read the next two articles, make sure you can define and explain how the following concepts, individuals, and institutions influenced the Scientific Revolution in Europe. How did the Scientific Revolution change society and provide a foundation for the modern world?
- Advances in medicine
- Astronomy
- Galileo Galilei
- Instruments and Methods
- Nicolaus Copernicus
- Philosophy
- Religion
- Royal Society
- Scientific thinking the scientific method
- Women
This article explores the foundation Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) and Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) laid for the Scientific Revolution. The author also examines the limits of this thinking and cultural transition.
The Scientific Revolution in Europe had tremendous sociopolitical consequences. It loosened the hold of the Catholic Church and prompted individuals to reexamine all aspects of their lives – from the natural (scientific) to culture and politics. As we discussed in Unit 1, the period of the Enlightenment that followed represented a departure from the status quo. Political philosophers applied the ideas of reason and logic to examine the purpose and limits of government, civil rights, and the role of the individual in civic life.
As you watch this video, pay attention to the individuals it features.
As you read this article, think about how the Scientific Revolution impacted the Enlightenment and major revolutions of the modern period.
Historians believe the Industrial Revolution began in England, which offered many prerequisites, such as mechanized farming, water power, large iron and coal reserves, and a vast empire to draw raw materials from. Factory production developed in urban centers (cities), incorporating modern machines and rudimentary automation. Powered by steam engines and the broad use of steel, the following key inventions propelled the factory system to develop in Great Britain during the 18th century: James Hargreaves (1720–1778) invented the spinning jenny in 1770, James Watt (1736–1819) innovated the steam engine in 1776, and Edmund Cartwright (1743–1823) invented the power loom in 1785. The mass production of goods led to modernization and urbanization on a scale that was never seen before.
Watch this lecture which discusses the impact the Industrial Revolution had on capitalism, modes of production, the role of women, and class consciousness.
Since Great Britain was the first country to industrialize, it exercised great proprietary control over its inventions and methods. It also harvested the resources of its colonies and forced them to trade exclusively with Great Britain. For example, the colonial government in India reorganized Indian workers to work on large tea and indigo plantations and forced local artisans and craftsmen to practice agriculture. Indians were also pressed into coal mines to meet the coal demand for steam engines. Great Britain turned these natural resources into the manufactured goods it sold back to Indians. The large-scale reorganizations depleted the soil and led to food shortages, which caused great famines.
As you watch this video, think about the laws enacted during this time and how they revolutionized working conditions and workers' rights. Construct a T-chart that lists the positive and negative consequences of the Industrial Revolution. How did the negative conditions contribute to the divide between rich and poor and catalyze the socialist movements in the 1900s?
The first Industrial Revolution involved Great Britain, the other European powers, and the United States in the early 1800s. Belgium was the first nation on mainland Europe to industrialize when William (1759–1832) and John Cockerill (1780–1830), two English brothers, established a major textile manufacturing firm near Liège in 1807. France joined this group by 1848, but the other European nations became part of a second wave from 1870 to 1914. Germany began industrializing in the 1870s after its unification, but Spain and Italy were slower. Japan became a military powerhouse during the 1900s after a rapid period of industrialization.
Watch this video on the ideas of agency and how Marx viewed industrialization and its impact on humanity, agency, and the idea of rights. Consider how the Industrial Revolutions influenced politics and contributed to both growth and instability.
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