HIST103 Study Guide

Unit 5: Foundations of the Atlantic World

5a. Discuss the reasons for the Protestant Reformation, the political impact that it had in Europe, and the response of the Catholic Church

  • What and when was the Protestant Reformation?
  • What political impact did it have in Europe?
  • What was the response of the Catholic Church?

Several events led to the Protestant Reformation (1517–1648) in Europe, including corruption in the Catholic Church, the humanism of the Renaissance, and three waves of the Bubonic Plague or Black Death beginning in 1347. In 1517, Martin Luther (1483–1545), a German theologian, challenged the Catholic Church by posting his Ninety-five Theses to the Castle Church door. He admonished the selling of indulgences and other corrupt practices. John Calvin (1509–1564), a French pastor and theologian, broke away to create the Presbyterian Church, while King Henry VIII of England (1491–1547) formed the Anglican Church.

Luther questioned church authority by declaring people did not need an intermediary to communicate with God. In 1440, Gutenberg's printing press reduced the need for the clergy by translating the Bible into German, English, and other European languages and spread the ideas of the Reformation. Although the Catholic Church excommunicated Luther, he prompted the Church to enact a series of reforms during the Council of Trent (1545–1563). This led to the Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reformation (1545–1563), which addressed the corruption issues Luther protested. 

The Reformation fractured Europe. The Protestant upstarts vied for power with the monarchies tied to the Catholic Church. This led to the Thirty Years War (1618–1648), the official end of the Reformation. It expanded ideas of self-reliance and independence and led to the Enlightenment (1685–1815), where individuals embraced using science rather than simply following Church commandments.

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5b. Connect technological advancements in trade and travel with the exploration of the Americas

  • What technological advancements led to European exploration of the Americas?
  • How did Portuguese shipbuilding technology lead to European advancements in trade and travel?
  • Why did Europeans want to explore the Americas?

Europe sought its own sea routes when the Ottoman Empire restricted access to Asia via the Silk Road. They needed silver (which they took from the Americas) to buy Chinese goods since its currency was based on silver. Advances in shipbuilding and seafaring technology enabled them to create maritime networks with East Asia and India. Improved navigation helped them determine a ship's course and position, while the printing press allowed them to share their maps, charts, and knowledge.

In Portugal, Prince Henry the Navigator (1394–1460) built the caravel, an agile ship that was equipped for combat and could navigate deep and shallow waters. Inspired by Arab ships, Prince Henry expanded the ship's cargo capacity and added taller masts and triangular lateen sails to sail against the wind. In 1492, Spain traveled to the Americas, and Spain and Portugal divided their newly discovered lands according to the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. This trade between Europe and the Americas resulted in the Columbian Exchange. 

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5c. Describe various indigenous societies in the Americas and the consequences of their contact with Europeans

  • How many tribes were in the Americas before contact with Europeans? What empires existed?
  • What were the social and political dynamics in the Americas before contact with Europeans?
  • What were the consequences of their contact with Europeans?

When Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer, arrived in today's Bahamas, the Americas were home to more than 1,000 different Native American civilizations and more than 60 million people. The communities featured diverse languages, cultures, religions, and political systems.

For example, the Sioux and Navajo had formed tribes, the Inuit were nomadic, and the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) lived in settled communities centered in longhouses. The Olmec Civilization (1600 B.C.E.–350 C.E.), the Mayan Empire (1500 B.C.E.–900 C.E.), and the Aztec Empire (1300–1521 C.E.) were vast complex empires in Central America and Southern Mexico. The empires were organized into great cities renowned for their astronomical knowledge, precise calendars, and advanced mathematical knowledge.

In South America, the Inca established the largest empire in the world from 1200 to 1533 C.E. These empires were as sophisticated as any in Europe or Asia. The Tawantinsuyu road and bridge system rivaled ancient Rome. Extensive trade networks connected North and South America. Importantly, the Aztec Empire had a tax system that sacrificed human beings from the tribes they subjugated. Consequently, the tribes helped Hernán Cortés and his Spanish conquistadors overthrow the Aztec Empire when the Spanish arrived in 1519.

While conquest, genocide, and military oppression defeated the American empires, smallpox and other European diseases killed nearly 90 percent of the Native American population. The Spanish forced the survivors into slavery under the encomienda system and imposed Catholicism via the vast mission system they established. The indigenous population did not fare much better with the French or Dutch traders. Their tenuous trade agreements with the British quickly devolved into hostile confrontations.

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5d. Explain the relationship between the discovery of the Americas and the Atlantic Slave Trade

  • Why did Europeans turn to the enslavement of Africans?
  • How did the trans-Atlantic slave trade affect Africa?
  • Why did so many Africans die on their way to the Americas?
  • How did slavery result in modern skin-based racism?

European exploration and colonization led to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The Europeans created plantations to harvest cash crops such as sugar and tobacco and mined for gold, silver, and other precious minerals. The Spanish initially forced the indigenous Native American population into slavery in the encomienda system. However, they needed a new source of workers when the native workers escaped to areas the Spanish were unfamiliar with or died from European diseases.

The Portuguese bought Africans from Islamic slave traders and established their own slave networks to sell and work in the West African gold mines. These Africans were kidnapped, sold at auction, and sent to the Americas on ships via the Middle Passage. Historians estimate more than 12 million Africans were forced into slavery, and more than two million died during the Middle Passage. In America, plantation owners, farmers, miners, and other business owners bought and sold enslaved people and forced them to harvest cash crops or dig in mines. The Europeans created the concept of chattel slavery in the Caribbean sugar plantations where the owners stripped the enslaved Africans of their humanity and considered "their" slaves as property, a condition the enslaved and their descendants could never escape due to their skin color.

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Unit 5 Vocabulary

  • Aztec Empire
  • Black Death
  • Bubonic Plague
  • caravel
  • cash crop
  • Catholic Reformation
  • chattel slavery
  • Christopher Columbus
  • Columbian Exchange
  • conquistador
  • Council of Trent
  • Counter Reformation
  • encomienda system
  • Gutenberg's printing press
  • Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)
  • Hernán Cortés
  • Inuit
  • John Calvin
  • King Henry VIII
  • Martin Luther
  • Mayan Empire
  • Middle Passage
  • Navajo
  • Ninety-Five Theses
  • Prince Henry the Navigator
  • Protestant Reformation
  • Renaissance
  • Sioux
  • smallpox
  • Thirty Years War
  • Trans-Atlantic slave trade