Transcript Origins of a Western Worldview: Renaissance Europe

In what ways were the Age of Discovery and the rise
of imperialism expressions of an expansionist
worldview?
In other words…
How did these new discoveries lead Europeans to take
their ideas out to the world?
Outcomes
I understand that…
 8.2.1 - Renaissance Europe formed the basis for the
worldview of the Western world
 8.2.2 - there were differing beliefs, values and
worldviews
 8.2.3 - beliefs and values are shaped by time,
geographic location and societal context
 8.2.4 – factors shaped the worldview that evolved in
western Europe during the Renaissance
*Imperialism & Expansionism
 Imperialism means…
 “the policy of extending the rule or authority of an
empire or nation over foreign countries.”
http://dictionary.reference.com/
 Expansionism means…
 A nation expanding its territorial base usually by means
of military aggression
So, What’s the Difference?
 Imperialism is the government creating the policy and
sending the army out
 Expansionism is the army physically gaining the land
and people
Which means…
 European countries wanted to expand their world and
have power over all territory, resources, and people
How would they become rich
and powerful?
 Through trade with Asia- gold, spices, fabrics
The Silk Road
 Was used by European Nations for thousands of years
to get to Asia.
What happened?
 Why didn’t the Spanish and Portuguese continue to
use the silk road?
 War: Ottoman Empire
 Italian control of Seas
The Solution?
 Travel west to find a newer, faster trade route to Asia.
 Whoever discovered the new trade route would
become the richest and most powerful nation in the
world.
Who Explored?
 The Portuguese (trade route to Asia around Africa)
 The Spanish (Christopher Columbus)
 The French (Jacques Cartier)
 The English (Giovanni Caboto)
*The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
 The rulers of Spain and Portugal could not agree as to
who could claim what share of the new land.
*So . . .
 They asked Pope Alexander VI to help settle the matter
*And…
 He created a treaty that would divide the world between
the Spanish and Portuguese
*The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
Portugal
 Would get the
land east of the
imaginary line
Spain
 Would get
the land west
of the imaginary
line (going North
& South through
the Atlantic)
Spain had no choice but to travel
West
What did they discover?
 The Americas!
 Canada
 The United States
 Mexico/Central America
 South America
*Why Were Explorers Sent?
1. Europeans needed resources to support their economy
and to establish colonies
2. Land and resource competition was necessary for
survival and supremacy of Europeans
European Attitudes Toward
Native People
 Europeans thought the native people needed to learn
from civilized and virtuous nations on how to practice
better morals, worthier customs, more civilized way of
life
Why was this attitude “ethnocentric”?
 Europeans thought the native people were clever and
would be good servants, would easily become
Christians, quickly learned new words of explorers.
 Therefore, Europeans they were superior to the native
people.
European Attitudes Toward
Native and African Peoples
 Europeans contributed to establishing trade of African
and Indigenous slave trade was carried out by English
merchant traders who bought or captured African or
Indigenous men, women, children

The African’s were then sold to plantation owners as
labourers
*Spain
 The Spanish were given territory (land) in New Spain
to:
 Encourage settlement
 Mine for precious metals
 Set up plantations to export crops
The Spanish then…
 Enslaved Indigenous people and forced them to:
 work on plantations and in silver mines
 work in terrible conditions
 work to death
New Spain = Imperialist Treasure
 Spain conquered the Aztec and Incan empires, which
provided them with great wealth

Gold, silver, & emerald mines in Peru & Bolivia
 *Spain became the wealthiest country in Europe
Note the shifts in power from the start of the Renaissance.
*England
 Became envious of Spain
*What England Did
 They developed ships to attack the Spanish by water
and coastal towns of New Spain
 The new ships were small, fast, & highly maneuverable
*England’s Motivation
 Queen Elizabeth I
 Supported the building of the ships because she wanted
to eliminate Spanish profits
However…
 Bernardino de Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador to
England, protested these raids against his country
The Cost of Imperialism
 Destruction of Inca and Aztec civilizations in central
and South America (1490’s)
 1/10th of original population left by 1600’s
 90 million Indigenous People of North America died
or wiped out
 Beothuk, Ona
How Did They Die?
 European diseases for which indigenous people had no
immunity
 Smallpox, measles, influenza, bubonic plague, yellow
fever, cholera, malaria
Destruction of Records
 With their death, many written records, cities, &
monuments of the original people were destroyed by
the Spanish conquest
How Do We Know This?
 Waman Puma
 Spanish father, Incan mother (unproven claim)
 Recorded Incan history with intention to send to
Spanish king

no records of document reaching Spanish courts
 Experienced Spanish treatment of Incan people
*Age of Exploration
Europeans learned that world was different from
their imaginations  no sea monsters, people looked the same
2. A sea route was found to Asia around Africa
3. Discovered two huge continents that existed
between Europe and Asia
1.
Other European Countries…
 Discovered imperialism (gaining power) lead to wealth
 Began to compete for overseas markets
Patriotism!
 People linked their identity with achievements of their
country . . . My country is great; so therefore I am too!
 Attitude of patriotism began to take hold
Medieval Heroes
 Monks & knights
*Renaissance Heroes
 Artistic geniuses and daring explorers
i.e. Sir Francis Drake, Christopher Columbus
Queen Elizabeth I
After Making Contact with the New
World
 Europeans fascinated by reports of Indigenous people
 Printing press made illustrated books about
Indigenous people available to Europeans
 Showed lifestyle of Indigenous people
 Communities operated on sharing and equality
 People lived close to nature – not crowded in dirty, noisy
cities
*People Began to Wonder…
 Who was happier – Europeans or Indigenous people
 This challenged the worldview of the Europeans and
their society
Citizens of the World
 This was the beginning of the concept of a Global
Village – sharing of common interests and goals
 Do we live in a Global Village today? What are some
examples of this?
*Recap of How it Happened:
(Becoming Citizens of the World)
 First steps – Renaissance and Age of Exploration
 Invention of printing press – allowed knowledge and
ideas to be exchanged across all of Europe
 Humanism – encouraged people to look beyond
known world
 Rise of trade and business – motivated people to
venture into unknown
In Summary,
At the Start of The Renaissance…
 European society moved away from feudalism
 Merchants and traders became responsible for great
economic growth
 Little known about world geography
 Superstitious about the
unknown
*Throughout the Renaissance…
 People’s eyes opened to possibilities of human
achievement
 Developed appetite for knowledge, riches and
exploring world to find knowledge and riches
*At The End of The Renaissance…
 Contact had been made with people from other
continents
 Europeans imposed own religion, ideas, values,
economic systems on others