EVENTS IN EUROPE THAT AFFECTED THE LIVES OF MANKIND

Name : Leya Alfares

Professor : Rose Penasaran Ya

Date : July, 2024

Week : 1

Introduction

The history of Europe dates back to ancient Greece (20th century BC). The high civilization

of Greece had a lot of influence on the development of Europe and the world. We can still

see its influence today (early 21st century). The next European civilization that also

influenced many nations in the world was the Roman civilization. The Romans occupied the

area we now know as Italy. During its heyday in the 1st century AD, the Roman Empire was

one of the largest countries in the world. It covered a land area of 3.5 million square miles

with a population of 5 million people. That's roughly ¾ of the area of today's continental

Europe. Because of its size, there were two languages spoken as the empire's official

language. Latin became the main language in Western Rome, while in Eastern Rome the

main language used was Greek. Through the medium of these two languages, Roman

culture that prioritized rationality spread throughout Europe.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 4th century AD, Europe experienced a

long period, covering a period of about a millennium or 1000 years, known as the Middle

Ages. Medieval Europe was characterized by the growing dominance of the church. The

institution of the church played an irreplaceable role in the lives of the people of Europe at

that time. The Christian clergy's dedication to God became the ideal example in society. The

priests living in monasteries were social workers for society, they opened schools, housed

travelers, and opened hospitals. They rewrote works in Latin and thus passed on the legacy

of knowledge from the past to European civilization. Monasteries became centers of

knowledge because the priests were the ones with the intellectual tradition. In medieval

Europe people who were interested in science would go to study at a monastery.

In the 10th century AD major changes began to hit Europe. These changes began in

the trading port cities of Italy. Italian trading cities such as Venice, Genoa, and Naples

began to become centers of trading activities for various commodities that were sold on the

world market. At about the same time, cities in the Flanders region, located in northwestern

Europe, also began to emerge as trading cities. In the 12th century AD, trade networks

began to form that connected the trading cities in Flanders with the trading cities in Italy.

Growing trade activities required large amounts of gold and silver. Gold and silver

were needed as a medium of exchange and this led to the development of the money

economy. In later developments various companies and money storage institutions were

established with the aim that trade activities could be managed properly. The rise of trading

activities encouraged the emergence of people who controlled large amounts of capital.

The lords of capital became the embryo of the development of the capitalist system.

This system is an economic system where people invest in trading activities with the aim of

making a profit. The development of trade activities and the capitalism system coincided

with the rise of the world of science in Europe. Various innovations in the world of science

can be realized because they are supported by the increasingly established economic

conditions of Europe.

In the 15th century AD, Europeans began to expand to other continents. European

expansion caused European civilization to begin to spread throughout the world. Through

trade, the spread of religion and colonialism, European civilization has since become known

by other nations in the world. The 15th century AD to the 20th century AD was a period

where European nations dominated the lives of nations on various other continents.

Invention Of The Printing Press

Massive changes in various fields marked the end of the Middle Ages. In European history,

the period that succeeded the Middle Ages is known as the early modern period, which

covers the 16th to 18th centuries.

The early modern period saw many events that fundamentally influenced the

development of European and world history. In this period Europeans began to explore the

oceans, established colonies in other parts of the world, and encouraged the development of

global trade. Europeans found their way to Asia and new continents such as the Americas

and Australia.

In addition to spreading Christianity, another goal of ocean exploration spearheaded

by the Portuguese and Spanish was to find spice-producing areas (cloves and nutmeg).

Therefore, they continued to look for ways until they found that the spice-producing areas

were located in the Maluku Islands in the eastern part of the archipelago.

Before the age of ocean exploration began, the nations of Europe experienced many

important events. Apart from wars, destruction and the emergence of new states, the early

modern period in Europe also saw many important discoveries. The 15th century witnessed

an important development in technology, the invention of the printing press. Before the

printing press, people used various means to store writing such as leaves, clay, animal skins,

and stones. However, the technique of printing writing with Using carved wooden blocks

has been known in Europe since the 12th century and even in China before that.

What was new about the development of printing techniques in the 15th century was

the use of metal plates to print letters quickly. The development of printing presses using

metal plates went through a gradual process. Johannes Guttenberg (1398/1400-1468) played

an important role in the process of perfecting the printing press by using metal type and oil-

based ink between 1445 and 1450. His pioneering work in perfecting the printing press

using metal plates caused him to be called the inventor of the printing press. Guttenberg's

printing press, called Movable Type, was an improvement on the block system that had been

used in Europe before. The technique used by Guttenberg's printing press allowed for the

rapid printing of written material.

The idea to make a printing press came when Guttenberg made a letter of

forgiveness for the church. To be able to make a large number of pardon letters, Guttenberg

made letters with iron plates. The technique of making this iron plate is not immediately

finished, but through a process of years.

In 1450 Guttenberg's printing press was finally completed. Using his printing press,

in 1456 he printed the Bible for the first time. The Gutennberg-printed Bible was the first

Bible to be printed on a Movable Type printing press. Two hundred more Bibles were

printed soon after. A small portion of these, about 50 copies, were printed on calfskin. It is

estimated that nearly a quarter of the first 200 Guttenberg machine-printed Bibles still exist

today.

By 1500 it is estimated that over a thousand printing presses, modeled after

Guttenberg's, were in use across Europe. Together, these presses produced 40,000 titles of

printed matter (in the form of books, brochures, manuscripts, and so on). Forty thousand

titles were printed in approximately eight to ten million copies. It is estimated that almost

half of the printed matter was religious material in the form of Bibles, commentaries on the

Bible, and sermon books.

The invention of the printing press encouraged the spread of science and the spirit of

research. By using the printing press, one's creative thoughts and works can reach people in

the thousands and even millions. Thus the printing press also encouraged the emergence of a

growing group of readers. These readers of printed matter became educated people who had

a profound impact on European society. Without printed matter it is conceivable that the

ideas of the reformation and renaissance movements would not have spread as quickly as

they did in the 16th century. Furthermore, the printing press had made Europeans the

world's leading nation in terms of knowledge reproduction. The impact of the printing press

was immediately apparent, in the 16th century the literacy of Europeans began to increase

significantly.

Renaissans

The early modern era in Europe was characterized by the advent of the renaissance (15th-

16th centuries). The word renaissance comes from the French word "rebirth". What is meant

by rebirth is the return of Greek and Roman culture after Europe had been medieval for

about a thousand years. Greek and Roman culture was characterized by an appreciation of

ethics, aesthetics, and rationality. It was this appreciation that re-emerged during the

renaissance. Renaissance consciousness first emerged in Italy and then spread across

Europe.

The renaissance period in European history is not only considered a period of rebirth but

also a period of recovery. Life in Europe in the 14th century was characterized by various

disasters such as the Black Death, political chaos, and economic crisis. In the world of

thought, medieval Europeans were people whose lives were dominated by the church. Many

positive things developed in this period, but there were also negative impacts. Medieval life

was always associated with the final destination (eschatology). Humans only live a life that

has been determined by God. Therefore, the main purpose of a human's life is to seek

salvation. Salvation can be obtained if humans obey religion. The institution that regulates

religion is the church and therefore humans must obey the decrees issued by the church.

The world of thought in medieval times was mostly devoted to theological activities.

The philosophical thinking that developed gave birth to scholastic philosophy, which is a

philosophical thought based on religion and used as a tool to justify religion. Various

thoughts that contradict what is determined by the church are prohibited. Thought that can

develop is thought that does not conflict with what is taught in theology. As a result,

innovation in the world of thought is very limited. The church with its priests dominates the

development of the world of thought. The development of the world of thought like this

caused the Middle Ages to be called the Dark Ages.

A new perspective on human beings emerged in Italian society in the early 15th century.

Italy in that century was a society that grew and developed as an urban or city society. City

states emerged and became the center of political activity. Along with the expansion of

trade, the lives of Italian urbanites became increasingly prosperous. The prosperity enjoyed

by the people caused them to start thinking in a worldly manner and encouraged the

emergence of thoughts based on rationality. In such a situation, the climate for the birth of

renaissance became more mature. Respect for man was no longer based only on his devotion

to the church but also on his personal abilities and achievements.

In the early 15th century Leon Batista Alberti, an architect from the city of

Fiorentina, aptly described the development of this new world of thought when he said

"People can do anything if they want to". This high regard for human value and individual

potential gave birth to a new notion of the human being The renaissance man is described as

"a universal individual" who is capable of achieving anything in any field of life. Becoming

a full human being does not have to mean fully complying with all the rules set by the

church. According to renaissance thought, man can live to the fullest if his individual rights

are respected and thus he must break away from the domination of religion and the church.

He can engage in religious activities as an individual, but his freedom as a human being

should be based on his life as a human being in the world. This notion is called secularism.

To summarize, secularism is an ideology that separates faith based on belief or faith and

worldly life based on reason.

The rise and growth of the idea of individualism and secularism in Italy during the

renaissance was very visible in the intellectual, artistic and literary worlds. The most

important literary movement associated with the renaissance was humanism. Renaissance

humanism was an intellectual movement based on the study of classical Greek and Roman

literature. The humanists studied the liberal arts which consisted of: grammar, rhetoric,

poetry, moral philosophy or ethics and history. All of these were based on the written works

left behind by scholars from the ancient Greek and Roman periods. The field of study

studied by humanists during the renaissance was called the humanities. The term is still used

today and is even used to name faculties that study humans as individual and social beings.

Since the renaissance, the Faculty of Humanities can be found in universities all over the

world.

The figure considered the father of Italian renaissance humanism is Petrarch (1304-

1374). This figure was particularly prominent in pushing the idea of humanism into the

realm of renaissance thought. Petrarch encouraged scholars to study forgotten Latin works.

He emphasized the importance of classical works from the ancient Greek and Roman

periods. Petrarch encouraged humanists to use the works of Cicero to model prose writing

and the works of Virgil to model poetry. Petrarch said "Jesus is my Lord, Cicero is the

prince of language".

At the beginning of the 15th century the renaissance consciousness in Fiorentina

took a new direction. Humanists working in the city council of Fiorentina began to pay

intellectual attention to civic life. They believed that the intelligentsia had a duty to support

the state. Furthermore, the humanists also believed that their knowledge of the humanities

should be dedicated to the state. Italian humanism in the early 15th century also paid great

attention to ancient Greek civilization. The latter civilization highly valued individual

abilities, loved beauty, and put ratio first. Such values were also sought to be revived by

humanists in Italy during the renaissance.

Renaissance Europe provided an ideal climate for the development of science,

especially in the field of astronomy. Medieval thinkers used the ideas of Aristotle,

Ptolomeus, and church teachings in describing the earth as the center of the universe, known

as the geocentric theory. In this conception, the universe is seen as a stationary concentric

circle with the earth as its center. View Geocentricism was sharply criticized by Polish

astronomer and mathematician Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543).

According to Copernicus, the geocentric theory was incompatible with his

observations of the motion of the solar system. From his observations over the years of the

movement of the sun, moon, and stars, Copernicus came to the conclusion that the sun is the

center of the solar system or known as the heliocentric theory. The theory proposed by

Copernicus was supported by a German astronomer, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630).

According to Kepler, the orbits of the planets around the sun are not circular, but elliptical.

The heliocentric theory was further strengthened by the invention of the telescope by Italian

scientist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). Using the telescope Galileo was able to see the

mountains on the moon and discovered that the planet Jupiter has four satellites.

Until now, many historians have questioned why the scientific revolution occurred in

Europe during the renaissance and not in China. In medieval times China was the most

civilized and technologically advanced nation in the world. But after the 15th century,

Europe had surpassed China as the pioneer of civilization and technological progress. There

are some historians who argue that this is because Chinese society lives in order, while

European society lives with a spirit of competition. Others argue that the Chinese way of

life, which emphasizes harmony with nature rather than how to conquer nature, was the

cause of China's lagging behind Europe. There are even historians who argue that China's

bureaucratic system that absorbs the smartest people is the reason why there are no scientists

making new discoveries in the country.

In the field of art, renaissance artists tried to imitate nature in their works. The art

movement they promoted was called naturalism, which is an art movement that tries to

recreate what exists in nature as it is. The more faithful their works were to nature, the more

successful they considered their works to be. At the same time, a new artistic standard

reflected a new attitude of thought where man was placed as the center of attention or the

"center of all things and measures". The renaissance style in art was developed by the

painters of 15th century Fiorentina. There were two important things they developed in the

field of art. The first was painting techniques based on an understanding of perspective,

geometric aspects of space, and lighting techniques. The second was the attention to motion

and anatomical structure. Realistic paintings of unclothed humans became the main feature

of the works of Italian artists during the renaissance.

By the end of the 15th century, Italian artists and scientists had mastered new

techniques for conducting scientific research into the world around them and were ready to

pursue new forms of creative expression. This marked the heyday of the renaissance,

marked by the work of three prominent artists and scientists, namely Leonardo da Vinci

(1452-1519), Raphael (1483-1520) and Michaelangelo (1475-1564). Leonardo da Vinci

exemplifies the ideal of the renaissance scientist. As a scientist, he was a generalist who

studied everything, including the human body. His goal in studying everything was to find

out how nature works. Raphael at the age of twenty-five years old has been recognized as

one of the best Italian painters. His greatness as an artist is recognized through his works on

the Madonna. In these works, he tried to surpass the human standards of his era regarding

beauty. Meanwhile, Michaelangelo is known as a painter, sculptor, and architect.

Michaleangelo was influenced by Neoplatonism, which saw the beauty of the human body

as a reflection of the beauty of divinity.

Church Reform

During the second half of the 15th century the renaissance ideas that emerged in Italy spread

to other European countries. In northern Europe the idea of renaissance began to touch

Christianity and was called Christian humanism. The main goal of Christian humanism was

to reform Christianity. Christian humanists believed in the ability of humans to think

rationally and improve their own lives through education. According to them, in order to

change society they first had to change the people who made up that society.

The most prominent Christian humanist was the Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus

(1466-1536). This was the man who formulated and popularized the Christian humanist

reform program. Erasmus called his conception of religion Christian Philosophy. In his

conception, he stated that Christianity should be a guide to everyday life rather than the

dogmatic system of religious beliefs and practices adopted by the medieval church. With his

conception, Erasmus is regarded by historians as one who prepared the way towards the

reformation of the church.

The main problem that plagued the church in the late Middle Ages and culminated in the

15th century was corruption. Between 1450 and 1520, several popes at the helm of the

church failed to live up to the expectations of Christians who had been emboldened by the

ideas of the renaissance. The popes were supposed to be the spiritual leaders of the Catholic

church, but as supreme leaders of the church they were too involved in worldly affairs. They

were too much into money matters and used their positions in the church to achieve their

desired positions and accumulate wealth. Furthermore, many of the priests neglected

religious matters.

As church leaders failed to fulfill their obligations, people began to question the role and

meaning of the church in their lives. The church demanded not only spiritual compliance but

also social, economic, political or in short total compliance. Self-collected taxes directly

from the people caused the church to become increasingly wealthy. One of the sources of

the church's wealth that has led to major disputes with society is indulgences. What is meant

by an indulgence is the remission of punishment for sin. Indulgences can be made by the

church and in return the penitent makes a cash donation to the church.

In Christianity God's forgiveness of sin depends on confession, contrition, and fines. In

medieval times the forms of penalties were very severe. These included fasting for seven

years eating only bread and drinking only water or traveling on long and arduous

pilgrimages. Over time, indulgences have evolved into a substitute, by giving a sum of

money in lieu of the performance of an act that would otherwise be a fine for sin. The

underlying idea of indulgences came from the Germanic legal idea that corporal punishment

for crimes could be substituted for monetary payment. However, as money and indulgences

became intermingled, abuses began to occur. Ordinary people thought that their sins could

be forgiven by paying money. As a result of the misuse of indulgences, church institutions

became richer. Church leaders and officials were encouraged to commit corruption. The

wealth of the church and its administrators causes people to think of church institutions as

institutions that allow corruption.

Martin Luther was a pastor and professor at the University of Wittenberg in Germany. As a

professor he lectured on the Bible. Probably sometime between 1513 and 1516, through his

study of the Bible, he came to an answer to the problem of "assurance of salvation" that had

been on his mind since he decided to become a pastor. Catholic teaching states that faith and

good works are necessary for a Christian to attain individual salvation. In Martin Luther's

mind, human beings are weak and powerless before the almighty God. Humans can never

do enough good deeds to earn salvation. Through his study of the Bible, Luther came to the

conclusion that humans will not be saved through good deeds, but salvation will be obtained

through faith in God's promises, which became possible because of Jesus' sacrifice when he

was crucified. The doctrine of salvation through faith became the main doctrine in the

church reform movement. Because Luther arrived at this doctrine through his study of the

Bible, the Bible for Luther, as for other Protestants, became the main guide to religious

truth.

In Martin Luther's view, he was not a church rebel Catholicism. But he was deeply

disappointed by the widespread practice of buying and selling indulgences. What caused him

to become so angry was the action of Pastor Johan Tetzel who imposed indulgences with the

slogan "As soon as the coin inserted into the money box jingles, the soul will rise from hell".

Such anger led Martin Luther in 1517 to publish 95 theses on indulgences. Luther's theses

were written on a sheet of poster and then nailed to the north door of Frederik's palace church

in Wittenberg. This event took place on October 31, 1517 and marked the beginning of the

church reform movement.

Some parts of the theses are statements and some are questions. According to Luther in his

theses; the repentant person will not beg for the punishment of his sins to be removed, but

will welcome it gladly as Christ did. Still according to Luther, neither the Pope nor anyone

else is authorized to perform penance. Therefore, he believed that indulgence peddlers had

deceived many people. The general public who were not interested in theological debates

were very interested in Martin Luther's down-to-earth arguments. For them, Luther had

touched on a sensitive issue in a very direct and targeted way. What Luther put forward in

his theses accurately represented all the grievances that people had been harboring against

the church. Soon after the publication of Luther's 95 theses, thousands of copies of the

theses spread throughout Europe. Although originally written in Latin, Luther's theses were

soon translated into German.

Luther's opinions through his pamphlets received a strong reaction from the church. In

January 1521 the church punished Luther by excommunicating him. Within a few years the

religious movement started by Luther became a revolution. Luther gained the support of

many German leaders. These Luther-supporting leaders soon took over the leadership of the

churches in their territories. The Lutheran Church in Germany (and later in Scandinavia)

became a state church with the state overseeing church activities. As part of the

development of the state-supervised church, Luther introduced religious services to replace

the services provided by the Catholic church. The religious services introduced by Luther

focused on Bible reading, the delivery of God's words, and songs.

The religious movement spearheaded by Luther is known as the church reformation. This

movement gave rise to Protestant Christianity. From the beginning, the church reformation

was linked to political issues. In 1519 Charles I, king of Spain, was elected emperor of the

Holy Roman Empire with the title Charles V. Politically, the new emperor wanted all the

territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Politically the new emperor wanted the whole of his

empire to remain under his rule. Religiously, he hoped to maintain unity in his empire with

the Catholic religion. Unfortunately, the political and religious situation in the Holy Roman

Empire was not fully under Charles' control. Although all the German states were loyal to

the emperor, since medieval times these small states had enjoyed relative independence

from imperial rule.

In 1546 Emperor Charles V brought troops into Germany to bring order there. By

then Martin Luther's movement had gained wide acceptance in Germany.

Germany and the German rulers were ready to face the forces of the Holy Roman Empire.

The German rulers were eventually able to maintain their independence from the empire.

The religious wars in Germany ended in 1555 with the signing of the Treaty of Augsburg.

Through this treaty, the division of Christianity was formally recognized. Lutheran states

had the same rights as Catholic states. With the treaty of Augsburg, what European

Christians had once feared was now a reality. Since then the ideal of Christian unity had

been lost forever. The rapid development of Protestant Christianity made this a certainty.

Ocean Exploration And Mercantilism

Europeans began to explore the oceans during the renaissance. Ocean exploration by

Europeans is a very important historical event in terms of its impact on the modern world.

For about two centuries (14201620) the drive to discover new regions beyond Europe has

led to a tremendous increase in knowledge about the earth and the people who inhabit it.

The discovery of new territories followed by colonization, warfare, trade agreements, and

competition has led to the emergence of European states that control territories across the

oceans. Ocean exploration brought wealth, opportunity and new ways of thinking. One of

the most obvious results of the age of ocean exploration was the creation of new countries

such as: The United States, Brazil, and Australia. Countries in Europe that were once just

ordinary countries are now emerging as superpowers in the world. European countries that

became great in the era of ocean exploration include; Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and

England.

For over a thousand years since the beginning of the 20th century, the nations of Europe

have never extended their influence beyond their continent. However, Europe was never

completely isolated from the outside world. Commodities from Asia and Africa reached the

continent, and the works of Islamic scholars were studied by scholars in Europe. The

fascinating stories of Asia have caused Europeans since antiquity to be drawn to the eastern

world. During medieval times myths and legends about the eastern world flourished in

Europe. Marco Polo of Venice was a prominent medieval traveler who traveled to Asia on

the Silk Road and later wrote about his experiences.

The Portuguese became the pioneers of European expansion into Asia. The Portuguese

began their expansion with a voyage along the African coast until they reached Senegal. The

voyage (1441) was sponsored by Prince Henry "The Navigator" with the main objective of

finding allies to fight the forces of Islam and trade opportunities that could bring profit. In

1487, Bartholomew Diaz led the Portuguese fleet to the Cape of Good Hope in South

Africa. Eleven years later, another Portuguese fleet under Vasco da Gama sailed as far as

Kalikut on the west coast of India. The Portuguese Empire sponsored da Gama's voyage

with the aim of destroying the Islamic monopoly on the spice trade. Kalikut was one of the

emporiums on the spice trade route in the Indian Ocean, but at that time the Portuguese

thought it was a major spice producing area. Despite losing two ships, da Gama's fleet

managed to return to Europe with a profit of more than one thousand percent of the capital

invested.

An important figure who pioneered the Spanish sea expedition outside the European

continent was an Italian from Genoa, namely Christopher Columbus (1451-1506). After

being rejected by the Portuguese king, Columbus managed to get support from Queen

Isabella of Spain to finance his expedition voyage. In 1492 Columbus managed to reach the

American continent. He did not realize that he was reaching a new continent and thought he

had reached Asia. The mainland of South America was discovered by accident in 1500 by

the fleet of Portuguese under the leadership of Pedro Cabral. However, the Americas were

named after a sailor from the city of Fiorentina named Amerigo Vespuci. The latter

published a series of essays on the geographical conditions of the new continent which led

to the new continent being named America.

To avoid open conflict between the two European countries that pioneered ocean

exploration, namely Portugal and Spain, the Treaty of Tordesillas was made in 1494. This

treaty was held in the city of Tordesillas which is located in Spain. The Treaty of Tordesillas

divided the world into two. According to this treaty, the area from the Cape of Good Hope

to the east belonged to the Portuguese. While the Atlantic Ocean region to the west

belonged to Spain. The Treaty of Tordesillas took effect with the ratification of the Pope in

Rome. After the start of the church reformation in the second decade of the 16th century,

non-Roman Catholic European countries such as the Netherlands, England and Sweden did

not feel bound by the Tordesillas treaty. According to them, the world is an open territory

that can be explored by anyone.

The Spanish conquest of the Americas began in 1519. In that year the Spanish army under

the leadership of Hernando Cortez, after three years of warfare, defeated the Aztec kingdom

in Mexico. Between 15311536, a military expedition under the leadership of Francisco

Pizarro managed to subdue the Inka Kingdom located in Peru. After that it took about thirty

years before the western part of South America was fully controlled by Spain. There were

several factors that supported European domination in the Americas. First, the Europeans

had an advantage in the field of weapons technology, namely by using firearms and

cannons. Second, Europeans had an advanced economy compared to the Native Americans

which allowed them to accumulate capital for the purposes of conquering new areas. Third,

Europeans had a modern administrative system that made it easier for them to create an

organized government in the areas they controlled.

The Dutch started ocean exploration by looking for spice-producing areas. The first Dutch

fleet to reach the Indonesian archipelago was the fleet led by Cornelis de Houtman. The de

Houtman fleet reached the port city of Banten on the western tip of Java Island in 1596.

They managed to reach the Indonesian archipelago by utilizing a sea travel book written by

Jan Huygen van Linschoten entitled Itinerario. In Banten the Dutch traders bought pepper

and then continued their journey eastward to search for the Maluku islands to obtain cloves

and nutmeg commodities. In 1597 de Houtman returned to the Netherlands with news of the

possibility to make huge profits from the spice trade in the archipelago. In less than five

years ten companies were formed in the Netherlands that sent 14 merchant fleets to buy

cloves, nutmeg and pepper from the archipelago.

The number of Dutch trading companies operating in the archipelago brought competition

among them and caused the profits to be small. Therefore, at the initiative of the Dutch

government, in 1602 all Dutch trading companies were merged into one trading company

called the Verenigde oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) or the East India Company. To

strengthen the VOC, the Dutch government gave This trading company's charter rights are

valid for 21 years and can be renewed for a further 21 years. The charter rights included the

right to make treaties with other countries, recruit soldiers, declare war, establish colonies

and forts, and enter into trade contracts. With its charter rights, the VOC's power resembled

that of a state. So great was the power and influence wielded by the VOC that many

historians consider the merchant company to have state-like powers.

Although the VOC is considered the largest multinational trading company in the 17th

century, the first multinational trading company was actually founded by the British. The

English trading company was founded in 1602 and named the East India Company (EIC).

The EIC was founded without the financial backing of the VOC and therefore could only

truly compete with the VOC after more than a hundred years of operation or in the 18th

century. Unlike the VOC, which traded spices, the main commodities traded by the EIC

were tea, coffee and Indian textiles.

In conducting foreign trade in the 17th and 18th centuries, Britain implemented an

economic system known as mercantilism or also known as commercialism. Mercantilism is

an economic system where a country tries to accumulate wealth by trading with other

countries, exporting more than importing with the aim of increasing gold reserves and other

precious metals. The word mercantilism comes from the Latin word mercans which means

"buyer". This system encouraged countries to abandon agricultural activities and replace

them with trade activities in order to gain greater profits. Although mercantilism is no longer

popular today, it was one of the main economic systems in the 17th and 18th centuries. The

mercantilist system was one of the driving factors for the various exploration and

colonization activities carried out by European countries in the early modern period.

In 1650 the British government officially implemented the mercantilism system in trade

activities. To achieve the goals of mercantilism the British government set up a series of

regulations that exclusively favored British economic interests. These regulations created a

trading system in which British colonies in the Americas supplied Britain with raw materials

and Britain used these raw materials to produce goods that could be sold in European

markets and in the colonies. As a producer of raw goods, the colonies could never compete

with England as a country that processed and marketed the raw goods. British merchants

and ships fully supported the mercantilist system. They always tried to prevent other

countries from enjoying the trade benefits obtained by Britain. Since the end of the 18th

century along with the end of the era of multinational trading companies such as the VOC

and EIC the mercantilist system began to be abandoned.

Industrial Revolution

The industrial revolution began in England in the 1780s. Improvements in agricultural

production in the 18th century led to a significant increase in food production. Since then,

British agricultural products can be produced in large quantities with little labor and

affordable prices. The positive impact was that ordinary families in Britain no longer needed

to spend most of their money on food and therefore they now had enough money to buy

other goods. At the same time, the rapid population growth provided the surplus labor

required by the new factories that would make Britain an industrialized nation.

The key factor that led to the industrial revolution in Britain was the country's ability to

produce goods needed by the market at a low price. The traditional method of producing

goods by cottage industries would not be able to meet the needs of the rapidly increasing

market. The demand was mainly for cotton clothing, which came from Britain and its

colonies around the world. Faced with high demand, clothing manufacturers in Britain

sought and accepted new methods brought about by discoveries in technology and

production systems. It was this process of renewal in the way of production that led to the

industrial revolution.

In 1782, a Scottish scientist named James Watt (17361819) managed to perfect his steam

engine so that it could be used for various purposes. By using steam and coal power, James

Watt's steam engine can be a source of driving energy to replace water and wind power.

Unlike wind and waterwheels, watts' steam engine can be placed anywhere. Steam engines

can be used to spin yarn, weave cloth, drive locomotives, ships, and so on. The steam engine

created a new way of production. Since then factories have replaced cottage industries and

workshops. Using the steam engine, goods could be mass-produced at low production costs.

The invention of the steam engine gave a huge boost to the cotton cloth industry in

England. In 1760 England imported 2.5 million pounds of cotton, all of which was used for

industrial purposes. In 1787 the amount of cotton imports increased to 22 million pounds.

By 1840 British cotton imports amounted to 366 million pounds. By then British-made

cotton cloth had been marketed all over the world. During the industrial revolution, the way

iron was produced in Britain was also radically revolutionized. High-quality iron began to

be produced by the British iron industry in the 1780s. In 1740 England produced 17,000

tons of iron. One hundred years later, in the 1840s, British iron production had reached two

million tons. In 1852 Britain produced three million tons of iron. That's more than the entire

world's iron production combined.

The invention of the steam engine triggered industrialization. The existence of factories

created a new way of working. Factory owners could operate their machines to their full

potential. Therefore, the laborers worked regularly in certain periods with a shift system, so

that the machines could continue to work constantly. Many of the laborers in England were

from rural areas who came to the city outside the planting and harvesting seasons. In the

middle of The 19th century saw Britain become the most advanced and prosperous

industrialized country in the world. During this time, Britain became a major producer, a

center of money, and a hub of trade. Britain produced half of the industrial goods and coal

needed by the world. In 1850, Britain produced as much cotton cloth as all European

countries combined.

From England the industrial revolution spread to the rest of Europe. The first country in

mainland Europe to have an industrial revolution was Belgium,

France, and Germany. Governments in these countries actively encouraged industrialization

by establishing schools for engineers and providing funds for the construction of roads,

bridges, and railways. By 1850 a network of railroads had spread and connected all of

mainland Europe.

Just like European countries, the United States, which became independent in 1776, also

experienced an industrial revolution. In this country, the industrial revolution transformed

the way of production in a big way. In 1800 six out of seven laborers in the US were farmers

and no city in the country had a population of more than 100,000 people. By 1860 the US

population had grown to 30 million. In that year nine US cities had more than 100,000

people and only 50% of the laborers were farmers. In infrastructure, thousands of miles of

canals and roads were built to connect the eastern and western US. In 1830, railroads were

only 100 miles long, but thirty years later they were 27,000 miles long. The transportation

revolution turned the U.S. into a large single market for industrial goods produced in the

northeastern part of the country.

Before 1870, the industrial revolution, which had radically transformed Europe and the US,

did not spread to other parts of the world. Even in Eastern Europe, the process of

industrialization was far behind that of Western Europe. Russia, for example, remained an

agrarian country ruled by an aristocratic regime based on the feudal system. In Asia,

industrialized countries tried to hinder the industrial revolution in their colonies through

various policies issued by the colonial government. In India, the local market was flooded

with cheap British-made cotton cloth, leaving many weavers out of work. The Dutch East

Indies also experienced a similar situation, with the local market flooded by imported cloth

from the Netherlands (cloth produced in the city of Twente).

The industrial revolution triggered urbanization. In 1800, the most populous city in England

was London, which had one million people. In addition there were 6 towns with populations

between 50,000-100,000 people. Fifteen years later London's population increased to

2,636,000 people with 9 other cities having a population of over 100,000 people. More than

50% of the UK population in 1850 lived in cities and towns. Furthermore, the industrial

revolution resulted in the emergence of a new middle class. The bourgeoisie or middle class

was not a new social group. They have existed since the rise of medieval cities. The word

bourgeois comes from the word burgher, which means a townsperson consisting of nobles,

merchants, government officials, lawyers, merchants, and other professionals. The new

middle class that emerged during the industrial revolution consisted of factory owners, bank

owners and their families. This new group of people sought to be part of the urban elite and

at the same time sought to distinguish themselves from the factory workers.

Although it brought positive impacts, the industrial revolution also resulted in various

negative impacts. These negative impacts included: increased pollution (air, water, and

sound), the development of consumerism, urban overcrowding, and the difficult life of the

workers. During the industrial revolution, workers experienced very bad working

conditions. They worked in shifts for 1216 hours a day, six days a week, with half-hour

breaks for meals. There was no job security and no minimum wage. Many women and

children are employed in factories or mines. Children were an important part of the family

economy in pre-industrial times. They worked to help their parents in the fields or gardens

or to help with chores at home. During the industrial revolution children's labor was

exploited more than ever before. Cotton mill owners found that children could be very

helpful in the production process. Their small size made them ideal laborers to run the

machines that made cotton cloth. Children were also easier to train for factory work than

adults. They were obedient and moreover child labor did not need to be fully paid like adult

labor.

In the world of thought, the industrial revolution triggered the emergence of two important

ideologies in the 19th century, namely liberalism and nationalism. Liberalism has its roots in

the 18th century (the Age of Enlightenment), the American Revolution and the French

Revolution. Liberalism is based on the idea that humans as individuals should be given as

much freedom as possible. Liberalism developed into a political belief that emphasized

equality before the law, freedom of the press, assembly, and religious tolerance. All these

freedoms should be guaranteed in a written document or constitution. Liberals believe that

state power should be limited because it can interfere with individual freedom. As an

ideology, liberalism was widely supported by the new middle class who wanted a wider

political role after the industrial revolution.

Another ideology that emerged in response to the industrial revolution was nationalism.

The rise of nationalism in a community is characterized by an awareness of common fate,

culture, language, and history. Communities that have this kind of awareness are called

nations. Each individual in the nation is expected to give his or her highest loyalty to his or

her nation. Since the outbreak of the French revolution, every nationalist has believed that

every nation should have its own government. For example, the fragmented German nation

wanted to unite as a nation and form one centralized government. Nationalism then became

a challenge to the political order in Europe at that time, the majority of which were

monarchies such as: England, Prussia, and Turkey. Nationalism developed not only in

Europe and the US, but also in South America and Asia as a new power capable of resisting

colonialism.

The industrial revolution coincided with the emergence of many new inventions. In the

history of science, the 19th century is called the century of science. This naming is because

in that century there were many new discoveries in the field of science affecting the lives of

mankind. In the field of biology, French scientist louis Pasteur (1822-1895) discovered a

new way to deal with bacteria. In 1859, Charles Darwin (1809-1882) published On the

Origin of Species which contains the theory of evolution. In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell

invented the telephone which revolutionized the way people communicate. The

improvement in human life achieved through science and technology has led to the natural

science method being widely accepted as the most objective scientific method.

Closing

Geographically, Europe is not as big as Asia, America and Africa. Nor is its population the

largest when compared to the other continents. But neither geographical size nor population

is representative of Europe's influence on the world. Until the late Middle Ages, Europe had

relatively little interaction with other continents. However, since the beginning of the era of

ocean exploration, countries from this continent began to emerge as political, economic and

maritime powers. Beginning with the Portuguese and Spanish and followed by other

nations, ocean exploration by Europeans has made the world more connected to each other.

If before the 16th century the Asian trade world controlled by Islamic trade had been able to

connect Europe with commodity-producing regions in Asia, then after the Europeans

explored the oceans the world trade network had covered Europe, Asia, America, Africa,

and even Asutralia.

The European continent can be said to be a place where various discoveries occurred that

changed the way humans live. The development of European history has caused science to

develop well on this continent. Various knowledge that is now a branch of science emerged

and developed in Europe. The development of the world of science in Europe has started

since ancient Greece and Rome. These two civilizations became the foundation for the

development of Modern Europe. The ability of Europeans to think rationally has been

pioneered by philosophers who lived in ancient Greece which continued during the Roman

period and revived during the renaissance period. The rationality used by Europeans in

overcoming various problems has caused them to be able to innovate in various fields of

life.

One of the most important innovations in technology that affected the way knowledge

spread was the invention of the printing press. Before the printing press, written works

produced by scientists and religious people could only be duplicated by rewriting or using

carved wooden blocks. This method caused various results of thought that were poured in

the form of writing to circulate only in limited circles. The invention of the printing press by

Johan Guttenberg was a major revolution in the history of mankind. By using a printing

press a written work can be duplicated up to thousands and even millions of copies. Since

then, the circulation of written works has reached more and more people. What a writer

thinks no longer only affects a certain number of people small number of people, but it can

make a big difference because it is read by a wide audience.

Europe's influence on world civilization also occurred in the religious world. Medieval life

dominated by the church has caused Europe to be in a fairly stable condition for about a

thousand years. Conditions that tend not to bring about major changes must finally end

when various negative impacts of church domination begin to be seen as problems in

society. In reforming the church, Martin Luther was not in a position to revolutionize. What

he did was an attempt to improve religious practices and return religion to society so that it

could be understood rationally. Therefore, the name used in religious reform in the early

16th century was not revolution, but reformation.

Changes in the way of production in Europe triggered the industrial revolution. The

industrial revolution began in the UK and this is understandable because since the 18th

century the UK has been a world superpower with the largest colony area compared to other

colonial countries. The mercantilist economic system implemented by the UK since the 17th

century has enabled the country to accumulate vast amounts of capital. The existence of

capital, innovation and technology provided the perfect conditions for the innovations that

led to the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution mainly spread from Britain to

other European countries and the United States and since then until now these countries

have become developed countries or first world countries.

Various events and discoveries that occurred in Europe influenced human life in various

parts of the world, including in Indonesia. The innovations that occurred in Europe caused

western nations that came to Indonesia to be able to conquer various regions in the

Indonesian archipelago. With their superiority in science and technology, the westerners

showed their superiority over the people living in the archipelago. However, the ideas that

emerged in Europe also ended the era of colonialism. The idea of nationalism that

developed in response to the industrial revolution entered Indonesia in the early 20th

century. Within a few decades Indonesian nationalism had grown into a force that opposed

and eventually ended Dutch colonialism.