Western Civilization II Q1

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UNIT I STUDY GUIDE

The West and the World: Empire,

Trade, and War, 1650-1815

Learning Objectives Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Identify principle figures, works, and ideas central to the Scientific Revolution.

2. Create and support an interpretation of the consequences of the printing press.

3. Discuss how the composition and the organization of European empires changed during the 16th and 17th centuries.

4. Identify the ways the wars waged by European powers in this period involved competition for overseas possessions and trade routes.

5. Explain how the European empires created an Atlantic economy in which the slave trade was a major feature.

6. Describe the cultural encounters between European and Asian peoples and how those encounters changed W estern attitudes toward outsiders.

7. Explain why the European powers began to lose control of some of their colonies, especially those in the Americas, between 1775 and 1825.

8. Practice universal academic skills including research, reading multiple information forms, and assess significance from passages by primary and secondary authors.

Unit Lesson As part of a complete academic experience, it is essential for a student to develop skills related to research, study, and assess in any specific field. One of the benefits of the humanities is the ability to nurture and inspire this development by the observation and interpretation of documents, figures, and events of significance from two perspectives: then and now. As part of this course, it will be important to focus on the ability to assess evidence, varied interpretations, and recognize change that will help to illustrate the evolution of Western society and, in a grander sense, provide experience, which can build research aptitude in any chosen discipline or subject in the academic curriculum. This first unit reviews the scientific achievements of the late 16th and 17th centuries, which is referred to as the Scientific Revolution. Although developments in astronomy, physics, chemistry, and biology were gradual, the radical transformation of human thought that accompanied these developments was revolutionary. Until the 16th century, Europeans followed the cosmology theory of the Greek astronomer Ptolemy. He believed that the Earth was the center of the universe and the sun, the moon, and the other planets revolved around the Earth. This theory was first challenged by Nicholas Copernicus, followed by the works of Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and finally Galileo Galilei. Galileo’s most significant contributions were in the field of physics as he formulated the laws governing the motion of material objects. Sir Isaac Newton built upon the work of Galileo to complete the most important achievements in physics during this period. In the field of chemistry, the work of Swiss physician

Reading Assignment Chapter 17: The Scientific Revolution, pp. 530-536, 538, 543-546, 548 Chapter 18: The W est and the W orld: Empire, Trade, and W ar, 1650-1815, pp. 555, 562, 564-584 Read the article, “Why Study History?” by Peter N. Stearns, which is provided in this link: https://docs.google.com/do cument/d/1B8iHQkNa7p1Nl sXFo49CQRqPFStesFUTS cSlljMKgBM/mobilebasic?pl i=1&viewopt=127

Supplemental Reading See information below.

Key Terms 1. Boers 2. Bourbon reforms 3. Chinoiserie 4. Creoles 5. Defenders 6. Empire 7. Mestizos 8. Metropolis 9. Middle Passage

10. Mulattos 11. Nabobs 12. Nawabs 13. Protectionism 14. Sepoys 15. States

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Paracelsus and Englishman Robert Boyle advanced the field past the practice of alchemy and into the elements of nature and medicine. Scientists in the 16th century engaged in extensive observation, experimentation, and deductive reasoning to solve scientific problems. They expressed their theories in mathematics and argued that nature operated similar to a machine. Abandoning ancient theories and preconceived notions, these scientists observed nature and tested their hypotheses with experiments, using the method of empiricism. They began using a process of induction, whereby their theories emerged only after the systematic accumulation and analysis of data. Another significant feature of research during this period was the use of rational deduction. This idea was promoted by Rene Descartes, who argued that the best way to solve problems was to establish fundamental principles and then deduce more specific ideas. Another key feature of scientific research during this era was the application of mathematics to help explain the physical world. Much of the 17th century research assumed that the natural world worked similar to a machine, in a regular and predictable way. According to Descartes, the body was a machine but the mind was an immaterial substance. This understanding of nature was called mechanical philosophy, and it challenged the earlier view of the Neoplatonists, who saw the world as having a soul. Several causes for the Scientific Revolution include the developments within science just reviewed and the developments outside science such as the rise of Protestantism, the role of patronage, the invention of the printing press, and military and economic change. The Scientific Revolution had a great impact on intellectual life, reshaping debates, curricula, and ideas about the unseen. The spread of scientific culture led educated people to reconsider their relationship with nature. By acknowledging humans as the inhabitants of a tiny planet circling the sun, the Copernican universe reduced the importance of humanity. It led people to question the place of humankind in creation, as well as the possibility of other inhabited world. The Scientific Revolution also fostered the belief that humans could control nature and could acquire dominion over nature. The Scientific Revolution gave the West a new source of identity: modern science that challenged religious traditions. It also gave the West a science- based technology, which resulted in both power and a sense of superiority (explored in Chapter 18). The fastest growing political and economic influence of this era was the British Empire. By 1700, it had acquired colonies in North America, as well as several islands in the Caribbean and trading posts in India. In the Caribbean and in North America, several colonies developed a highly profitable commercial economy based on slave labor. French expansion into India and North America followed the British model. France claimed colonies in the Caribbean, Canada, and the Mississippi Valley, while the French East India Company established trading posts in India. A series of defeats in the 18th century reduced the French presence in Asia and the Americas. The Dutch Republic acquired an overseas empire in the early 17th century and became the center of a global economy with colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. On the southern tip of Africa, the Dutch established a colony at the Cape of Good Hope, designed to provide support for ships involved in the Asian trade. At its height in 1650, the Spanish Empire controlled Western North America from California down through Mexico and Central America, as well as several Caribbean Islands, half of South America, Florida, and the Philippines in Asia. Similar to other European empires, the Spanish Empire primarily fostered trade. However, the Spanish crown exercised tighter controls than the British did over its colonies, both economically and politically.

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As the European powers expanded overseas, their conflicts over trade control extended their war theaters to distant parts of the globe. As a result, all European powers built large navies. In the 17th century, the English and Dutch fought several wars over Dutch access to English ports, followed by wars over trade between England and Spain that lasted into the 18th century. The major rivalry in the 18th century was between England and France. They participated in the Wars of the Spanish and Austrian Successions (1701-1748), the Seven Years War (1756-1763), and the American and French Revolutionary Wars (1775-1815). The empire building of the European powers moved the center of the West from the European continent to the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic economy was based on a commercial network between the ports of Europe, Africa, and the Americas that exchanged goods and slaves. The colonies in the Americas were a source of agricultural products that were in high demand, such as sugar, tobacco, and coffee, although the last two were thought harmful. Africa was the source for slaves, and Europe was the source for manufactured goods. This Atlantic economy was part of the larger global economy, which included trade with Asia. The presence of many people from different parts of Africa and Europe in the Americas and their interaction with each other and with the native population of the Americas produced very complex societies and cultures, especially in Latin America. In Brazil, a social hierarchy developed, partially based on race, from the indigenous Americans, slaves, and Europeans. Between 1650 and 1815, European empires in Asia developed along a pattern very different from that of the empires in the Americas. Initially, the Europeans did not attempt to conquer territory and rule Asian peoples. When Europeans did turn to military force, they discovered that conquering Asian peoples was far more difficult than conquest in the Americas. Greater familiarity with Asia gave Europeans a clearer sense of their own Western identity. Europeans had historically displayed a negative view of Middle Eastern culture but not of Asian culture. Enlightenment writers praised Asian culture and favorably contrasted aspects of it to parts of Western culture. Europeans also praised Asian arts, which began to influence Western art, architecture, and design. By the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries, this positive attitude disappeared as Europeans began to view Asian culture unfavorably. These new attitudes of Western superiority were reinforced by a sense of racial superiority. Between 1780 and 1825, European empires in the Atlantic World experienced a crisis over their ability to maintain the loyalty of their colonists, resulting in the birth of new nations and states. As in North America, discontent with Spanish rule in South America developed into demands for political independence. However, revolution here developed more slowly than in North America, in part, because Spanish American elites relied on Spain for military support against the threat of lower-class revolt. During this second period of European empire building, the West expanded geographically and, by dominating trade and exploiting the Americas, gained control of the world economy. The slave trade was an important part of this process and a key source of Western wealth. From economic power came political control, as Britain acquired India and, along with other European powers, easily gained colonies in the Americas, thus expanding the part of the world that was culturally Western. However, in the later 18th and early 19th centuries, British, French, and Spanish colonies threw off European rule to become independent nations.

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Supplemental Reading Supplemental Readings are provided in the below links:

 “Gutenberg Bible Interactive”–Library of Congress http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/Bibles/Interactives/html/gutenberg/index.html

 “Adam Smith From The Wealth of Nations 1776 “The Cost of Empire”’ http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1776-1785/adam-smith-from-the- wealth-of-nations-1776-the-cost-of-empire.php

 “Brief Observations Concerning Trade and Interest of Money”–Josiah Child http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/trade.asp

 “Governor Glen, The Role of the Indians in the Rivalry Between France, Spain, and England 1761” http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1751- 1775/governor-glen-the-role-of-the-indians-in-the-rivalry-between-france- spain-and-england-1761.php