Unit 1 · Renaissance and Discovery

Humanism ● (core concept) — An intellectual movement emphasizing human potential and achievement through the study of classical texts, which shaped Renaissance art, education, and thought.

Italian city-states ● (core concept) — Independent urban polities whose economic growth and wealthy merchant elites provided the wealth and patronage that made the Renaissance possible.

Patrons of the arts ● (core concept) — Wealthy individuals, families, and civic or Church authorities who commissioned works of art and learning, spreading Renaissance ideas and values.

Renaissance ● (core concept) — A cultural movement beginning in 14th-century Italy marked by a revival of classical Greek and Roman learning and art, fueled by economic growth in the Italian city-states.

Civic humanism ○ — The Florentine idea that citizens should participate actively in civic life; an illustrative example of Renaissance political thought.

Leonardo da Vinci ○ — Renaissance artist and inventor whose work exemplifies Renaissance ideals; an illustrative example of Renaissance art.

Michelangelo ○ — Renaissance sculptor and painter; an illustrative example of Renaissance art.

Christian humanists ● (core concept) — Northern scholars who applied humanist methods to Christianity, criticizing Church corruption and translating religious texts.

Northern Renaissance ● (core concept) — The spread of Renaissance ideas and artistic techniques to northern Europe, where they took on a more religious character.

Desiderius Erasmus ○ — Dutch Christian humanist whose writings criticized Church abuses; an illustrative example of Northern Renaissance thought.

Thomas More ○ — English humanist and author of Utopia; an illustrative example of Northern Renaissance thought.

Printing press ● (core concept) — Invented in the 1450s, the movable-type press revolutionized communication, spread literacy and new ideas, and helped disseminate Reformation thought.

Movable type ○ — Reusable individual letter blocks that made printing fast and economical, the key innovation behind the printing press.

Bureaucracy ● (core concept) — Professional administrative staffs through which New Monarchs centralized government, collected taxes, and enforced laws.

New Monarchs ● (core concept) — Centralizing rulers of the late 15th century in France, England, and Spain who built standing armies and bureaucracies and reduced noble and Church independence.

Ferdinand and Isabella ○ — The Catholic Monarchs who unified Spain and sponsored overseas exploration; illustrative examples of New Monarchs.

Henry VII ○ — First Tudor king of England; an illustrative example of a New Monarch consolidating royal power.

Louis XI ○ — French king who expanded royal authority; an illustrative example of a New Monarch.

Standing armies ○ — Permanent professional armies created by New Monarchs to enforce royal authority instead of relying on noble levies.

Age of Exploration ● (core concept) — The 15th- and 16th-century period of European overseas exploration, driven by new maritime technology and the search for trade routes and wealth.

Caravel ○ — A small, maneuverable ship developed for long ocean voyages; an illustrative example of new maritime technology.

Christopher Columbus ○ — Genoese navigator whose voyages for Spain opened sustained European contact with the Americas; an illustrative example.

Prince Henry the Navigator ○ — Portuguese prince whose sponsorship of voyages advanced exploration down Africa's coast; an illustrative example.

Seven Years' War ○ — The mid-18th-century global conflict whose outcome established Britain as the dominant colonial and naval power.

Treaty of Tordesillas ○ — The agreement dividing newly discovered lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal, reflecting early colonial rivalries.

Colonial expansion ● (core concept) — The establishment of European colonies and trading empires overseas, motivated by wealth, trade, and imperial competition.

Columbian Exchange ● (core concept) — The transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and peoples between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres following European colonization of the Americas.

Encomienda ○ — A Spanish labor system granting colonists authority over Native labor; an illustrative example of colonial exploitation.

Transatlantic slave trade ● (core concept) — The forced transportation of enslaved Africans to the Americas to provide plantation labor, a central part of the Atlantic trading system.

Middle Passage ○ — The brutal sea voyage endured by enslaved Africans crossing the Atlantic; an illustrative example.

Plantation agriculture ○ — Large-scale cash-crop farming worked by enslaved labor in the Americas; an illustrative example of the slave economy.

Triangular trade ○ — The three-way Atlantic trading pattern linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

Capitalism ● (core concept) — An economic system based on private ownership and investment for profit, emerging from the Commercial Revolution.

Commercial Revolution ● (core concept) — The 16th- and 17th-century expansion of trade, banking, and business practices that laid the foundations for capitalism.

Price Revolution ● (core concept) — The inflation caused by the influx of New World silver; an illustrative example of the Commercial Revolution's effects.

Serfdom ● (core concept) — The system binding peasants to land and lords; it declined in western Europe while intensifying in the east.

Enclosure ○ — The fencing of common lands into private farms, which raised productivity but displaced small farmers.

Joint-stock companies ○ — Businesses owned by investors holding shares, which pooled capital for overseas trade and colonization.