Download Renaissance Notes

The Renaissance
“Rebirth”
Increased Trade
• Mongols take over China in the
1200s
• (remember Genghis and Kublai
Khan?)
Silk Road becomes safer to travel +
A higher demand for trade between
East and West had been created by
the Crusades =
Italy
• Booming Trade!
• Italy was in the middle of the
trade between East and West
• at the time, Italy was divided up
into city-states
• Florence, Genoa, Milan, and
Venice were the main four
• each was usually ruled by a rich
family
Italy
• these Italian city-states
become VERY rich trading
centers
• thus, the Renaissance
begins in Italy!
Florence
• some of the world’s first
banks were created in
Florence
• how does a bank operate?
• these banks held money for
merchants from all over
Europe
• Merchant - a trader
Person of the Day
• Cosimo de Medici
• ruled Florence in the 1400s
• wanted to make Florence the
greatest city in the world
• used wealth to hire artists and
architects to work in city
• valued education - collected
books and built libraries
Big Picture
 Italy becomes a major trade center
 Italy becomes VERY rich because of trade
 This new wealth is used to pay writers,
artists, scientists, explorers, etc. to work
 These writers, artists, scientists, explorers,
etc. are the ones with the new ideas/ways
of thinking that make the Renaissance
happen