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Renaissance Notes
Renaissance
This is your one and only copy! Put your name at the top & keep it in your binder!
1. Started in Florence, Italy
2. Rebirth of culture & knowledge from Rome & Greece
Art
1. Artists were supported by wealthy merchants, the Church, & political leaders
2. Raphael was a brilliant painter & architect
3. Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel & was the most famous sculptor of
his time
4. Leonardo da Vinci was an artist, inventor, scientist, & engineer who painted the Mona
Lisa & created plans for flying machines & machine guns
Science
1. Copernicus made the claim that the Earth was NOT the center of the universe/galaxy
2. When Galileo supported his theory, the Catholic Church put him under house arrest
3. Galileo used a telescope to observe the sky & space
Literature
1. Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, which used movable type to quickly print
books
2. Popular books of the late 1400s included the Bible, almanacs, & poetry
Reformation Notes
Corruption
1. The Catholic Church became wealthy during the Middle Ages
2. Corrupt practices like selling indulgences angered many followers
3. Indulgences: pardons from sins
Martin Luther 1. Openly criticized the Church & was excommunicated for his beliefs
2. Believed the Church should NOT sell indulgences
3. Believed ALL people could read & interpret the Bible
4. Started the Protestant movement
Protestantism 1. Leaders like Luther & John Calvin protested the Catholic Church
2. Western Christianity was now split into Catholicism & Protestantism
3. Other Protestant sects like the Baptists & the Methodists followed in Luther’s footsteps
Counter-Reformation 1. Catholic Church responded to the Protestant Reformation by calling the Council of Trent
2. Council of Trent results: only the pope & religious officials could interpret the Bible, the pope
was still the highest authority, indulgences could no longer be sold
Exploration Notes
Explorers
1. Henry the Navigator, prince of Portugal, created schools to teach people how to be
better navigators, mapmakers, & sailors using inventions like the astrolabe & compass
2. New ships called caravels allowed explorers to go faster & further
3. Vasco de Gama found a nautical route to India around the tip of Africa & made
Portugal wealthy from trade
4. Ferdinand Magellan, also Portuguese, started an expedition & one of his ships
circumnavigated (sailed around) the world
5. Christopher Columbus, Italian sailor living in Portugal funded by Spanish Queen Isabella,
landed in the West Indies (Caribbean islands) while searching for new trade routes
Conquistadors 1. Hernando Cortes & Francisco Pizarro travelled to the New World in search of wealth
2. They were able to conquer civilizations like the Aztecs & Incas because they had guns
Europe at War 1. England, Spain, & Portugal fought for naval power & wealth
2. English Queen Elizabeth I supported explorers & pirates who stole from Spanish ships
3. Due to this piracy, the Spanish Armada (navy) attacked England in 1558
4. Spain’s big, slow, over-decorated ships were defeated by England’s small, fast ships
Results
1. Europeans killed millions of natives while conquering new lands through the spread of
disease, the use of guns in warfare, & slavery
2. The pope encouraged conquistadors to convert the natives to Christianity
3. Treaty of Tordesillas: agreement that split the Americas between Spain & Portugal
4. Columbian Exchange: exchange of goods between the Americas & Europe – including
crops, livestock, ideas, slaves, & diseases
Diseases
1. Europeans brought over diseases that American natives had no immunity to
2. Natives died rapidly from the flu, common cold, chicken pox, small pox_, & measles
3. 80+% or more of natives died from European diseases
Slavery
1. Europeans originally used American natives as slaves but they often died, so they started
trading with Africa for slaves
2. Triangular Trade: Europe traded with Africa for slaves, then traded the slaves for goods from
the Americas, then sailed back to Europe & started again
3. Middle Passage: part of the Triangular Trade where _slaves were crammed onto ships &
many of them died en route to the Americas