Unit Four: Early Modern (CE 1450-1750)
Term List I: Stearns textbook ch. 15-18
AMSCO Review book pgs. 232-234 & pgs. 276-277, Ch. 15, 16, 18
These are the directions for every term list for every unit.
Directions: I have divided your terms into three categories. You must define all the terms under the “Essential” heading. Choose half the terms from the “Important” grouping. You are not required to turn in any work dealing with the “Good to Know” words but please be aware that all the terms will be covered on quizzes and tests.
**For full credit, you need to answer WHY the term is important, what are the consequences of that term, or what does that person, place or event tell us about the time period? For example, if you define “Machiavelli” simply as “he wrote ‘The Prince’” not only will you earn a low grade on this assignment but you will not have enough information for the test. The tests are never simply matching. Who was Machiavelli, what was his book about, who did he intend to read it, what does it tell us about Italy during the Renaissance? Make connections and think of the “big picture”.
Suggestion: Keep all your terms to use for review before the AP exam.
If you earn an “A” on a test you are exempt from the next term list and only need to answer the questions. If you fail a test you are required to complete ALL the terms on the next term list.
Essential Important Good to Know
1. Renaissance 16. Johannes Gutenburg 28. Predestination
2. Machiavelli 17. Council of Trent 29. Jesuits
3. Humanism 18. Reconquista 30. Edict of Nantes
4. Reformation 19. Harvey 31. Versailles
5. Martin Luther/95 Thesis 20. Galileo 32. Treaty of Tordesillas
6. Scientific Revolution 21. Kepler 33. Battle of Lepanto
7. Heliocentric/Copernicus 22. Joint-Stock Co. 34. St. Petersburg
8. Newton/Principia Mathematica 23. Prince Henry 35. Calcutta
9. Absolutism/Louis XIV 24. Vasco da Gama 36. Puritans
10. Mercantilism 25. Hernan Cortes 37. Oliver Cromwell
11. Adam Smith 26. Francisco Pizarro 38, *Diderot
12. Columbus/Columbian Exchange 27. *Catherine the Great 39. *Wollstonecraft
13. Peter the Great
14. William and Mary/Bill of Rights
15. *Enlightenment/John Locke
This test will be given before winter break. If we have any snow days, I do not want you to have to come back to a test after break so instead of pushing back the test date due to school closings I will drop the section on the ***Enlightenment and still give the test.
Early Modern Time Period: 1450-1750
An important shift took place during the era 1450-1750 between land-based and sea-based powers. Land-based powers followed the patterns that political organizations had used in most places since the classical era. Governments controlled land by building armies, bureaucracies, roads, canals, and walls that unified people and protected them form outsiders. The focus was on land. During this era sea-based powers, such as those in Western Europe, built their power by controlling water routes, developing technologies to cross the seas, and gaining wealth from trade and land claims across the oceans. Although Europeans were not the first to discover the importance of sea-based trade, communications, and travel, they took the lead in the new world economy that was developing, and took advantage of the opportunity to capture the world stage by 1750.
In 1450 Europe was connected by trade, communication, and travel to other parts of the Eastern Hemisphere, but the region was still on the periphery of interactions among regions. The old centers of civilization in the Middle East, south Asia, and west Asia still were the most important axes of commerce and culture, while Europeans had only recently recovered from the Dark Ages that followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire. By 1750 Europe had moved to front and center stage, although the older centers continued to be important players in world interactions.