Three Worlds Meet Africa, The Americas, and Europe

Africa and America

I. Africa  Various kingdoms  Different tribal religions and Islam  Kingdoms became very wealthy by controlling the salt and gold trade  this led Europeans to trade with Africa

II. North America – Native Americans  Migrated to North America 13,000 years ago via Beringia (land bridge)  Tribes were very diverse  Lifestyles of the different tribes depended on their GEOGRAPHY!

Europe Before 1500

1. Feudalism in Europe  Middle Ages ( ) – time of disruption throughout Europe  Feudalism – political system in which kings allowed lords and nobles to use their land, in return nobles/lords owed the king military service  Manor System – lords divided their land into manors that were farmed by serfs (landless peasants)  Roman Catholic Church was VERY important and powerful

II. Revival of Trade and Towns  1000s feudalism brought more stability to society, which made merchants feel safe to travel again  New farming methods  surplus of food  higher population  higher demand for goods  spurred trade  Money came back into use  Middle Class began – merchants and craftspeople

III. Trade with East  Increase of trade within and beyond Europe  Crusades – series of wars by Christians to capture the Holy Lands (spurred trade)  Marco Polo – travels to China and Central Asia  increased interest in Asia

IV. The Decline of Feudalism  Serfs left manors and weakened feudalism  power of lords shrank  1347 bubonic plague – killed 1/4 of the population and reduced the number of workers  began to pay laborers  Kings grew stronger – raised armies to enforce order and townspeople paid taxes to king  Safe towns allowed trade to flourish

V. The Renaissance - Rebirth  Renaissance ( ) time of increased interest in art and learning  Weakened feudalism and the plague led people to question what life meant  they looked to Greek and Roman ideals

VI. The Reformation  Printing Press – (Johannes Gutenburg) a machine that mechanically printed pages  Protestant Reformation – movement to correct the problems of the church  Catholics – made some changes in the Catholic Church, but continued many of the same practices  Protestants (Martin Luther) – divided into many different churches because they were upset with the Catholic Church

VII. Changes in Trade  Used more exact ways to do business, which led to a profit – subtracting your costs from your income  Italians – had a monopoly with the Muslim world  Had a good relationship with Muslims  Used military power for trade  NEEDED NEW ROUTES TO ASIA – since the Italians had a monopoly