Most Europeans had little knowledge of the world outside of their manor. Manors were self-sufficient. That is, people made almost everything they needed. Life for peasants was hard. They struggled to produce enough food just to survive. There was little need for travel or trade. Few could read or write. Most believed the world was flat. EARLY MIDDLE AGES People of the Middle Ages would often eat brown bread, meat and fish, if available. During the Middle Ages much of the great advancements made by the Greeks and the Romans had been forgotten due to the decline of living conditions in Western Europe. People lived in very poor conditions, where there was constant turmoil, war, poverty, and hunger. This time period is known as the dark ages.
By about the year 1000, the Middle Ages began to end. Peasants used new methods of farming to produce more food. Warfare declined and trade began to grow. The pace of change began to increase about in part because of the Crusades. The Crusades were a series of wars fought by the European Christians to capture the holy city of Jerusalem from the Muslims. THE CRUSADES After 200 years of fighting, the Europeans failed to capture Jerusalem. However, the Crusades forced Europeans to travel beyond their villages and exposed them to new goods and ideas. They began trading for new items from the Middle East such as shimmering silks; colorful woven rugs; soft cotton; rice; fruit like dates, apricots, lemons and oranges; and spices like cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, ginger and garlic. Europe had traded with the Middle East for many years before the Crusades. However, the Crusades would help inspire Europeans to look overseas for trade.
THE RENAISSANCE Increased travel and trade made Europeans eager to learn more about their world. With this new curiosity about the world and a powerful new invention, a burst of learning took place in Europe. Scholars produced new books on art, medicine, astronomy and chemistry. This period of time is called the Renaissance, a French word meaning rebirth. DaVinci s Mona Lisa Michelangelo s The Last Judgement A new invention, the printing press, helped to spread Renaissance learning. Credit for the invention of the printing press is given to a German scholar named Johannes Gutenberg. Before then, books were scarce and costly because each was copied by hand. The printing press allowed large numbers of books to be produced at once. This made books cheaper and more widely available than ever before. Soon more people began to read, and learning spread more quickly.
TECHNOLOGY Trade with other countries brought new knowledge. Increased knowledge, curiosity and desire for trade made more Europeans eager to explore. New inventions made exploration easier, safer and more efficient than ever before. From the Muslim world, Europeans acquired sailing skills and the magnetic compass. The special needle of the compass always pointed north, which helped ships stay on course. Caravel small, fast, highly maneuverable sailing ship. The caravel could also sail upriver in shallow waters. Magnetic Compass - Device that told sailors which direction they were traveling. Astrolabe - Device that allowed sailors to locate the position of the Sun, moon, planets and stars to figure out their latitude at sea.
TRAVEL ROUTES During the Renaissance, trade brought new prosperity. European rulers in England, France, Spain and Portugal began to increase their power. These rulers were eager to increase their wealth. They saw the great profits that could be made through trade. However, getting there would not be easy. First of all, traveling over land was slow and expensive. Secondly, Expeditions made money primarily by discovering new trade routes for their nations. When the Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople in 1453, many existing trade routes to India and China were shut down. These trade routes were very valuable as they brought in expensive products such as spices and silk. New expeditions tried to discover oceangoing routes to India and the Far East. In the 1400s, the Portuguese tried to reach Asia by sailing south and east around Africa. By the end of the 15 th century, Portuguese explorers successfully sailed around Africa and reached southeast Asia.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS Rulers of European countries were eager to get rich. They wanted valuable products that could be found in the Middle East and Asia. However, any known trade routes through the area were long, dangerous and expensive OR blocked by Muslim traders. In the late 1400s, an Italian named Christopher Columbus traveled around Europe trying to convince leaders to pay for a new voyage to find Asia. After other monarchs in Europe turned him down, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain agreed to support his trip. His plan was to reach Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic. In August 1492, Columbus set sail with three ships and a crew of about 90 sailors. At 2 a.m. on October 12, he arrived in a new land he thought was near Asia. It was really the Americas. (Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola which is today comprised of the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic)