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The early modern period is a Periodization, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There is no exact date that marks the beginning or end of the period and its extent may vary depending on the area of history being studied. In general, the early modern period is considered to have started at the beginning of the 16th century (around 1500), and is variably considered to have ended at the 18th or 19th century (1700–1800). In a European context, it is defined as the period following the Middle Ages and preceding the advent of modernity, but there is no universal agreement on the dates of these boundaries. In the context of global history, the early modern period is often used even in contexts where there is no equivalent "medieval" period.
Various events and historical transitions have been proposed as the start of the early modern period, including the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the start of the Renaissance, the end of the Crusades, the Reformation in Germany giving rise to Protestantism, and the beginning of the Age of Discovery and with it the onset of the first wave of European colonization. Its end is often marked by the French Revolution, and sometimes also the American Revolution or Napoleon's rise to power,Christopher Alan Bayly, The birth of the modern world, 1780–1914: global connections and comparisons (2004). P. 123. with the advent of the second wave of modern colonization known as New Imperialism.
Historians in recent decades have argued that, from a worldwide standpoint, the most important feature of the early modern period was the spread of globalization. From this viewpoint, the Columbian contact and its newfound notion of a New World being added to the Old World is another marker of the start of the period. New economies and institutions emerged, becoming more sophisticated and globally articulated over the course of the period. The early modern period also included the rise of the dominance of mercantilism as an economic theory. Other notable trends of the period include the development of Science, increasingly rapid technological progress, civic politics, accelerated travel due to improvements in mapping and ship design, and the emergence of .
The first attempts to apply the periodization beyond Europe in a substantive manner came by the 1980s. Some scholars used the term while studying Asian societies (such as Tokugawa Japan) that underwent developments similar or comparable to those in early modern Europe. Others argued that early modern Eurasia was distinguished by interconnections and common experiences, including such as territorial consolidation, demographic growth, inflation, and social mobility, among others. Joseph R. Fletcher, a historian of Central Asia and China, argued in 1985 that early modern Eurasian societies were all affected by "some of the same, interrelated, or at least similar demographic, economic, and even social forces", which included the rise of urban commercial classes, religious reform and revival movements, rural unrest, and the decline of nomadism. Fletcher also suggested the possibility of the periodization's applicability on a global scale.. Citing Another group of scholars has made the case for the early modern period as a recognizable era of world history, citing various processes that affected the entire world. Bentley has defined the early modern world as "the era about 1500 to 1800, when cross-cultural interactions increasingly linked the fates and fortunes of peoples throughout the world, but before national states, mechanized industry, and industrial-strength imperialism decisively changed the dynamics governing the development of world history." In Bentley's view, the early modern period should be defined mainly by the processes that intensified interaction and exchange between different parts of the world, producing varying impacts in different regions. He identifies the connection of the world by sea, global biological exchanges, and the creation of an "early capitalist global economy" as the three main processes that spurred the creation of the early modern world and led to other major developments that affected people around the world.
As the Age of Revolution dawned, beginning with revolts in America and France, political changes were then pushed forward in other countries. This was partly as a result of the upheavals of the Napoleonic Wars and their impact on the world of ideas and thought of the time: concepts from nationalism to organizing armies were attracting attention and debate.Crawley, C.W. (1965). The new Cambridge modern history. Volume 9., War and peace in an age of upheaval, 1793–1830. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Goldman, E.O., & Eliason, L.C. (2003). The diffusion of military technology and ideas. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.Boot, M. (2006). War made new: Technology, warfare, and the course of history, 1500 to today. New York: Gotham Books. The early modern period ended in a time of economic and political change, as a result of mechanization in society, the American Revolution, and the first French Revolution; other factors included the redrawing of the map of Europe by the of the Congress of Vienna and the peace established by the Second Treaty of Paris, which ended the Napoleonic Wars.Hazen, Charles Downer (1910). Europe since 1815. American historical series, H. Holt and Company.
In the Americas, pre-Columbian peoples had built a large and varied civilization, including the Aztec Empire, the Inca civilization, the Maya civilization and its cities, and the Muisca. The European colonization of the Americas began during the early modern period, as did the establishment of European trading hubs in Asia and Africa, which contributed to the spread of Christianity around the world. The rise of sustained contacts between previously isolated parts of the globe, in particular the Columbian Exchange that linked the Old World and the New World, greatly altered the human environment. Notably, the Atlantic slave trade and colonization of Indigenous peoples of the Americas began during this period. The Ottoman Empire conquered Southeastern Europe, and parts of West Asia and North Africa.
In the Islamic world, after the fall of the Timurid Renaissance, powers such as the Ottoman, Suri Empire, Safavid, and Mughal Empire empires grew in strength (three of which are known as gunpowder empires for the military technology that enabled them). Particularly in the Indian subcontinent, Mughal architecture, culture, and Mughal painting reached their zenith, while the empire itself is believed to have had the world's largest economy, bigger than the entirety of Western Europe and worth 25% of global GDP.Angus Maddison (2003): Development Centre Studies The World Economy Historical Statistics: Historical Statistics, OECD Publishing, , pp. 259–261 By the mid-18th century, India was a major proto-industrializing region.
Various Chinese dynasties controlled the East Asian sphere. In Japan, the Edo period from 1600 to 1868 is also referred to as the early modern period. In Korea, the early modern period is considered to have lasted from the rise of the Joseon dynasty to the enthronement of King Gojong. By the 16th century, Asian economies under the Ming dynasty and Mughal Bengal were stimulated by trade with the Portuguese, the Spanish, and the Dutch, while Japan engaged in the Nanban trade after the arrival of the first European Portuguese during the Azuchi–Momoyama period.
Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia, the Toungoo Empire along with Ayutthaya experienced a golden age and ruled a large extent of Mainland Southeast Asia, (2026). 974957544X, Silkworm Books. 974957544X with the Nguyen and Trinh lordsChapuis, Oscar. A History of Vietnam: From Hong Bang to Tự Đức. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995. p. 119. de facto ruling the south and north of present-day Vietnam respectively, whereas the Mataram Sultanate was the dominant power in Maritime Southeast Asia. The early modern period experienced an influx of European traders and missionaries into the region.
In the early Ming dynasty, urbanization increased as the population grew and as the division of labor grew more complex. Large urban centers, such as Nanjing and Beijing, also contributed to the growth of private industry. In particular, small-scale industries grew up, often specializing in paper, silk, cotton, and porcelain goods. For the most part, however, relatively small urban centers with markets proliferated around the country. Town markets mainly traded food, with some necessary manufactures such as pins or oil. In the 16th century the Ming dynasty flourished over maritime trade with the Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch Empires. The trade brought in a massive amount of silver, which China at the time needed desperately. Prior to China's global trade, its economy ran on paper money. However, in the 14th century, China's paper money system suffered a crisis, and by the mid-15th century, crashed. The silver imports helped fill the void left by the broken paper money system, which helps explain why the value of silver in China was twice as high as the value of silver in Spain during the end of the 16th century.
China under the later Ming dynasty became isolated, prohibiting the construction of ocean going sea vessels. Despite isolationist policies the Ming economy still suffered from an inflation due to an overabundance of Spanish New World silver entering its economy through new European colonies such as Portuguese Macau. Ming China was further strained by victorious but costly wars to protect Joseon from Japanese invasion. The European trade depression of the 1620s also hurt the Chinese economy, which sunk to the point where all of China's trading partners cut ties with them: Philip IV restricted shipments of exports from Acapulco, the Japanese cut off all trade with Macau, and the Dutch severed connections between Goa and Macau.
The damage to the economy was compounded by the effects on agriculture of the incipient Little Ice Age, natural calamities, crop failure and sudden epidemics. The ensuing breakdown of authority and people's livelihoods allowed rebel leaders, such as Li Zicheng, to challenge Ming authority.
The Ming dynasty fell around 1644 to the Manchu people Qing dynasty, which would be the last dynasty of China. The Qing ruled from 1644 to 1912, with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. During its reign, the Qing dynasty adopted many of the outward features of Chinese culture in establishing its rule, but did not necessarily "assimilate", instead adopting a more universalist style of governance. (2026). 9780520928848, University of California Press. ISBN 9780520928848 The Manchus were formerly known as the Jurchen people. When Beijing was captured by Li Zicheng's peasant rebels in 1644, the Chongzhen Emperor, the last Ming emperor, committed suicide. The Manchus then allied with former Ming general Wu Sangui and seized control of Beijing, which became the new capital of the Qing dynasty. The Manchus adopted the Confucian norms of traditional Chinese government in their rule of China proper. Schoppa, the editor of The Columbia Guide to Modern Chinese History argues,
"A date around 1780 as the beginning of modern China is thus closer to what we know today as historical 'reality'. It also allows us to have a better baseline to understand the precipitous decline of the Chinese polity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."
Following contact with the Portuguese on Tanegashima Isle in 1543, the Japanese adopted several of the technologies and cultural practices of their visitors, whether in the military area (the arquebus, European-style cuirasses, European ships), religion (Christianity), decorative art, language (integration to Japanese of a Western vocabulary) and culinary: the Portuguese introduced tempura and valuable refined sugar. (2026). 9789287157447, Council of Europe. ISBN 9789287157447
Central government was largely reestablished by Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the Azuchi–Momoyama period. Although a start date of 1573 is often given, in more broad terms, the period begins with Oda Nobunaga's entry into Kyoto in 1568, when he led his army to the imperial capital in order to install Ashikaga Yoshiaki as the 15th, and ultimately final, shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate, and it lasts until the coming to power of Tokugawa Ieyasu after his victory over supporters of the Toyotomi clan at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan (First edition, 1983), section "Azuchi-Momoyama History (1568–1600)" by George Elison, in the entry for "history of Japan". Tokugawa received the title of shōgun in 1603, establishing the Tokugawa shogunate.
The Edo period from 1600 to 1868 characterized early modern Japan. The Tokugawa shogunate was a regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shōguns of the Tokugawa clan. The period gets its name from the capital city, Edo, now called Tokyo. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle from 1603 until 1868, when it was abolished during the Meiji Restoration in the late Edo period (often called the Late Tokugawa shogunate).
Society in the Japanese "Tokugawa period" (Edo society), unlike the shogunates before it, was based on the strict class hierarchy originally established by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The daimyōs (feudal lords) were at the top, followed by the warrior-caste of samurai, with the , artisans, and merchant ranking below. The country was strictly closed to foreigners with few exceptions with the Sakoku policy.Barraclough, Geoffrey (2026). 9780681502888, Borders Press in association with HarperCollins. ISBN 9780681502888 Literacy among the Japanese people rose in the two centuries of isolation.
In some parts of the country, particularly smaller regions, daimyōs and samurai were more or less identical, since daimyōs might be trained as samurai, and samurai might act as local lords. Otherwise, the largely inflexible nature of this social stratification system unleashed disruptive forces over time. Taxes on the peasantry were set at fixed amounts which did not account for inflation or other changes in monetary value. As a result, the tax revenues collected by the samurai landowners were worth less and less over time. This often led to numerous confrontations between noble but impoverished samurai and well-to-do peasants. None, however, proved compelling enough to seriously challenge the established order until the arrival of foreign powers.
During the end of the 16th century, Korea was invaded twice by Japan, first in 1592 and again in 1597. Japan failed both times due to Admiral Yi Sun-sin, Korea's revered naval genius, who led the Korean Navy using advanced metal clad ships called . Because the ships were armed with cannons, Admiral Yi's navy was able to demolish the Japanese invading fleets, destroying hundreds of ships in Japan's second invasion. During the 17th century, Korea was invaded again, this time by Manchurians, who would later take over China as the Qing dynasty. In 1637, King Injo was forced to surrender to the Qing forces, and was ordered to send princesses as concubines to the Qing Prince Dorgon.
The Maratha Confederacy, following the Anglo-Maratha wars, eventually lost to the British East India Company in 1818 with the Third Anglo-Maratha War. Rule by the Company lasted until 1858, when, after the Indian rebellion of 1857 and following the Government of India Act 1858, the India Office assumed the task of directly administering India in the new British Raj. In 1819, Stamford Raffles established Singapore as a key trading post for Britain in its rivalry with the Dutch. However, the rivalry cooled in 1824 when an Anglo-Dutch treaty demarcated their respective interests in Southeast Asia. From the 1850s onwards, the pace of colonization shifted to a significantly higher gear.
What fueled the growth of Safavid economy was its position between the burgeoning civilizations of Europe to its west and Islamic Central Asia to its east and north. The Silk Road, which led from Europe to East Asia, revived in the 16th century. Leaders also supported direct sea trade with Europe, particularly England and The Netherlands, which sought Persian carpet, silk, and textiles. Other exports were horses, goat hair, pearls, and an inedible bitter almond hadam-talka used as a spice in India. The main imports were spice, textiles (woolens from Europe, cotton from Gujarat), metals, coffee, and sugar. Despite their demise in 1722, the Safavids left their mark by establishing and spreading Shi'a Islam in major parts of the Caucasus and West Asia.
The lineage of the Afghan Pashtuns stretches back to the Hotaki dynasty. Afghanistan: History , U.S. Department of State (retrieved 10 October 2006). Following Muslim Arab and Turkic conquests, Pashtun Ghazw (warriors for the faith) invaded and conquered much of northern India during the Lodhi dynasty and Suri dynasty. Pashtun forces also invaded Persia, and the opposing forces were defeated in the Battle of Gulnabad. The Pashtuns later formed the Durrani Empire.
The early modern period is taken to end with the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire at the Congress of Vienna. At the end of the early modern period, the British and Russian Empire empires had emerged as world powers from the multipolar contest of colonial empires, while the three great empires of the early modern period, Ottoman Turkey, Mughal India and Qing China, all entered a period of stagnation or decline.
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that began in the 14th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historic era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe, this is a general use of the term. As a cultural movement, it encompassed a rebellion of learning based on classical sources, the development of linear perspective in painting, and gradual but widespread educational reform.
Among the notable royalty of the time was Charles the Bold (1433–1477), the last Valois Duke of Burgundy, known as Charles the Bold (or Rash) to his enemies,The title was derived from his savage behavior against his enemies, and particularly from a war with France in late 1471: frustrated by the refusal of the French to engage in open battle, and angered by French attacks on his unprotected borders in Hainault and Flanders, Charles marched his army back from the Ile-de-France to Burgundian territory, burning over two thousand towns, villages and castles on his way—Taylor, Aline S. Isabel of Burgundy. Lanham, Md: Madison Books, c2001, pp. 212–213 His early death was a pivotal moment in European history. Charles has often been regarded as the last representative of the feudal spirit, although in administrative affairs, he introduced remarkable modernizing innovations. Upon his death, Charles left an unmarried nineteen-year-old daughter, Mary of Burgundy, as his heir. Her marriage would have enormous implications for the political balance of Europe. Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor secured the match for his son, the future Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, with the aid of Mary's stepmother, Margaret. In 1477, the territory of the Duchy of Burgundy was annexed by France. In the same year, Mary married Maximilian, Archduke of Austria. A conflict between the Burgundian side (Maximilian brought with himself almost no resources from the Empire) and France ensued, culminating in the Treaty of Senlis (1493) which gave the majority of Burgundian inheritance to the Habsburg (Mary already died in 1482). The rise of the Habsburg dynasty was a prime factor in the spreading of the Renaissance.
In Central Europe, King Matthias Corvinus (1443–1490), a notable nation builder, conqueror (Hungary in his time was the most powerful in Central Europe) and patron, was the first who introduced the Renaissance outside of Italy. In military area, he introduced the Black Army, one of the first standing armies in Europe and a remarkably modern force.
Some noblemen from the generation that lived during this period have been attributed the moniker "the last knight", with the most notable being the above-mentioned Maximilian I (1459–1519), Chevalier de Bayard (1476–1524), Franz von Sickingen (1481–1523) and Götz von Berlichingen (1480–1562). Maximilian (although Claude Michaud opines that he could claim "last knight" status by virtue of being the last medieval epic poet) was actually a chief modernizing force of the time (whose reform initiatives led to Europe-wide revolutions in the areas of warfare and communications, among others), who broke the back of the knight class (causing many to become robber barons) and had personal conflicts with the three other men on the matter of the knight's status.
The final crusade, the Crusade of 1456, was organized to counter the advancing Ottoman Empire and lift the Siege of Belgrade (1456), led by John Hunyadi and Giovanni da Capistrano. The siege culminated in a counterattack that forced Sultan Mehmet II to retreat, with the victory being credited with deciding the fate of Christendom. The noon bell, ordered by Pope Callixtus III, commemorates this victory across the Christian world to this day.
Nearly a century later, the Peace of Augsburg (1555) ended the concept of a united Christian church. The principle of cuius regio, eius religio allowed rulers to determine their state's religion. This framework was solidified by the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), which ended the European Wars of Religion and the notion of a singular Christian hegemony. The treaty also marked the birth of the modern concept of national sovereignty.
The Reformation and rise of modernity in the early 16th century brought changes to Christendom. The Augustinian friar Martin Luther in Germany challenged the Church with his Ninety-five Theses, marking the start of the Reformation. Luther's movement, supported by the Electorate of Saxony, developed at the University of Wittenberg, where he became a professor.
Luther's 95 Theses criticized practices like the sale of indulgences and sparked debates, leading to the rise of rival Protestant denominations, such as Lutheranism and the Reformed tradition. In England, the movement became known as the English Reformation, resulting in the formation of Anglicanism.
The Diet of Worms (1521) declared Luther a heretic, but Emperor Charles V was preoccupied with external threats and allowed German princes to decide whether to enforce the Edict of Worms. The religious conflict escalated, leading to the formation of the Schmalkaldic League to defend Protestant interests. This culminated in the Peace of Augsburg (1555), which established the principle of cuius regio, eius religio—allowing rulers to determine the religion of their territories.
Two main Inquisitions remained active in the modern era:
Russia experienced territorial growth through the 17th century, which was the age of Cossacks. Cossacks were warriors organized into military communities, resembling and pioneers of the New World. The native land of the Cossacks is defined by a line of Russian/Ruthenian town-fortresses located on the border with the Eurasian Steppe and stretching from the middle Volga to Ryazan and Tula, then breaking abruptly to the south and extending to the Dnieper via Pereyaslavl. This area was settled by a population of free people practicing various trades and crafts.
The Peace of Westphalia resulted from the first modern Diplomacy congress. Until 1806, the regulations became part of the constitutional laws of the Holy Roman Empire. The Treaty of the Pyrenees, signed in 1659, ended the war between France and Spain and is often considered part of the overall accord.
The Thirteen Colonies, in lower British North America, rebelled against British rule through 1765–1783, due to various factors such as belief in natural rights, the enforcement of new taxes levied by a Parliament which they could not vote for representatives in, and opposition to monarchy. The British colonies in Canada remained loyal to the crown, and a provisional government formed by the Thirteen Colonies proclaimed their independence on 4 July 1776, and subsequently became the original 13 United States of America. With the 1783 Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolutionary War, Britain recognised the former Thirteen Colonies' independence.
Such reforms included the foundation of seminaries for the proper training of priests, the reform of religious life by returning orders to their spiritual foundations, and new spiritual movements focusing on the devotional life and a personal relationship with Christ, including the Spanish mystics and the French school of spirituality. It also involved political activities that included the Roman Inquisition.Olin, John C. The Catholic Reformation: Savonarola to Ignatius Loyola: Reform in the Church, 1495–1540. Fordham University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-8232-1275-0.
New religious orders were a fundamental part of this trend. Orders such as the Capuchins, Ursulines, Theatines, Discalced Carmelites, the Barnabites, and especially the Jesuits strengthened rural parishes, improved popular piety, helped to curb corruption within the church, and set examples that would be a strong impetus for Catholic renewal.Ditchfield, Simon. "The Catholic Reformation." Renaissance Studies, vol. 15, no. 3, 2001, pp. 390–409. DOI:10.1111/1477-4658.00088.
During the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, empiricism and modern science replaced older methods of studying nature, which had relied on ancient texts by writers like Aristotle. By the time of the Revolution, these methods resulted in an accumulation of knowledge that overturned ideas inherited from ancient Greece and Islamic scholars. Major changes during the Scientific Revolution and the 18th century included:
Early 17th-century philosophy is often referred to as the Age of Rationalism, succeeding Renaissance philosophy and preceding the Enlightenment. Some consider it the earliest part of the Enlightenment, stretching over two centuries. This era includes the works of Isaac Newton (1643–1727), such as Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), and the development of Descartes' famous proposition Cogito, ergo sum (1637).Gaukroger, Stephen. Descartes: An Intellectual Biography. Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0198239949. The first major advancements in modern science included Newton's theory of gravity, which, along with the contributions of John Locke, Pierre Bayle, Baruch Spinoza, and others, fueled the Enlightenment.Jacob, Margaret C. The Scientific Revolution: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010. ISBN 978-0312539481.
The 18th century saw the rise of secularization in Europe, notably following the French Revolution. Immanuel Kant classified his predecessors into two philosophical schools: Rationalism and Empiricism. The former was represented by figures such as René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Leibniz.Gardner, Sebastian. Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason. Routledge, 1999. ISBN 978-0415119099. Roger Williams established the colony of Providence Plantations in New England on the principle of separation of church and state after being exiled by the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.Barry, John M. Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul. Viking, 2012. ISBN 978-0670023059.
French salon culture played a key role in spreading Enlightenment ideas, culminating in the influential Encyclopédie (1751–72), edited by Denis Diderot with contributions from thinkers such as Voltaire and Montesquieu.Proust, Jacques. Diderot et l'Encyclopédie. A. Colin, 1962. The Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns stirred debate within the French Academy, elevating contemporary knowledge over classical Greek and Roman wisdom. Enlightenment thought also significantly influenced German philosophy, fostered by Frederick the Great, with Immanuel Kant emerging as a leading figure. These developments also had profound impacts on the Scottish Enlightenment, Russian Enlightenment, Enlightenment in Spain, and Enlightenment in Poland.Porter, Roy. The Enlightenment. Palgrave, 2001. ISBN 978-0333964500. The Enlightenment flourished until around 1790–1800, after which the emphasis on reason gave way to Romanticism and the growing influence of Counter-Enlightenment movements.Berlin, Isaiah. Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas. Princeton University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0691090269.
Developing during the Enlightenment era, Renaissance humanism as an intellectual movement spread across Europe. The basic training of the humanist was to speak well and write (typically, in the form of a letter). The term umanista comes from the latter part of the 15th century. The people were associated with the studia humanitatis, a novel curriculum that was competing with the quadrivium and scholastic logic.Paul Oskar Kristeller, Humanism, pp. 113–114, in Charles B. Schmitt, Quentin Skinner (editors), The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy (1990).
In France, pre-eminent Humanist Guillaume Budé (1467–1540) applied the philology methods of Italian Humanism to the study of antique coinage and to legal history, composing a detailed commentary on Justinian's Code. Although a royal absolutist (and not a republican like the early Italian umanisti), Budé was active in civic life, serving as a diplomat for Francis I and helping to found the Collège des Lecteurs Royaux (later the italic=no). Meanwhile, Marguerite de Navarre, the sister of Francis I, herself a poet, novelist and religious mystic,She was the author of Miroir de l'âme pécheresse ( The Mirror of a Sinful Soul), published after her death, among other devotional poetry. See also "Marguerite de Navarre: Religious Reformist" in Jonathan A. Reid, King's sister—queen of dissent: Marguerite of Navarre (1492–1549) and her evangelical network ( Studies in medieval and Reformation traditions, 1573–4188; v. 139). Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2009. (2 v.: (xxii, 795 p.) (v. 1), (v. 2) gathered around her and protected a circle of vernacular poets and writers, including Clément Marot, Pierre de Ronsard and François Rabelais.
For instance, the average infant mortality rate in what is now Germany was 108 infant deaths for every 1,000 births; in Bavaria, there were 140–190 infant deaths reported for every 1,000 births. In France, Beauvaisis reported 140–160 infants dying per every 1,000 babies born. In what is now Italy, Venice averaged 134 infant deaths per 1,000 births. In Geneva, 80–110 infants died per every 1,000 babies born. In Sweden, 70–95 infants died per 1,000 births in Linköping, 48 infants died per 1,000 births in Sundsvall, and 41 infants died per 1,000 births in Vastanfors.
For instance, Italy is home to a very warm climate in the summer, and the temperature drops immensely in the winter. This lends context to Bengsston writing that "the Italian winter peak was the cruelest: during the first 10 days of life, a newborn was four times more likely to die than in the summer". According to Bengsston, this trend existed amongst cities in different parts of Italy and in various parts of Europe even though cities operated under different economic and agricultural conditions. This leads Bengsston to his conclusion on what may have caused mortality rates in infants to spike during winter: "The strong protective effect of summer for neonatal deaths leads us to suppose that in many cases, these might be due to the insufficient heating systems of the houses or to the exposure of the newborn to cold during the baptism ceremony. This last hypothesis could explain why the effect was so strong in Italy".
Christians and Christendom
Christianity was challenged at the beginning of the modern period with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and later by various movements to reform the church (including Lutheran, Zwinglian, and Calvinist), followed by the Counter Reformation.
End of the Crusades and Unity
The Hussite Crusades (1419–1434) involved military actions against the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia, concluding with the Battle of Grotniki. These wars were notable for being among the first European conflicts where hand-held gunpowder weapons, like muskets, played a decisive role. The Taborite faction of Hussite warriors, primarily infantry, decisively defeated larger armies with heavily armored knights, contributing to the infantry revolution. However, the Hussite Crusades were ultimately inconclusive.
Inquisitions and Reformations
The Inquisition in the modern era refers to several institutions within the Catholic Church tasked with prosecuting heretics and others who violated canon law. The first significant manifestation was the Spanish Inquisition (1478–1834). The Inquisition prosecuted crimes such as sorcery, blasphemy, Judaizing, witchcraft, and censorship of printed literature. Its jurisdiction was limited to baptized Catholics, while non-Christians were typically tried by secular courts.
The Counter-Reformation began in 1545 with the Council of Trent in response to the Protestant Reformation. Its goal was to reform internal Church practices while reaffirming the Church's authority as the true Church of Christ.Olin, John C. The Catholic Reformation: Savonarola to Ignatius Loyola. Fordham University Press, 1992. ISBN 978-0823212750.
Tsardom of Russia
In development of the Third Rome ideas, the Grand Duke Ivan IV (the "Awesome"Frank D. McConnell. Storytelling and Mythmaking: Images from Film and Literature. Oxford University Press, 1979. ; Quote from p. 78: "But Ivan IV, Ivan the Terrible, or as the Russian has it, Ivan Groznyi, "Ivan the Magnificent" or "Ivan the Awesome", is precisely a man who has become a legend" or "the Terrible") was officially crowned the first Tsar ("Caesar") of Russia in 1547. The Tsar promulgated a new code of laws (Sudebnik of 1550), established the first Russian feudal representative body (Zemsky Sobor) and introduced local self-management into the rural regions. During his long reign, Ivan IV nearly doubled the already large Russian territory by annexing the three Tatar khanates (parts of disintegrated Golden Horde): Kazan and Astrakhan along the Volga River, and Sibirean Khanate in South Western Siberia. Thus by the end of the 16th century Russia was transformed into a multiethnic, multiconfessional and transcontinental state.
Mercantile capitalism
Trade and the new economy
In the Old World, the most desired trading goods were gold, silver, and . Western Europeans used the compass, new sailing ship technologies, new maps, and advances in astronomy to seek a viable trade route to Asia for valuable spices that Mediterranean powers could not contest.
Piracy's Golden Age
The Golden Age of Piracy is a designation given to one or more outbursts of piracy in the early modern period, spanning from the mid-17th century to the mid-18th century. The period covers approximately the late 17th century. This period was characterized by Anglo-French seamen based in Jamaica and Tortuga attacking Spanish colonies and shipping in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.Konstam, Angus. Pirates: The Complete History from 1300 BC to the Present Day. Osprey Publishing, 2008. ISBN 9781846032400. The Pirate Round was a route followed by certain Anglo-American pirates in the early 18th century, involving voyages from Bermuda and the Americas to attack Muslim and East India Company ships in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.Rediker, Marcus. Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. Beacon Press, 2004. ISBN 9780807050255. The post-War of the Spanish Succession period saw many unemployed sailors and privateers turning to piracy in the Caribbean, the American eastern seaboard, West Africa, and the Indian Ocean.Leeson, Peter T. The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates. Princeton University Press, 2009. ISBN 9780691137477.
European states and politics
The 15th to 18th century period is marked by the first European colonies, the rise of strong centralized governments, and the beginnings of recognizable European nation states that are the direct antecedents of today's states. Although the Renaissance included revolutions in many intellectual pursuits, as well as social and political upheaval, it is perhaps best known for European artistic developments and the contributions of such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired the term "Polymath".BBC Science & Nature, Leonardo da Vinci (Retrieved on 12 May 2007)BBC History, Michelangelo (Retrieved on 12 May 2007)
French power
Men who featured prominently in the political and military life of France during this period include Cardinal Mazarin, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Turenne, Vauban. French culture likewise flourished during this era, producing a number of figures of great renown, including Molière, Jean Racine, Boileau, La Fontaine, Lully, Le Brun, Hyacinthe Rigaud, Louis Le Vau, Jules Hardouin Mansart, Claude Perrault and Le Nôtre.
Early English revolutions
Before the Age of Revolution, the English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. The first and second civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The Civil War ended with the Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Worcester. The monopoly of the Church of England on Christian worship in England ended with the victors consolidating the established Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. Constitutionally, the wars established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without Parliament's consent. The English Restoration, or simply put as the Restoration, began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Commonwealth of England that followed the English Civil War. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 establishes modern parliamentary democracy in England.
International balance of power
The Peace of Utrecht established after a series of individual peace treaty signed in the Dutch Republic city of Utrecht concluded between various European states helped end the War of the Spanish Succession. The representatives who met were Louis XIV of France and Philip V of Spain on the one hand, and representatives of Queen Anne of Great Britain, the Duke of Savoy, and the Dutch Republic on the other. The treaty enregistered the defeat of French ambitions expressed in the wars of Louis XIV and preserved the European system based on the balance of power. The Treaty of Utrecht marked the change from Dutch Empire to British naval supremacy.
Americas
The term colonialism is normally used with reference to discontiguous overseas empires rather than contiguous land-based empires, European or otherwise. European colonisation during the 15th to 19th centuries resulted in the spread of Christianity to Sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, Australia and the Philippines.
Exploration and conquest of the Americas
Colonial Latin America
Initially, Portuguese settlements (Brazil) in the coastal northeast were of lesser importance in the larger Portuguese overseas empire, where lucrative commerce and small settlements devoted to trade were established in coastal Africa, India and China. With sparse indigenous populations that could not be coerced to work and no known deposits of precious metals, Portugal sought a high-value, low-bulk export product and found it in sugarcane. Black African slave labour from Portugal's West African possessions was imported to do the grueling agricultural work. As the wealth of the Ibero-America increased, some Western European powers (Dutch, French, British, Danish) sought to duplicate the model in areas that the Iberians had not settled in numbers. They seized some Caribbean islands from the Spanish and transferred the model of sugar production on plantations with slave labour and settled in northern areas of North America in what are now the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and Canada.James Lockhart and Stuart B. Schwartz, Early Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press 1983.
Colonial North America
North America outside the zone of Spanish settlement was a contested area in the 17th century. Spain had founded small settlements in Florida and Georgia, but nowhere near the size of those in New Spain or the Caribbean islands. France, The Netherlands, and Great Britain held colonies in North America and the West Indies from the 17th century, 100 years after the Spanish and Portuguese established permanent colonies. The British colonies in North America were founded between 1607 (Virginia) and 1733 (Georgia). The Dutch explored the east coast of North America and began founding settlements in what they called New Netherland (now New York State.). France colonized what is now Eastern Canada, founding Quebec City in 1608. France's loss in the Seven Years' War resulted in the transfer of New France to Great Britain.
Atlantic World
A key development in early modern history is the creation of the Atlantic World as a category. The term generally encompasses Western Europe, West Africa, and the Americas. It seeks to illustrate both local and regional developments, as well as the connections between these geographical regions through trade, migration, and cultural exchange.Armitage, David. The Ideological Origins of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN 9780521789783.
Religion, science, philosophy, and education
Protestant Reformation
The early modern period was initiated by the Reformation and the collapse of the unity of the medieval Catholic Church. The theology of Calvinism in particular has been argued as instrumental to the rise of capitalism. Max Weber has written a highly influential book on this called The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
Counter-Reformation and Jesuits
The Counter-Reformation was a period of Catholic revival in response to the Reformation during the mid-16th to mid-17th centuries. The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, involving ecclesiastical reforms as well as political and spiritual movements.
Scientific Revolution
The Great Divergence in scientific discovery, technological innovation, and economic development began in the early modern period as the pace of change in Western countries increased significantly compared to the rest of the world.
Technology
Inventions of the early modern period included the floating dock, lifting tower, newspaper, grenade musket, lightning rod, bifocals, and Franklin stove. Early attempts at building a practical electrical telegraph were hindered because static electricity was the only source available.
Enlightenment and reason
The Age of Enlightenment is also called the Age of Reason because it marked a departure from the medieval tradition of scholasticism, which was rooted in Christian dogma, and from Renaissance philosophy's occultist approaches. Instead, reason became the central source of knowledge, initiating the era of modern philosophy, especially in Western philosophy.Israel, Jonathan I. Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650–1750. Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0198206088. This period in Europe was characterized by system-builders—philosophers who established unified theories of epistemology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, and sometimes even politics and the physical sciences.Outram, Dorinda. The Enlightenment. Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0521546812.
Humanism
With the adoption of large-scale printing after 1500, Italian Renaissance Humanism spread northward to France, Germany, Holland and England, where it became associated with the Reformation.
Death in the early modern period
Mortality rates
During the early modern period, thorough and accurate global data on mortality rates is limited for a number of reasons including disparities in medical practices and views on the dead. However, there still remains data from European countries that still holds valuable information on the mortality rates of infants during this era. In his book Life Under Pressure: Mortality and Living Standards in Europe and Asia, 1700–1900, Tommy Bengtsson provides adequate information pertaining to the data of infant mortality rates in European countries as well as provide necessary contextual influences on these mortality rates.
European infant mortality rates
Infant mortality was a global concern during the early modern period as many newborns would not survive into childhood. Bengsston provides comparative data on infant mortality averages in a variety of European towns, cities, regions and countries starting from the mid-1600s to the 1800s. These statistics are measured for infant deaths within the first month of every 1,000 births in a given area.
Causes of infant mortality
Bengsston writes that climate conditions were the most important factor in determining infant mortality rates: "For the period from birth to the fifth birthday, climate is clearly the most important determinant of death". Winters proved to be harsh on families and their newborns, especially if the other seasons of the year were warmer. This seasonal drop in temperature was a lot for an infant's body to adapt to.
Capital punishment
During the early modern period, many societies' views on death changed greatly. With the implementation of new torture techniques, and increased public executions, people began to give more value to their life, and their body after death. Along with the views on death, methods of execution also changed. New devices to torture and execute criminals were invented. The number of criminals executed by gibbeting increased, as did the total rate of executions during the early modern period.
See also
Works cited
Further reading
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