Theearly modern period is ahistorical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding themodern period, with divisions based primarily on thehistory of Europe and the broader concept ofmodernity. 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 lasted from around the start of the 16th century to the start of the 19th century (about 1500–1800). In a European context, it is defined as the period following theMiddle Ages and preceding the advent of modernity; but the dates of these boundaries are far from universally agreed. In the context ofglobal history, the early modern period is often used even in contexts where there is no equivalent "medieval" period.
Historians in recent decades have argued that, from a worldwide standpoint, the most important feature of the early modern period was itsspreading globalizing character.[3] 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 ofmercantilism as an economic theory. Other notable trends of the period include the development ofexperimental science, increasingly rapidtechnological progress,secularized civic politics, accelerated travel due to improvements in mapping and ship design, and the emergence ofnation states.
The early modern period is a subdivision of the most recent of the three major periods ofEuropean history:antiquity, theMiddle Ages and the modern period. The term "early modern" was first proposed by medieval historianLynn Thorndike in his 1926 workA Short History of Civilization as a broader alternative to theRenaissance. It was first picked up within the field ofeconomic history during the 1940s and 1950s and gradually spread to other historians in the following decades and became widely known among scholars during the 1990s.[4]
As theAge of Revolution dawned, beginning with revolts in America and France, political changes were then pushed forward in other countries partly as a result of upheavals of theNapoleonic Wars and their impact on thought and thinking, from concepts from nationalism to organizing armies.[6][7][8] The early period ended in a time of political and economic change, as a result ofmechanization in society, theAmerican Revolution, and the firstFrench Revolution; other factors included the redrawing of the map of Europe by theFinal Act of theCongress of Vienna[9] and the peace established by theSecond Treaty of Paris, which ended the Napoleonic Wars.[10]
A Japanese depiction of a Portuguese tradingcarrack. Advances in shipbuilding technology during theLate Middle Ages would pave the way for the global European presence characteristic of the early modern period.
In the Americas,pre-Columbian peoples had built a large and varied civilization, including theAztec Empire, theInca civilization, theMaya civilization and its cities, and theMuisca. 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 thespread of Christianity around the world. The rise of sustained contacts between previously isolated parts of the globe, in particular theColumbian Exchange that linked theOld World and theNew World, greatly altered the human environment. Notably, theAtlantic slave trade and colonization of Native Americans began during this period.[11] TheOttoman Empire conquered Southeastern Europe, and parts of West Asia and North Africa.[12]
Various Chinese dynasties controlled the East Asian sphere. In Japan, theEdo 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 theJoseon dynasty to the enthronement ofKing Gojong. By the 16th century, Asian economies under theMing dynasty andMughal Bengal were stimulated by trade with the Portuguese, the Spanish, and the Dutch, while Japan engaged in theNanban trade after the arrival of the first European Portuguese during theAzuchi–Momoyama period.
Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia, theToungoo Empire along withAyutthaya experienced a golden age and ruled a large extent of Mainland Southeast Asia,[15][16] with theNguyen andTrinh lords[17] de facto ruling the south and north of present-day Vietnam respectively, whereas theMataram 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 early modern times, the major nations of East Asia attempted to pursue a course ofisolationism from the outside world but this policy was not always enforced uniformly or successfully. However, by the end of the early modern period, China, Korea and Japan were mostly closed and uninterested in Europeans, even while trading relationships grew in port cities such asGuangzhou andDejima.
Around the beginning of theethnically HanMing dynasty (1368–1644), China was leading the world in mathematics as well as science. However, Europe soon caught up to China's scientific and mathematical achievements and surpassed them.[18] Many scholars have speculated about the reason behind China's lag in advancement. A historian named Colin Ronan claims that though there is no one specific answer, there must be a connection between China's urgency for new discoveries being weaker than Europe's and China's inability to capitalize on its early advantages. Ronan believes that China's Confucian bureaucracy and traditions led to China not having a scientific revolution, which led China to have fewer scientists to break the existing orthodoxies, like Galileo Galilei.[19] Despite inventing gunpowder in the 9th century, it was in Europe that the classic handheld firearms, matchlocks, were invented, with evidence of use around the 1480s. China was using the matchlocks by 1540, after the Portuguese brought their matchlocks to Japan in the early 1500s.[20] China during the Ming dynasty established a bureau to maintain its calendar. The bureau was necessary because the calendars were linked to celestial phenomena and that needs regular maintenance because twelve lunar months have 344 or 355 days, so occasional leap months have to be added in order to maintain 365 days per year.[21]
Cishou Temple Pagoda, built in 1576: the Chinese believed that building pagodas on certain sites according togeomantic principles brought about auspicious events; merchant-funding for such projects was needed by the late Ming period.
In the early Ming dynasty, urbanization increased as the population grew and as the division of labor grew more complex. Large urban centers, such asNanjing andBeijing, 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.[22] 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.[23]
China under the later Ming dynasty became isolated, prohibiting the construction of ocean going sea vessels.[24] Despite isolationist policies the Ming economy still suffered from an inflation due to an overabundance ofSpanish New World silver entering its economy through new European colonies such asMacau.[25] Ming China was further strained by victorious but costly wars to protectKorea fromJapanese invasion.[26] 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 fromAcapulco, the Japanese cut off all trade withMacau, and the Dutch severed connections betweenGoa and Macau.[27]
Painting depicting the Qing Chinese celebrating a victory over theKingdom of Tungning inTaiwan. This work was a collaboration between Chinese and European painters.
The damage to the economy was compounded by the effects on agriculture of the incipientLittle Ice Age, natural calamities, crop failure and sudden epidemics. The ensuing breakdown of authority and people's livelihoods allowed rebel leaders, such asLi Zicheng, to challenge Ming authority.
The Ming dynasty fell around 1644 to theethnically ManchuQing dynasty, which would be the lastdynasty 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 ofChinese culture in establishing its rule, but did not necessarily "assimilate", instead adopting a more universalist style of governance.[28] The Manchus were formerly known as theJurchens. When Beijing was captured byLi Zicheng's peasant rebels in 1644, theChongzhen Emperor, the last Ming emperor, committed suicide. The Manchus then allied with former Ming generalWu Sangui and seized control ofBeijing, which became the new capital of the Qing dynasty. The Manchus adopted the Confucian norms of traditional Chinese government in their rule ofChina proper. Schoppa, the editor ofThe 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."[29]
TheSengoku period that began around 1467 and lasted around a century consisted of several continually "warring states".
Following contact with thePortuguese onTanegashima Isle in 1543, the Japanese adopted several of the technologies and cultural practices of their visitors, whether in the military area (thearquebus, European-style cuirasses, European ships), religion (Christianity), decorative art, language (integration to Japanese of aWestern vocabulary) and culinary: the Portuguese introducedtempura and valuable refined sugar.[30]
Society in the Japanese "Tokugawa period" (Edo society), unlike the shogunates before it, was based on the strict classhierarchy originally established byToyotomi Hideyoshi. Thedaimyōs (feudal lords) were at the top, followed by thewarrior-caste ofsamurai, with thefarmers,artisans, andtraders ranking below. The country was strictly closed to foreigners with few exceptions with theSakoku policy.[33] Literacy among the Japanese people rose in the two centuries of isolation.[33]
In some parts of the country, particularly smaller regions,daimyōs and samurai were more or less identical, sincedaimyōs might be trained as samurai, and samurai might act as local lords. Otherwise, the largely inflexible nature of thissocial stratification system unleashed disruptive forces over time.Taxes on thepeasantry were set at fixed amounts which did not account forinflation or other changes inmonetary 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.[34]
In 1392, GeneralYi Seong-gye established theJoseon dynasty (1392–1910) with a largely bloodless coup. Yi Seong-gye moved the capital of Korea to the location of modern-day Seoul.[35] The dynasty was heavily influenced by Confucianism, which also played a large role to shaping Korea's strong cultural identity.[36][37]King Sejong the Great (1418–1450), one of the only two kings in Korea's history to earn the title of great in their posthumous titles, reclaimed Korean territory to the north and created theKorean alphabet.[38]
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 AdmiralYi Sun-sin, Korea's revered naval genius, who led the Korean Navy using advanced metal clad ships calledturtle ships. 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.[37] During the 17th century, Korea was invaded again, this time by Manchurians, who would later take over China as the Qing dynasty. In 1637, KingInjo was forced to surrender to the Qing forces, and was ordered to send princesses as concubines to the Qing PrinceDorgon.[39]
The rise of theMughal Empire is usually dated from 1526, around the end of the Middle Ages. It was anIslamicPersianate[40] imperial power that ruled most of the area asHindustan by the late 17th and the early 18th centuries.[41] The empire dominatedSouth Asia,[41]becoming the largest global economy and manufacturing power,[42] with a nominal GDP valued at a quarter of the global economy, superior than the combined GDP of Europe.[13][43] The empire, prior to the death of the last prominent emperorAurangzeb,[44] was marked by a highly centralized administration connecting its differentprovinces. All the significant monuments of the Mughals, their most visible legacy, date to this period which was characterized by the expansion of Persian cultural influence in the Indian subcontinent, with brilliant literary, artistic, and architectural results. TheMaratha Confederacy, founded in the southwest of present-day India, surpassed the Mughals as the dominant power in India from 1740 and rapidly expanded until theThird Battle of Panipat halted their expansion in 1761.[45]
At the start of the modern era, theSpice Route between India and China crossedMajapahit, an archipelagic empire based on the island ofJava. It was the last of the majorHindu empires ofMaritime Southeast Asia and is considered one of the greatest states in Indonesian history.[51] Its influence extended toSumatra, theMalay Peninsula,Borneo, and eastern Indonesia, though the effectiveness of this influence remains debated.[52][53] Majapahit struggled to control the risingSultanate of Malacca, which dominated Muslim Malay settlements in Phuket, Satun, Pattani, and Sumatra. The Portuguese invaded Malacca's capital in 1511, and by 1528, theSultanate of Johor was established by a Malaccan prince to succeed Malacca.[54]
TheSafavid Empire was a great ShiaPersianate empire after the Islamic conquest of Persia and the establishment of Islam, marking an important point in the history of Islam in the east.[59][60] The Safavid dynasty was founded about 1501. From their base inArdabil, the Safavids established control over all of Persia and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since theSassanids to establish a unified Iranian state. Problematic for the Safavids was the powerful Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans, a Sunni dynasty, fought severalcampaigns against the Safavids.[61]
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. TheSilk 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.[62]
In the 16th to early 18th centuries,Central Asia was under the rule ofUzbeks, and the far eastern portions were ruled by the localPashtuns. Between the 15th and 16th centuries, various nomadic tribes arrived from the steppes, including theKipchaks,Naimans,Kangly,Khongirad, andManghuds. These groups were led byMuhammad Shaybani, who was theKhan of the Uzbeks.
The lineage of theAfghan Pashtuns stretches back to theHotaki dynasty.[63] Following Muslim Arab and Turkic conquests, Pashtunghazis (warriors for the faith) invaded and conquered much of northern India during theLodhi dynasty andSuri dynasty. Pashtun forces also invaded Persia, and the opposing forces were defeated in theBattle of Gulnabad. The Pashtuns later formed theDurrani Empire.
TheSonghai Empire took control of thetrans-Saharan trade at the beginning of the modern era. It seizedTimbuktu in 1468 andJenne in 1473, building the regime on trade revenues and the cooperation of Muslim merchants. The empire eventually made Islam the official religion, built mosques, and brought Muslim scholars toGao.[64]
When gunpowder was introduced to Europe, it was immediately used almost exclusively in weapons and explosives for warfare. Though it was invented in China, gunpowder arrived in Europe already formulated for military use; European countries took advantage of this and were the first to create the classic firearms.[20] The advances made in gunpowder and firearms was directly tied to the decline in the use of plate armor because of the inability of the armor to protect one from bullets. The musket was able to penetrate all forms of armor available at the time, making armor obsolete, and as a consequence the heavy musket as well. Although there is relatively little to no difference in design betweenarquebus and musket except in size and strength, it was the termmusket which remained in use up into the 1800s.[67]
In the early modern period, theHoly Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe under aHoly Roman Emperor the first of which wasOtto I. The last wasFrancis II, whoabdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during theNapoleonic Wars. Despite its name, for much of its history the Empire did not include Rome within its borders.
TheRenaissance was a cultural movement that began in the 14th century,[68] beginning in Italy in theLate 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 onclassical sources, the development of linear perspective in painting, and gradual but widespread educational reform.
Among the notable royalty of the time wasCharles the Bold (1433–1477), the lastValoisDuke of Burgundy, known asCharles the Bold (or Rash) to his enemies,[78] His early death was a pivotal moment in European history.[79] Charles has often been regarded as the last representative of the feudal spirit,[80] although in administrative affairs, he introduced remarkable modernizing innovations.[81][82] 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 futureMaximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, with the aid of Mary's stepmother, Margaret. In 1477, the territory of theDuchy 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[83]) and France ensued, culminating in theTreaty of Senlis (1493) which gave the majority of Burgundian inheritance to the Habsburg (Mary already died in 1482).[84] The rise of the Habsburg dynasty was a prime factor in the spreading of the Renaissance.[85]
In Central Europe, KingMatthias Corvinus (1443–1490), a notable nation builder, conqueror (Hungary in his time was the most powerful in Central Europe[86]) and patron, was the first who introduced the Renaissance outside of Italy.[87][88] In military area, he introduced theBlack Army, one of the first standing armies in Europe and a remarkably modern force.[89][90]
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),[91]Chevalier de Bayard (1476–1524),[92]Franz von Sickingen (1481–1523)[93] andGötz von Berlichingen (1480–1562).[94] Maximilian (although Claude Michaud opines that he could claim "last knight" status by virtue of being the last medieval epic poet[95]) was actually a chief modernizing force of the time (whose reform initiatives led to Europe-wide revolutions in the areas of warfare[96][97][98] and communications,[99]among others), who broke the back of the knight class (causing many to become robber barons)[97] and had personal conflicts with the three other men on the matter of the knight's status.[100][101][97]
Johann Sebastian Bach – Mass in B minor – Agnus Dei, From 1724
Christianity was challenged at the beginning of the modern period with thefall of Constantinople in 1453 and later by various movements to reform the church (including Lutheran, Zwinglian, and Calvinist), followed by theCounter Reformation.
TheHussite Crusades (1419–1434) involved military actions against the followers ofJan Hus inBohemia, concluding with theBattle of Grotniki. These wars were notable for being among the first European conflicts where hand-held gunpowder weapons, likemuskets, 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.[102]
The final crusade, the Crusade of 1456, was organized to counter the advancingOttoman Empire and lift theSiege of Belgrade (1456), led byJohn Hunyadi andGiovanni da Capistrano. The siege culminated in a counterattack that forced Sultan Mehmet II to retreat, with the victory being credited with deciding the fate ofChristendom.[103] The noon bell, ordered by Pope Callixtus III, commemorates this victory across the Christian world to this day.
Nearly a century later, thePeace of Augsburg (1555) ended the concept of a united Christian church. The principle ofcuius regio, eius religio allowed rulers to determine their state's religion. This framework was solidified by theTreaty of Westphalia (1648), which ended theEuropean Wars of Religion and the notion of a singular Christian hegemony. The treaty also marked the birth of the modern concept of national sovereignty.[104]
TheInquisition in the modern era refers to several institutions within the Catholic Church tasked with prosecutingheretics and others who violatedcanon law. The first significant manifestation was theSpanish Inquisition (1478–1834).[105] The Inquisition prosecuted crimes such assorcery,blasphemy,Judaizing,witchcraft, andcensorship of printed literature. Its jurisdiction was limited to baptized Catholics, while non-Christians were typically tried by secular courts.[105]
TheDiet of Worms (1521) declared Luther a heretic, but EmperorCharles V was preoccupied with external threats and allowed German princes to decide whether to enforce theEdict of Worms. The religious conflict escalated, leading to the formation of theSchmalkaldic League to defend Protestant interests. This culminated in thePeace of Augsburg (1555), which established the principle ofcuius regio, eius religio—allowing rulers to determine the religion of their territories.[107]
Two main Inquisitions remained active in the modern era:
TheRoman Inquisition (1542–circa 1860), covering most of the Italian peninsula and certain other areas.[109]
TheCounter-Reformation began in 1545 with theCouncil of Trent in response to the Protestant Reformation. Its goal was to reform internal Church practices while reaffirming the Church's authority as the trueChurch of Christ.[110]
In development of theThird Rome ideas, the Grand DukeIvan IV (the "Awesome"[111] or "the Terrible") was officially crowned the firstTsar ("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.[112][113] During his long reign, Ivan IV nearly doubled the already large Russian territory by annexing the three Tatar khanates (parts of disintegratedGolden Horde):Kazan andAstrakhan along the Volga River, andSibirean Khanate in South Western Siberia. Thus by the end of the 16th century Russia was transformed into amultiethnic, multiconfessional andtranscontinental state.
Russia experienced territorial growth through the 17th century, which was the age ofCossacks. Cossacks were warriors organized into military communities, resemblingpirates andpioneers 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 thesteppe 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.
In theOld World, the most desired trading goods were gold, silver, andspices. Western Europeans used thecompass, newsailing ship technologies, new maps, and advances in astronomy to seek a viabletrade route to Asia for valuable spices that Mediterranean powers could not contest.
The Golden Age of Piracy is a designation given to one or more outbursts ofpiracy in the early modern period, spanning from the mid-17th century to the mid-18th century. Thebuccaneering 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.[114] ThePirate 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.[115] 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.[116]
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 manyintellectual pursuits, as well as social and political upheaval, it is perhaps best known for European artistic developments and the contributions of suchpolymaths asLeonardo da Vinci andMichelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance man".[117][118]
The Peace of Westphalia resulted from the first moderndiplomatic congress. Until 1806, the regulations became part of the constitutional laws of the Holy Roman Empire. TheTreaty of the Pyrenees, signed in 1659, ended thewar between France and Spain and is often considered part of the overall accord.
Before the Age of Revolution, theEnglish 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. TheEnglish 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. TheGlorious Revolution of 1688 establishes modernparliamentary democracy in England.
World Colonization of 1492 (Early Modern World), 1550, 1660, 1754 (Age of Enlightenment), 1822 (Industrial revolution), 1885 (European Hegemony), 1914 (World War I era), 1938 (World War II era), 1959 (Cold War era) and 1974, 2008 (Recent history)
The termcolonialism 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 toSub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, Australia and thePhilippines.
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 insugarcane. 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.[120]
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 inNew 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 calledNew Netherland (nowNew York State.). France colonized what is nowEastern Canada, foundingQuebec City in 1608. France's loss in theSeven Years' War resulted in the transfer ofNew France to Great Britain.
TheThirteen 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 theAmerican Revolutionary War, Britain recognised the former Thirteen Colonies' independence.[121]
A key development in early modern history is the creation of theAtlantic 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.[122]
The Counter-Reformation was a period ofCatholic revival in response to theReformation 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.
Such reforms included the foundation ofseminaries 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 withChrist, including theSpanish mystics and theFrench school of spirituality. It also involved political activities that included theRoman Inquisition.[123]
New religious orders were a fundamental part of this trend. Orders such as theCapuchins,Ursulines,Theatines,Discalced Carmelites, theBarnabites, and especially theJesuits 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.[124]
Model for the Three Superior Planets and Venus fromGeorg von Peuerbach,Theoricae novae planetarum
TheGreat 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.
During theScientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries,empiricism andmodern 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:
Modern scientificdentistry was founded byPierre Fauchard, who is credited with pioneering dental techniques in his 1728 workLe Chirurgien Dentiste.[132]
Thesmallpox vaccine was invented in the 1770s and popularized byEdward Jenner in the 1790s, though it was unclear at the time how it worked.[133]
Carl Linnaeus published the first moderntaxonomy inSystema Naturae (1735), introducing the classification of organisms into hierarchical categories and replacing Aristotle's ideas.[136]
Early moderngeology was established with the work ofNicolas Steno, who proposed thelaw of superposition in 1669, and the systematic study of fossils and rock types began to question the biblical age of the Earth.[137]
"If there is something you know, communicate it. If there is something you don't know, search for it." An engraving from the 1772 edition of theEncyclopédie;Truth (center) is surrounded by light and unveiled by the figures to the right,Philosophy andReason.
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 ofIsaac Newton (1643–1727), such asPhilosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), and the development of Descartes' famous propositionCogito, ergo sum (1637).[143] The first major advancements in modern science included Newton's theory ofgravity, which, along with the contributions ofJohn Locke,Pierre Bayle,Baruch Spinoza, and others, fueled the Enlightenment.[144]
With the adoption of large-scale printing after 1500, ItalianRenaissance Humanism spread northward to France, Germany, Holland and England, where it became associated with the Reformation.
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 termumanista comes from the latter part of the 15th century. The people were associated with thestudia humanitatis, a novel curriculum that was competing with thequadrivium andscholastic logic.[151]
In France, pre-eminent HumanistGuillaume Budé (1467–1540) applied thephilological methods of Italian Humanism to the study of antique coinage and to legal history, composing a detailed commentary onJustinian's Code. Although a royal absolutist (and not a republican like the early Italianumanisti), Budé was active in civic life, serving as a diplomat forFrancis I and helping to found theCollège des Lecteurs Royaux (later theCollège de France). Meanwhile,Marguerite de Navarre, the sister of Francis I, herself a poet, novelist and religious mystic,[152] gathered around her and protected a circle of vernacular poets and writers, includingClément Marot,Pierre de Ronsard andFrançois Rabelais.
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 bookLife 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.[153]
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.[153] These statistics are measured for infant deaths within the first month of every 1,000 births in a given area.[153]
For instance, the average infant mortality rate in what is now Germany was 108 infant deaths for every 1,000 births; inBavaria, there were 140–190 infant deaths reported for every 1,000 births.[153] In France,Beauvaisis reported 140–160 infants dying per every 1,000 babies born.[153] In what is now Italy,Venice averaged 134 infant deaths per 1,000 births.[153] InGeneva, 80–110 infants died per every 1,000 babies born. In Sweden, 70–95 infants died per 1,000 births inLinköping, 48 infants died per 1,000 births inSundsvall, and 41 infants died per 1,000 births inVastanfors.[153]
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".[153] 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.
For instance, Italy is home to a very warm climate in the summer, and the temperature drops immensely in the winter.[153] 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".[153] 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.[153] 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 thebaptism ceremony. This last hypothesis could explain why the effect was so strong in Italy".[153]
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.[154] The number of criminals executed bygibbeting increased,[155] as did the total rate of executions during the early modern period.[155]
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