Essay Question #1
Examine the growth of worldwide trade from 1500 to 1800. Discuss the rise and implications of a global trading system.
Essay Question #1:
Worldwide trade grew exponentially between 1500 to 1800. Before 1492, many new world foods that are now staples of western diets had been completely isolated in the Americas. Explorers bringing back crops such as tobacco, cocoa, tomatoes, potatoes, etc. dramatically changed and mostly improved diets. Secure trade with India and other parts of Asia allowed for a reliable supply of spices and tea, also improving people’s quality of life.
Of course, not everyone’s quality of life was improved by increasing global trade. Millions of Native Americans died of diseases to which they had no immunity, often spread by trade within the Americas well in advance of the actual Europeans (due to trading, often new goods introduced by the Europeans, among the groups themselves). The slave trade and indentured servitude under harsh conditions was also fostered by the increased need to cultivate crops for export to Europe, as well as the European demand to extract gold, silver, and other precious metals from the Americas.
For better or for worse, the increased globalization of the 1500s changed not only societies but also the primary crops, childhood diseases, the global economy. It was in any event inevitable due to the rise of technology, which continued to evolve during this period, making trade ever more safe and cost-effective, and in turn a better and better investment as the centuries progressed.
Essay Question #2
Examine the leading thinkers of the scientific revolution. Why were the early discoveries of the scientific revolution met with such resistance? In what ways did these discoveries destroy an old worldview and create a new one? How did their ideas influence the Enlightenment?
Essay Question #2:
The scientific revolution changed the way western society as a whole views the world, explaining a lot about the resistance it faced from the established order- people are naturally resistant to change. Copernicus is often credited with it’s beginnings, when he published a paper hypothesizing that the Earth revolved around the sun. Another prominent and famous figure of the revolution was Galileo, who has been called “‘the father of modern astronomy” for his improvements to the telescope, observations of Jupiter’s moons, and support for Copernicus’ theory of heliocentrism. He was placed under house arrest for heresy by the Catholic Church.
The church did not acknowledge wrongdoing on this until 1992.
In contrast, others were accepted fairly easily for providing new scientific knowledge. Newton was celebrated during his lifetime and after, and was buried in Westminster Abbey after being knighted for his contributions. Of course, he lived a century later than Copernicus in a country that had had its own independent church for several centuries at that point. But perhaps the acceptance of his work compared with that of the earlier contributors to the scientific revolution showed a gradual acceptance of the new way of looking at the world that had emerged along with revolutionary thought and evolving technologies which made it harder and harder to ignore the new findings. The scientific revolution would lead directly to the enlightenment period, when the prevailing ideals of using reason, questioning traditional ideals grounded in faith, and to increase knowledge. Certainly this movement had its roots in the scepticism began by the scientific revolution.
