The Renaissance and the

Roots of the Modern World

Unit 2

What does it mean to be

modern?

What, if anything, is modern in particular about

the Renaissance and Reformation?

To what extent is the Renaissance and

Reformation not modern?

Is the Renaissance and Reformation a logical

beginning for the story of the modern world?

Invented Traditions

“Traditions’ which appear or claim to be old are often quite recent in origin and sometimes invented…”

First modern man?

“What else, then,

is all history, if not

the praise of

Rome?”

Petrarch,

1304-1374

“Let fate do her worst,

there are relics of joy,

Bright dreams of the past,

which she cannot destroy;

Which come in the night-time

of sorrow and care,

And bring back the features

that joy used to wear.

Long, long be my heart

with such memories fill’d!

Like the vase, in which roses

have once been distill’d-

You may break, you may shatter

the vase if you will

But the scent of the roses

will hang round it still.”

Farewell….

By Thomas Moore,

1779-1852

Tools of Torture, 1508

Scaffold,

Stake,

Decapitator,

Sword,

Stock,

Thumbscrews,

Whipping post,

Rack,

Flesh pincers

Theodoric of York,

Medieval Barber

Click to watch

Saturday Night

Live skit

B.C. 753 Foundation of Rome

A.D. 1100 Period of the First

Crusade

A.D. 1294 Empire of Kublai Khan

A.D. 1498 Discovery of America

Rise of Renaissance Humanism

Middle Age--Divine Law Renaissance-Natural Law

Humanism

Emphasis more on here and now instead

Role of individual

Rights of Man vs. Rights of Men

Exploration of wider world

Fairbanks, Alaska 12,000 years ago-

Modern times or not—

—depends entirely on perspective!

“Big History” Years before Present

• 14 BILLION (universe)

• 4.6 billion (solar system)

• 2.5 billion (photosynthesis oxygen)

• 1.5 billon (first complex cells)

• 600 MILLION (first fossils)

• 500 million (vertebrates)

• 325 million (reptiles)

• 250 million (mammals)

• 240 million (dinosaurs)

• 200 million (birds)

• 65 million (extinction of dinosaurs)

7 million (first hominines, bipeds)

250,000 (Homo sapiens, language)

“Big History” Three Eras of Big Human History

ERA NO. 1 FORAGING

250,000 to 10,000 Years Ago - “Paleolithic” (Old Stone Age)

Energy use 2,000 to 5,000 calories per day per cap

ERA NO. 2 AGRICULTURE

10,000 to 250 Years Ago - “Neolithic” (New Stone Age) to

Bronze and Iron Ages

Energy use 12,000 to 26,000 calories per day per cap

ERA NO. 3 INDUSTRIAL

250 years to present - The Steam and Electric Age

Energy use 77,000 to 230,000 calories per day per cap

The Big

Story?

2000 years of World History

“…everything to the left of 1800 is an approximation of population distribution around the world and everything to the right of 1800 is a demonstration of productivity divergences around the world -- the mastering of means of manufacturing, production and supply chains by steam, electricity, and ultimately software…” Derek Thompson, The Atlantichttp://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/06/the-economic-history-of-the-last-2-000-years-in-1-little-graph/258676/

Hans Rosling 3D

Visualization from

Poor & Sick to Rich

& Healthy in last

200 years

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo

Click on the link to view the 3D Visualization

“The Anthropocene,”

The Age of Man

More change in past six

seconds—250 years—than in

the previous 250,000 years.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Climate Change

Science is never completely

certain!

“The doubters are right that

uncertainties are rife in climate

science. They are wrong when

they present that as a reason for

inaction.” (Economist, March 18,

2010)

The Great Mystery of

Modern History

The great mystery of the modern world is how

and why the so-called “continent” of Europe,

which in the 15th century, was an economic,

cultural and political backwater, would come

to dominate every sphere of human activity

on the planet by the end of the 19h century.

7 Revolutionary Factors

1. Science

2. Liberalism

3. Energy

4. Market economy

5. Factory production

6. Nationalism

7. War