THe Impact of Ideas
1500–1750
7.8 Students analyze the origins, accomplishments, and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance.
This unit investigates religious, cultural, and intellectual changes in the period from 1500 to 1750. Students see the impact of new information owing into Europe from the “discoveries” in the Americas as a more critical factor in reshaping European thought than the cultural movement of the Renaissance. While the Reformation was a critically important development in Christianity, other world religions continued to change and spread in this period as well. To reflect this new historiography, this unit focuses on two strands—religion and cultural and intellectual developments both in the world context. Rewriting of this unit also addresses the problem of teaching abstract concepts to seventh- graders in May and June. It streamlines the content to focus on the most important developments and recommends activities that will engage students as well as challenge them.
source:California History–Social Science Framework | Chapter 11
- 1. Describe the way in which the revival of classical learning and the arts fostered a new interest in humanism (i.e., a balance between intellect and religious faith).
- Explain the importance of Florence in the early stages of the Renaissance and the growth of independent trading cities (e.g., Venice), with emphasis on the cities’ impor tance in the spread of Renaissance ideas.
- Understand the effects of the reopening of the ancient “Silk Road” between Europe and China, including Marco Polo’s travels and the location of his routes.
- Describe the growth and effects of new ways of disseminating information (e.g., the ability to manufacture paper, translation of the Bible into the vernacular, printing).
- Detail advances made in literature, the arts, science, mathematics, cartography, engi neering, and the understanding of human anatomy and astronomy (e.g., by Dante Alighieri, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo di Buonarroti Simoni, Johann Gutenberg, William Shakespeare).
- List the causes for the internal turmoil in and weakening of the Catholic church (e.g., tax policies, selling of indulgences).
- Describe the theological, political, and economic ideas of the major figures during the Reformation (e.g., Desiderius Erasmus, Martin Luther, John Calvin, William Tyndale).
- Explain Protestants’ new practices of church self-government and the influence of those practices on the development of democratic practices and ideas of federalism.
- Identify and locate the European regions that remained Catholic and those that be came Protestant and explain how the division affected the distribution of religions in the New World.
- Analyze how the Counter-Reformation revitalized the Catholic church and the forces that fostered the movement (e.g., St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits, the Council of Trent).
- Understand the institution and impact of missionaries on Christianity and the diffu sion of Christianity from Europe to other parts of the world in the medieval and early modern periods; locate missions on a world map.
- Describe the Golden Age of cooperation between Jews and Muslims in medieval Spain that promoted creativity in art, literature, and science, including how that cooperation was terminated by the religious persecution of individuals and groups (e.g., the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain in 1492).
- Discuss the roots of the Scientific Revolution (e.g., Greek rationalism; Jewish, Chris tian, and Muslim science; Renaissance humanism; new knowledge from global explo ration).
- Understand the significance of the new scientific theories (e.g., those of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton) and the significance of new inventions (e.g., the telescope, microscope, thermometer, barometer).
- Understand the scientific method advanced by Bacon and Descartes, the influence of new scientific rationalism on the growth of democratic ideas, and the coexistence of science with traditional religious beliefs.
This unit investigates religious, cultural, and intellectual changes in the period from 1500 to 1750. Students see the impact of new information owing into Europe from the “discoveries” in the Americas as a more critical factor in reshaping European thought than the cultural movement of the Renaissance. While the Reformation was a critically important development in Christianity, other world religions continued to change and spread in this period as well. To reflect this new historiography, this unit focuses on two strands—religion and cultural and intellectual developments both in the world context. Rewriting of this unit also addresses the problem of teaching abstract concepts to seventh- graders in May and June. It streamlines the content to focus on the most important developments and recommends activities that will engage students as well as challenge them.
source:California History–Social Science Framework | Chapter 11
guiding questions
- How did the Reformation divide the Christian Church, millions of people, and European states?
- How did world religions change and spread during the early modern period?
- What were the effects of the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution? Why were natural rights, the social contract, and other ideas of the Enlightenment revolutionary?
Vocabulary |
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LEONARDO DA VINCIPlease see how this connects to our world and course.
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