The Rise of EuropeEnd of Feudalism, the Growth of Trade and the

Commercial Revolution

Impact of the Crusades• Interaction with world

• Soap, Spices, Silk, Salt

• Exploration cultural interactions

• More trade routes

• Growth of towns• Concentrated in

urban centers• End of Feudalism

Pax Mongolia

• What does stability and peace lead to?

• Open trade routes

Zheng He and Ibn Battuta

What impact would these gentleman have had?

Big ideaAfter the Crusades goods, goods, and more goods are

showing up from Asia via the Silk Road.

Who is going to control the trade routes into Europe?

Italian City-State

• Venice, Florence, Naples

• Impact of geography

• Located on Mediterranean Sea

• Developed urban centers

• Who would be the wealthiest and most powerful citizenry?

Hanseatic League

•Alliance of trading states in Northern Europe

• Created a trading monopoly between the North and Baltic Seas

• Traded timber, furs, honey, cloth, and wheat

Where is waterborne trade expanding to? What goods are traded?

Hanseatic and Italian City-State trade routes

Portuguese and SpanishSpice Trade

• Attempt to break Venice’s monopoly on spices

• Black pepper, cinnamon, cloves

• Monarchs invest $$ for exploration

• Spanish and Portuguese compete for global monopolies

•Leads to Age of Exploration

I love spices!

Goal…Reach the Spice Islands – Why? How do we get there?

Early exploration of new trade routes

The creation of new business practices coincide with the rise of exploration

Commercial Revolution

Changes in business and trade practices in Europe

◦ Overseas trade

◦ Banking◦ Changing

social structure Merchants

were king – buying & selling of goods

Towns and the Middle Class

• More trade = more towns/cities

• Population boooooom

• Dirty, unplanned cities• How do you go to the

bathroom?

• Towns offered economic opportunities

• What would this lead to?• “Town air makes you free”

Guilds• A group of people with the same occupation

• Like a union

• Controlled wages, prices, and quality of goods in field

• Only “masters” could join guild

• Apprentice journeyman master

• Other examples…• Silversmiths, goldsmiths,

tailors, winemakers, druggists, glassmakers, wheelwrights

Rise of Capitalism

• Economic system

• Based on private ownership and investment of wealth

• For profit

• Governments no longer sole owners of wealth

• Rise of the…• Merchants…

• People invest $ in trade, companies, businesses

What is the downside to capitalism?

New Business Practices

• Joint Stock Company• People pool $$

for common purpose ($$$)

• Like a modern day company

• You own stocks, or shares, of a company

•How do you gain or lose money?

What is the point of these cartoons?

Social Changes

• Merchants & Bankers rise in status

• Why?

• No more serfs• Why?

• Stable countries

• No more knights • Why?

• Increase in social mobility

• How did the plague impact society and social mobility?

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