Essay Outline 2

3. In the centuries following the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe seemed an
unlikely candidate to become a world power center that would start to expand
overseas in the 1400s. Write an essay in which you discuss the changes (social,
economic and intellectual) that took place in the few centuries leading up to the
year 1500 which set the groundwork for European expansion. Then demonstrate
how this process of overseas expansion began by citing an early example of this
phenomenon.

Many people see the Roman Empire as one of the greatest empires to have ever existed, as it

encompassed a vast territory, from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Anatolian

mountains in the east and from the southern lands of Britain in the north to the fertile lands of

Egypt to the south. After the fall of the Roman Empire, more specifically the western half as

the eastern half survived to become the Byzantium Empire, Europe declined as civilization

and knowledge were lost. The centuries following the fall of the Roman Empire were the rise

of various feudal kingdoms, the emergence of Christianity as a state religion, and the rise of

the knights. Compared to China and the Muslim World, where both were mostly centralized

by a caliph or an emperor and were highly advanced with the Muslim World having the

knowledge of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, Europe does not seem to be a place where

world powers would rise. In the 1300s, this remained the case as the kingdoms in Europe

were ruled decentralized with nobles sometimes having more influence than the king and the

church reigned supreme as priests presided over spiritual affairs and discouraged others from

straying from the word of God, which meant they reject the ancient writings of the Romans

and the Greeks. However, in the 1400s, Europe began to change socially, economically, and

intellectually as new developments began to be introduced such as the Bubonic plague and

the Black Death, the Renaissance, the Reconquista, and the discovery of the Americas. Both

the Bubonic plague and the Black Death have killed thousands of people, which while a
massive loss of life, did incentivize the introduction of new technologies such as the

wheelbarrow and the horse plough, which enabled a person to carry items much easier and

plough faster and use less amount of manpower. The Renaissance was a period where Europe

rediscovered the writings of the Ancient Greeks and Romans from both the Muslims, who

were the first to translate these texts into Arab, and the Byzantines who were fleeing from the

Ottomans. Not only that, but new technologies were also introduced such as the printing press

which allowed books to be published much cheaper, which coincidentally helped the process

of disseminating the ancient knowledge and texts of the Greeks and Romans. With these

texts, Europe began to develop scientifically and culturally, with painters, sculptors and

artisans beginning to use Roman techniques in their craft, a new understanding of the

sciences such as anatomy and astronomy by scientists, invention of new instruments that

correlate with the previous statement such as telescopes, and most importantly the

introduction of using reason instead of faith. The Reconquista was a period of conquests by

the Iberian kingdoms of Castille, Aragon and Portugal to expel the Muslims of Al-Andalus

from Iberia. From here, knowledge was further taken from the Arabs as Al-Andalus was the

most advanced in all of Europe at the time, thus contributing to the Renaissance.

Furthermore, three important events occurred, which were the unification of Castille and

Aragon into Spain, which made it the largest power in Iberia, the formation of the Spanish

Inquisition, and the sponsorship of Christopher Columbus. While the Inquisition may have

expelled the Muslims and any who did not follow the Christian faith, the knowledge from

them was not banned in its entirety. Most importantly, the monarchs who unified Spain

sponsored Columbus’s voyage which made it possible for the eventual colonization of the

New World and subsequently paved the way for European expansion across the world. While

it may seem that the colonization by the Europeans seems imminent, certain tests had to be

conducted before colonizing, and there were two islands fit for these tests. These were the
islands of Madeira and the Canary Islands and the tests conducted were cultivation of cash

crops, the importation of slave labour, and the spread of disease among the indigenous

natives.

Madeira:

Madeira was first colonized by the Portuguese, and at first they brought wheat. However,

they began to grow sugar, which resulted in sugar being the main export of the island.

There were not enough local workers, therefore slaves were imported from Africa to work on

the plantations, one of the factors that would be common in the following centuries.

There were no natives on the island, therefore disease did not play a role in the colonization

efforts.

Canary Islands(Tenerife):

Tenerife, an island part of the Canary Islands, was inhabited by indigenous natives, however,

it was later colonized by the Spanish. They also introduced sugar plantations on the island,

making sugar the main export of the island. They also exported wine at the same time.

The natives who resisted the Spanish became enslaved and worked in the plantations, and

when there was not enough slave labour, they imported it from Africa, which would later

become a common sight in Spanish colonies during their Golden Age.

The natives were introduced to diseases by the Spanish, and since they were isolated from

Eurasia, they were not as resistant as the Spanish to these diseases, such as smallpox and

tuberculosis. Thus, many were killed, which helped the colonization efforts of the Spanish.