The Age of Absolutism

The Age of Absolutism Small Group Activity

Topic: European Geography

Working cooperatively, students will complete two

maps

Map 1 – Europe

Map2 – Europe during the Age of Absolutism

The Age of Absolutism Map 1

The Age of Absolutism Map 2

The Age of Absolutism

CAUSES OFABSOLUTE MONARCHY

The Age of Absolutism Spain and the Hapsburg Empire

1500s, Spain emerged as the first modern power

TTYN: Why was Spain the first European nation to emerge?

Hint – Think about your American History

The Age of Discovery

The Age of Absolutism Why Spain? A Look Back at the Crusades…

Christians Fight the Moors

The Crusades in Jerusalem was not the only place

where Christians fought against Muslims.

In Spain and Portugal, armed Christian warriors fought

to drive the Muslim Moors out of their lands.

The Moors population consisted of people from North

Africa and Arab descent who settled in the lands of

Spain for more than 800 years.

The Age of Absolutism

By 1002 the once powerful Muslim government of

Spain weakened due to battles for power between

political and religious leaders.

Caught up in fighting among themselves, Muslim

leaders were too busy to guard against the Christian

kingdoms of northern Spain..too busy fighting among

themselves.

Muslim Control of Spain Weakens

The Age of Absolutism The Spanish

Reconquista

(reconquest) was an

effort to retake Spain

from the Muslim Moors.

At the time, Spain was

divided into several small

kingdoms:

Castile

Aragon

Granada

Portugal

The Age of Absolutism

Reconquest Complete

Christian armies won victory after victory. By the

1250s, the Moors were nearly pushed completely out

of Spain and Europe.

In Spain the celebration of 1492 is not for

Columbus, but a celebration of the fall of Granada –

the last hold that Muslims had on Spain.

The Age of Absolutism

Isabella and Ferdinand

In 1469 Ferdinand, the prince of Aragon, married

Isabella, a Castilian princess.

Ten years later in 1479, they became the king and

queen of their countries.

Together they ruled all of Spain as King Ferdinand

and Queen Isabella.

They brought an end to the Reconquista when the

last of the Muslims were forced from Granada.

The Age of Absolutism

Isabella and Ferdinand

The Age of Absolutism

Isabella and Ferdinand

The Age of Absolutism

Ferdinand and Isabella only wanted Catholic

Christians in their kingdom.

TTYN: How might the Monarch within Spain go about

creating a Christian State and one with only Catholics?

To ensure that Christianity alone was practiced, they

created the Spanish Inquisition – an organization of

priests that looked for and punished anyone in Spain

suspected of practicing non-Christian religions.

A Christian State

The Age of Absolutism

Ferdinand and Isabella chose Catholicism to unite

Spain and in 1478 asked permission of the pope to

begin the Spanish Inquisition to purify the people of

Spain.

They began by driving out Jews, Protestants and

other non-believers.

The Spanish Inquisition

Inquisition - a judicial or official inquiry or examination usually before a jury; also : the finding of the jury