From the fall of the Roman Empire to the Age of Exploration

Creating AmericaChapter 1 pg. 44 - 48

* Began when the Roman Empire grew weak and fell to invading Germanic tribes (400’s)

 * Government and trade networks were destroyed

as Europe was divided into small kingdoms * People stopped using money and began to barter * Vikings began invading small villages (800’s to

1000’s) * Europeans developed a system of feudalism for

protection

* Feudalism is the political system in which a king allows nobles (lords) to use lands that belong to him and in return the nobles owe the king military service and protection for the people living on the land

* The Manor System is an economic system in which nobles (lords) divided their land into manors, large estates, that were farmed by serfs and in return serfs were promised protection

* Serfs didn’t own land and could not leave the manor

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* The church took over duties of the former Roman government (collecting taxes, aiding the sick, punishing crimes)

 * Since Europe was divided it became a powerful,

unifying force

* Feudalism led to peace and stability

* Merchants began to travel, new ideas began to spread

* New farming methods were developed which led to a surplus of food, which led to more people, which led to a increase in demand for goods, which spurred trade, which caused towns to grow, money came back into use

* Serfs began to run away from manors and became merchant and craftspeople

* A new class developed, the middle class

* Mediterranean countries started to trade with Asian countries

* The Crusades also spurred trade because ships that took soldiers to the Middle East also brought back goods to Europe

* After the Crusades ended trade continued

 * Spices were among the most luxurious products available in the Middle Ages, the most common being black pepper, cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.

* They all had to be imported from Asia and Africa, which made them extremely expensive.

* It has been estimated that around 1,000 tons of pepper and 1,000 tons of the other common spices were imported into Western Europe each year during the late Middle Ages.

* The Black Death, or The Black Plague, was one of the most deadly pandemics in human history. It began in South-western or Central Asia and spread to Europe by the late 1340s.

* The total number of deaths worldwide is estimated at 75 million people; there were an estimated 20 million deaths in Europe alone. The Black Death is estimated to have killed between a third and two-thirds of Europe's population.

* As serfs fled the manor, nobles lost part of their workforce and power and profits

* In 1300’s the bubonic plague swept Europe,

killing ¼ of the population and further reducing the number of workers

* Kings and townspeople developed a different relationship, Kings promised armies to protect towns and trade routes and townspeople agreed to pay taxes

* Growth of trade caused merchants to develop new business practices, such as tracking profit (bookkeeping)

* Italian merchants began to use military strength to protect trade routes

* Other European merchants began searching for different routes to Asia