EXPLORATION AND
EXPANSION
Chapter 16
SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
•
From Magic to Science
• Natural Philosophers: religious
teachings + classical thought to
explain the unexplainable
•
Roger Bacon: 1200s scientist &
philosopher
• Favored a system of experimentation
as a means of finding truth (not faith)
•
Scientific Revolution: experiments &
mathematics used to explain nature
• Answered questions in physics,
astronomy & anatomy
NEW STUDY OF NATURE
• Scientists of 1500s question ancients
• Form conclusions based on their
own observations
• 3 new tools to study
• Scientific instruments: barometer,
microscope, telescope, air pump &
thermometer
• Mathematics
• Experimentation – repeated for
consistency
• Scientific Method
ASTRONOMY
• Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish scientist)
• Ptolemy – geocentric theory – Earth is the center of
the universe
• Copernicus’s heliocentric theory
• Sun centered universe
• Published in 1543 – no initial reaction dismissed
• Johannes Kepler (German Astronomer)
• Proved Copernicus’s theory
• Used models, observation & math
• Laws of planetary motion 1609
GALILEO GALILEI
• Galileo
• Created own version of telescope
• Saw mountains & valleys on moon, rings of Saturn, moons of Jupiter
and spots on the sun
• Published findings in 1632 – upheaval
• Church declared telescope an invention of the devil
ISSAC NEWTON
•
Newton (English Scientist)
•
Law of Universal Gravitation
• Force that holds planets in orbit = same force that causes objects to
fall to earth
• Explained laws of motion (3) & how to measure it
• Changed the game!
• Creation viewed as a giant mechanical clock
“Nature and nature’s laws lay hid in night; God said, “Let Newton be!” and all was light.”
Alexander Pope
VESALIUS & HARVEY
• Andreas Vesalius (Flemish Scientist)
• Pioneered the study of anatomy
• 7 Volume’s – amazing detail,
visual understanding of how
body works
• William Harvey (English physician)
• Studied circulation of blood
• Described how blood moves
through body
• Functions of the heart
“I advise you not to trouble with words unless you are speaking to blind men.”
Da Vinci
DESCARTES
•
Rene Descartes (French philosopher &
mathematician)
• No assumption could be accepted
w/o question
• Published: Discourse on Method
(1637) – assumptions must be proven
on basis of known facts
• “I think therefore I am”
• Challenged the Church – lived in
Protestant Sweden
MMM BACON…..
•
Francis Bacon (English philosopher &
scientist)
• Scientific theories can be developed
only through observation
• Can’t trust an observation unless you
can repeat it
MERCANTILISM
•
Mercantilism – Country’s wealth = how much gold and silver it has saved
• World had a fixed amount of wealth
• Increase – take it from another country
•
Balance of Trade
• Favorable BoT: export more than you import
•
3 Ways to achieve a Favorable BoT:
• 1.) Tariffs – reduce the amount of imports by taxing goods
• 2.) Subsidies – gov’t grants to start new industries & build ships
• 3.) Gain control of overseas resources (colonization)
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
•
October 12, 1492 Lands at San Salvador (Bahamas)
• West Indies – believed he landed off the coast of Asia
•
Columbian Exchange – Trade B/W Americas’s and Europe
• Opened up regular trade b/w Eastern & Western Hemisphere
• Gold & Silver mined in South America was shipped to Spain
• American foods (potatoes, tomatoes, beans & corn) introduced to Europe
• Spanish brought horses to America
• Exchanged diseases (smallpox) – killing millions
TRIANGLE TRADE
•
Triangular Trade
• 1st merchants shipped cotton goods, weapons & liquor to Africa in exchange for
slaves or gold
• 2nd exchange or Middle Passage – Route of slaves from Africa to Americas sold to
Plantation owners
• 3rd exchange sent plantation’s products to Europe
•
Middle Passage
• Brutal and degrading
• Slaves were chained together in the hull of the ship
• No sanitation, little food or water – many died in travel
• Mid 1700’s – Early 1800’s estimated 10 million survived the trip