SO 101
World History
Time is long,
history is short.
A Chronology
from “The Big Bang” to Today
 Time is extremely long and recorded history is extremely
short. Even though we are concerned with a only a very
small portion of history, it is probably a good idea to look at
the entire length of time and the major era’s of history.
 Time itself can be measured on a number of scales from very
short, nanoseconds to very long, eons.
 The very longest scale might be called Cosmological time,
the entire time that the universe has existed. Currently it is
held that the universe began in an instantaneous event—The
Big Bang—about 13.75 Billion years ago.
Chronology
 From a point of “singularity”, the universe expanded and
developed over billions of years of time.
 About 4.75 billion years ago, geological time began as
the earth and other planets of the solar system formed
around the sun, one of a billion, billion stars which had
formed in space.
 Over a billion years later, around 3.5 billion years ago,
conditions on earth had arrived at a point capable of
sustaining extremely simple single celled forms of life and
biological time had begun.
Chronology
 The “evolution” of life on earth proceeded over billions of
years. Life seemingly develops from simple to complex, first
in the seas, then on the land and in the skies. Both plant and
animal life developed in enormous diversity.
 For our purpose, the next important milestone occurs about
60 million years ago with the emergence of the earliest
primates, earliest members of the same specie to which we
belong. These small, 4 legged and long tailed mammals, bear
no resemblance to us but they are our earliest mammalian
ancestors.
Chronology
 Primates developed over 10’s of millions of years, competing
with other species and developing into a number of distinct
lines: monkeys, apes and men.
 About 2 million years ago, our earliest direct ancestors,
not human but not ape or monkey either, appear on the
scene. They are called hominids, or man-like creatures.
They possess a number of characteristics we still share.
 Erect stance
 Bi-pedal locomotion
 Stereoscopic vision
 Opposable thumb and precision grip
 Manufacture and use of tools.
Chronology
 These hominids all emerged, based on the skeletal fossil
record, in the area of what is now the Rift Valley of
eastern Africa.
 Over more than a million years, the hominids developed, in
some cases became extinct, and in other cases began to move
out of Africa and into Asia and Europe.
 By 100,000 years ago, some of these hominids on all three
continents had developed characteristics both physical and
mental to be classified as Homo Sapiens—thinking man,
the same designation we bear ourselves.
Chronology
 Between 100,000 and 70,000 years ago, two major types
of homo sapiens seemed to be flourishing on the 3 inhabited
continents: Neanderthal Man and Cro-Magnon Man.
 Neanderthal, who subsequently became extinct, buried their
dead with reverence and with offerings for apparent use in an
“afterlife.” This is a demonstration of both advanced abstract
thought and one of the earliest demonstrations of religious
belief.
 Cro-Magnon, who apparently is our immediate ancestor,
created cave paintings and sculpture, the 1st artists and did so
to influence the future—sympathetic magic. We use
different methods and call it technology.
Chronology
 50,000 years ago, Modern Man, anatomically identical to
us today, is on the scene. 50,000 years is a whole lot less
than 13. 75 billion—but wait there is even less that we will
be studying in depth!
 We divide all of human, and even hominid, existence into
5 Eras.
 The 1st, and by far the longest era, is the Prehistoric. It
encompasses most of humanity’s existence and during none
of it did man keep written records of his accomplishments.
So it is all Pre-History.
Prehistoric
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
 Because human technology was based on stone tools, which
are about the only artifacts to survive the era, it is often
referred to as the Stone Age. Actually there are 3 stone ages
and they are the path mankind followed to civilization.
 The 1st of the 3 is the Paleolithic Era. (paleos=old and
lithos=stone in Greek).
 The Paleolithic is the longest single period of human
existence. It begins with the first hominids and extends to
the most recent ice age, about 10,000 years ago.
Paleolithic
 The Paleolithic period has the following characteristics:
 Overall world population estimated to be under
2 million total by the end of the period. Mankind had
spread to all 6 of the inhabited continents by that time.
 All lived in small tribal groups and all pursued an economy
of Hunting and Gathering. There are very few possessions.
 Hunter-gatherers are nomads, constantly moving in search
of new sources of food. All members of the tribe, men, women
and children take part in the process of food collection. The
very young are provided for and no one lives to be very old as
life expectancy is under 30. You are worn out by then.
Mesolithic
Middle Stone Age
 About 10,000 years ago, in some parts of Africa, Asia and
Europe some tribes managed to tame or domesticate
some animals.
 Dogs were probably the first animal to associate with man.
They provided each other with food, protection and
companionship.
 Other animals which man came to rely on included:
 Sheep and goats
 Oxen and cattle
 Horses and camels
 Swine and ducks
 This form of economy is called transhumance.
Neolithic
New Stone Age
 About 8,000 years ago, another major change occurred in some
places, but not in all places.
 It marks the start of the Neolithic (New Stone Age). It is one
of the most important things to happen in all of human history.
 It is often referred to as the Neolithic Revolution and it has
virtually nothing to do with stones but a lot to do with soil.
 During the Neolithic period, Agriculture, food production,
was introduced in some parts of Africa and Asia. This would
transform the world and trigger the rise of civilization wherever
and whenever the development occurred.
Neolithic Revolution
 Agriculture most probably was an “accidental” discovery by
a woman or child following the dropping of grain onto soil fertile
and wet enough to allow the grain to germinate and grow.
 By deliberately repeating this process with repeated success, an
entirely new and far more reliable food supply was established.
 Among the earliest crops were the cereal grains:
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Wheat
Barley
Rye
Rice
Oats
 Man had become a food producer.
Neolithic Revolution
 In a short period of time, additional crops including olives,
vegetables and fruits were being planted cultivated and
harvested.
 Agriculture did not take off everywhere at once. Not every
place inhabited by man had the necessary conditions to
support it:
 Fertile soil
 Adequate supply of fresh water
 Stable climate with a sufficiently long growing season.
 These conditions were often found in river valleys.
Neolithic Revolution
 As a result, agriculture first was adopted in a number of river
valleys in Africa and Asia.
 The Nile of Egypt
 The Tigris-Euphrates of Mesopotamia in Western Asia
 The Indus and Ganges of India in in South Asia
 The Mekong of Southeast Asia
 The Hwang-Ho of China
 More than providing the earliest farms on earth these valleys
were also the seats of the first civilizations on earth.
 Note that none were in Europe or the America’s.
Rise of Civilization
 With the adoption of agriculture, a number of immediate
benefits were received:
A larger, more consistent and more reliable food supply.
A rapid increase in population.
Declining mortality rates and increasing life expectancy.
An end to the seemingly endless cycle of nomadic
wanderings which had been humanity’s common experience
as a hunter-gatherer or herdsman.
 The adoption of a sedentary, or settled, life style.
 Camps were replaced by villages, towns and cities.
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 Primitive Culture gives way to advanced
civilization.
Characteristics of
Civilization
 :Civilizations have a number of common characteristics:
 Reliance on agriculture.
 Increasingly larger sedentary populations.
 Specialization of labor.
 Development of advanced technologies:
 Construction
 Textiles
 Tool and weapons fabrication
 Metallurgy
 Need for more organized and complex systems of government.
 Development of more ritualized and complex religions.
 Necessity of permanent, reliable written records.
Ancient Era
5,000 BC-1450 BC
 Among the oldest systems of writing to develop were:
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Hieroglyphics (sacred writing) of Egypt.
Cuneiform (wedge-shape) of Mesopotamia.
Sanskrit of India.
Chinese ideographic calligraphy.
 Though all are entirely different, they all served a common
purpose: to meet the needs of advancing civilizations.
 They also allow the first accurate record to be kept of
historical events.
 The Pre-Historic Era ends and Historical times begins with
the Ancient Era.
Classical Era
1450 BC-476 AD
 It is important to note that no true civilization emerged in
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Europe, the “West”, during the Ancient Era. People there
remained in nomadic cultures and had little contact with the
civilized people to the “East and South.”
A civilization did emerge on an island south of Greece, Crete,
there a powerful kingdom, based on sea trade rose and became
known as the Minoan Civilization.
The Minoans dominated the primitive peoples of Greece.
Around 1450 BC a volcanic island, Thera, north of Crete
exploded and the resulting tsunami devastated the Minoan cities.
As a result, a civilization did emerge in Greece.
Classic Civilizations
 Three civilizations emerged in Europe over 2,000 years.
 Greece
 Geographically divided, culturally united.
 Defended Europe from Persian conquest.
 Birthplace of democracy.
 Source of western philosophy, art, architecture.
 Depleted self in war between Athens and Sparta. (Peloponnesian War)
 Hellenistic
 Philip of Macedon forced the unification of Greek city-states
 Alexander led the united peoples to conquer Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia,
Afghanistan, and part of India. His army mutinied when he announced his
plan to conquer China!
 Upon his death , his Empire was divided amongst his generals.
 Rome
 Last and in some ways most important for us today.
Classic Civilization
Rome
 Rome began as an obscure outpost of the Latin tribe.
 Around 753 B.C. it emerged as an independent city state.
 It was subsequently conquered by the Etruscans from whom the Romans
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learned much and who were in turn overthrown by them in 509 B.C.
The Romans rejected monarchy and proclaimed a Republic, or
representative democracy.
From then until 27 B.C., Rome remained committed to the principals of
limited government power but quickly dedicated itself to territorial expansion,
Imperialism.
Having consolidated control over Northern and Central Italy, the Romans
engaged in 3 brutal wars with Carthage, a North African competitor.
Emerging victorious in these Punic Wars, Rome next annexed the Greek
colonies in Southern Italy, expanded its control into Eastern Europe and
Western Asia and at the same time conquered Spain, Gaul, Germania and
Britain.
Classic Civilization
Rome
 In 44 B.C., Julius Caesar, an ambitious general, attempted to
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seize control of Rome. He was assassinated but power was passed,
first to his aide Marc Antony and eventually to his nephew and
heir, Octavian.
By 27 B.C. Octavian had eliminated Marc Antony and adding
Egypt to Rome’s territories was proclaimed Caesar, Emperor
and Augustus, the “First Citizen.” Rome was transformed into
an Imperial State and the Republic remained in name only.
From 27 B.C. to 180 A.D., Rome experienced a period of
prolonged Peace, and Prosperity—The Pax Romana.
Roman law, language, and culture were spread across 3
continents.
During this time, Christianity emerged and spread throughout
the empire and was constantly persecuted.
Classic Civilizations
Rome
 From 180 A.D. onward, the power of Rome entered into a
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gradual but ever accelerating decline.
Internal corruption, declining wealth and increasing pressure
from barbarian invaders emerging from central Asia reduced
the power of the state.
By 312 A.D., Christianity was given official recognition as a
legitimate religion. By 322, the capital of the Empire was moved
to Constantinople and the Empire itself was divided.
The Western portion of the Empire was broken and occupied the
barbarian invaders, Goths, Vandals, Franks, Germans.
In 476 A.D., the city of Rome, was sacked and a Barbarian,
Odoacer, proclaimed himself Emperor. In reality, the Bishop of
Rome, the Pope, became the most important ruler in the
old empire. The Classical Period had come to an end.
Medieval Era
The Dark Ages
 Although the Eastern Roman Empire would endure for another thousand
years, before collapsing in 1453 A.D., the west entered into a period of
prolonged chaos.
 From 476 A.D. to 800 A.D., times were so tough that the period is often
called the Dark Ages.
 Feudalism: Political system of hundreds of small states linked by bonds of
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personal loyalty between noble lords.
Manorialism: Economic system of independent estates, owned by nobles
worked by peasant serfs.
Chivalry: Military system to train and restrain mounted knights who formed
small but powerful armies.
Roman Catholicism: the universal religion of the west.
Regular clergy of the monastic system and secular clergy who resided in
the villages and few remaining towns. Hierarchy of bishops answering to the
Pope, the Bishop of Rome, Apostolic successor to St. Peter.
The Eastern clergy, rejected the Pope’s supremacy and, in 1054, by schism
became Orthodoxy.
Middle Ages
High Middle Ages
 In 800 A.D., conditions had improved enough that the Pope,
tried to jump start an imperial restoration by crowning
Charlemagne, king of the Franks, as Holy Roman
Emperor.
 The plan ultimately failed but the title was around until
1805.
 The Carolingian Renaissance saw arts, architecture and
philosophy begin to reemerge in the west. Trade and
commerce began to develop. Progress seemed to be on the
upswing. A new light was dawning in the Darkness.
High Middle Ages
800-1350 A.D.
 In 1096, European Armies of kings, nobles and peasants launched
an invasion of the Holy Land. The first of at least 9 Crusades, they
captured Jerusalem in 1099. Trade routes between Europe
and Asia opened.
 In the12th century the first universities were opened in Vienna,
Paris, and Oxford.
 The growth of trade sparked a revival of towns and cities
and the expansion of both wealth and the population of the
west.
 In 1127, in Paris, work began on a new style of architecture with
the construction of St. Denis, the first Gothic structure. It
became the trigger for an explosion of religious, architectural and
engineering genius.
Romanesque vs. Gothic
 Prior to this, there had been few large structures built since
the end of the Roman era. Those that were built were
modeled on Roman styles and so were called Romanesque.
The largest churches were:
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Low structures 30-40 feet high built of brick and mortar.
Extremely thick walls with few openings for windows.
Interior pillars occupying much floor space.
Dark and cramped interiors.
Relatively little decoration.
 Compared to the buildings of the Dark Ages they seemed
advanced, but, compared to Gothic they would seem
primitive.
Gothic Architecture
 The Gothic style involved:
 Extremely high structures 90-120 feet from floor to ceiling with
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spires rising even higher above the structure.
Thin walls of stone with vast areas of open space for stained
glass windows flooding the interior space with light.
Open floor space with no pillars supporting the roof, that was
done by external supports called buttresses—which required very
sophisticated engineering.
Interior and exterior stone work was covered with carvings and
sculpture. Even if men could not see the work, God could.
Notre Dame, Chartres, Westminster are examples of the style.
Gothic Architecture
 These structures were extremely complex, large and
expensive.
 They were built over periods of decades and in some cases
centuries.
 They were proof of their builders devotion to God, skill as
architects, engineers and builders, and were symbols as well
of the wealth and pride of the cities where the rose.
 They were in no way the product of a “Dark Age.” In fact
they would not be reviled for size or sophistication for
hundreds of years after the end of the medieval period.
The Black Death
End of the Medieval Era
 As population increased, trade inside and outside of Europe
flourished and towns and cities grew larger, conditions were
established for a major catastrophe which killed up to 1/3 of
the population of Europe—the Bubonic Plague or Black
Death.
 Bubonic Plague (Pasturella Pestis) was and remains endemic
in many parts of the world, including the SW part of the
United States. One such place was along the trade route
from East Asia to the Middle East. There the bacillus resided
in the blood of fleas, which in turn infested the fur of rats and
any other warm blooded sources of flea nutrition—blood.
The Black Death
 The infested rats, carrying the infected fleas travelled along
in the cargoes of caravans moving west and in the mid 14th
century, outbreaks of plague occurred along the trade route.
 By 1346, outbreaks of plague occurred on the coast of the
Black Sea, in western Asia, and in China, 10,000 miles
away.
 In 1347, ships carrying Asian cargoes from the Black Sea
ports reached the Port of Genoa in Italy and the Plague
developed there. It quickly spread by land and sea trade
throughout Europe, by 1350 it was as far north as
Scandinavia and as far west as the British Isles.
The Black Death
 The Plague came on quickly. Symptoms included high fever,
bruising of the skin as blood vessels ruptured and massive
swellings of the lymph glands in the neck, armpits and groin.
Sometimes these glands would burst. Victims would suffer over
several days and would be dead within a week. The survival
rate was no more than 10%.
 An even more virulent strain, pneumonic plague, spread by
infected saliva breathed into the air by victims would kill in 24
hours and no one infected survived.
 No one knew the cause, no treatment seemed to help and in fact
priests, nuns, and doctors who tried to help the sick were often
amongst the first to die.
Black Death
 Eventually the plague would “burn itself out,” killing all of
the available source of nutrition for the fleas carrying the
disease and so the outbreak would end.
 In reality, the primary problem was the lack of
sanitation in the crowded towns and cities, you “would
smell the town before you saw it. “
 Garbage and sewage was thrown into the streets and
the streets were full of rats. The people were full of fleas and
no one thought this unusual or repulsive.
 But if the obvious was too obvious, the people came up with
lots of other ideas about the cause of the plague.
Black Death
 One popular theory was that of the influence of the stars
planets and/or comets on the earth. The term “Influenza”
was first coined to explain this reason for the plague.
 Another theory held that vapors released from the earth
itself was to blame for the disease. They called this
“Miasma.”
 Others said not vapors, but the very bad odors of the
medieval town was the source, so by masking the smell you
avoided the plague. “Nosegays”, bundles of flowers or
“pomanders”, oranges or lemons stuffed with cloves, held
against the nose, would provide sure protection.
The Black Death
 For many, the plague was God’s judgment on an increasingly
immoral society. Some saw it as a sign of the impending return of
Jesus in the apocalypse. Others as a call for repentance.
Flagellants, spontaneously organized groups of such believers,
moved from town to town, beating themselves with whips until
they bled and calling on others to join them in their pilgrimage of
penance, many did.
 Perhaps the saddest of all explanations was the belief held by some
that the plague had a man-made cause. It was a act of malice, a
kind of chemical-biological attack, launched by a group
determined to exterminate the population of Europe.
The Jews were accused poisoning wells and contaminating
food supplies to spread the plague. Massacres quickly followed.
The Pope placed the Jews under his personal protection.
The Black Death
 It wasn’t until the late 19th century that the actual source of
the plague, the bacillus “Pasturella Pestis”, was identified.
In the 20th century, vaccines to protect against infection were
developed.
 Improved sanitation is the primary reason for the decline of
the plague as a major health problem.
 But the plague itself is still very much alive and cases have
occurred in the Los Angeles area within the last twenty years.
So, if you see a cute rat, or squirrel, don’t give it a pat!
 For most of us, “Ring around the Rosy” is as close to the
plague as we ever want to be.
The Black Death
Effects
 Although the Black Death continued to return to Europe in major
outbreaks until the mid-17th century, none was as severe as the
initial outbreak in the mid-14th century.
 It is believed to have killed between up to 1/3 of the population
of Europe.
 It effected every population group: rich and poor, young and old,
noble and common, devout and sinner, Christian and Jew, no one was
spared.
 It wiped out entire families and in some instances entire villages.
Growing cities saw population reductions.
 Trade was reduced, fields went untended and the economy declined.
But…
Black Death
Effects
 Every cloud has a silver lining…even this one.
 The power of the feudal and manorial systems were further
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weakened in the west.
Wealth and land were often redistributed among the
survivors, who benefited.
The value of the individual’s labor increased and the supply of
laborers was diminished. Wages increased. Standards of
living rose.
Depopulated towns and cities became “cleaner” and so less
prone to harbor rats, and plague.
Survivors mourned the dead, but continued to live.
The Modern Era
1350 to Today
 Most importantly, the Black Death brought about a profound and
revolutionary change in the outlook of western man.
 Having faced apparent human extinction, men had not given in to
despair. Even in the face of subsequent outbreaks over the next 2
centuries, men continued to plan for the future with ever
increasing consequence.
 In the Medieval era, which the plague ended, man’s thoughts were
directed to achieving the “hereafter.” Now, facing the hereafter,
men sought to improve the “here and now” while they still could.
Faith was not abandoned but hope in the secular sense was
discovered.
 Ironically, the Black Death triggers the Modern Era.
The Modern Era
Renaissance
 Like the Medieval, the Modern Era was also named by the men of the
renaissance to denote the time in which they lived and to remove them
from what they assumed was the wasted era which preceded theirs and
which separated them from the superior events of the Classical Era.
 They literally believed that they could go “back to the future” by
restoring the classical world to their own time. The Renaissance was
to be the “rebirth” of the classical art, architecture, and scholarship of
the Greco-Roman world.
 Beginning in Italy, the movement spread across the Alps to Northern
Europe, France, Spain and England.
 In the end it did not restore the classical world but it did reestablish the
classical outlook that called for seeking human excellence in all
things. This outlook is the hallmark of the Modern Era.
The Modern Era
Reformation
 If the Renaissance was a revolution in western outlook
towards mans ability to improve the secular world, the
Reformation would be an attempt to improve his religious
practices.
 Roman Catholicism which had been the central feature of
western existence during the Medieval, was now viewed by
some as being, backward, corrupt, immoral and in need of
reform.
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Babylonian Captivity
Western Schism
Excesses of Renaissance Popes
Reconstruction of St. Peter’s Basilica
Modern Era
Reformation
 Martin Luther, an Augustinian priest and biblical scholar,
objected to the sale of indulgences to finance St. Peter’s.
From this objection he quickly proceeded to challenge the
concept of indulgences, purgatory, and the importance of
good works as a means of obtaining the grace necessary for
salvation.
 On October 31, 1517, he posted his objections on the door
of the Wittenberg Cathedral in Saxony. The 95 Theses
became the first declaration of Protestant independence from
the doctrines of Catholicism. By 1521 he had been tried and
found guilty of heresy and had been rescued by German
rulers who sided with him against the Roman Church.
Modern Era
Reformation
 By 1555, after 30 years of religious war, Germany would be
divided into Catholic south and west and Lutheran north and
east. Each states ruler would decide his subjects religion
according to the terms of the Peace of Augsburg.
 Luther’s followers, called Protestants by the Catholics and
Lutherans by each other, put increased emphasis on the
importance of the individual conscience guided by
the Bible to achieve the Faith necessary to receive
salvation. Much of the Catholic’s doctrine was dismissed as
misguided and irrelevant.
Modern Era
Reformation
 In 1534, at Geneva in Switzerland, John Calvin, a Frenchman
who was forced to flee from Paris for criticizing the Catholic
Church while a student at the University of Paris, issued his
answer to the Church and to Luther: The Institutes of the
Christian Religion.
 Calvin taught that Luther had not gone far enough in his protests
regarding the true nature of religion and salvation. Calvin
believed that man was so corrupt that no man deserved salvation
and a just God would not provide it to more than a select few—
the elect. Most men would receive what all men deserved–
eternal damnation, regardless of how good their personal
behavior. Through Predestination, God had already decided
before you were even born.
Modern Era
Reformation
 Despite this grim outlook, Calvinism attracted many
followers who hoped that they were among the elect.
 Calvin came to control most of Switzerland, which was ruled
as a theocracy. He sent missionaries into France, The Holy
Roman Empire, The low countries and Scotland. Both the
Pilgrims and Puritans of England, and the New England
Colonies, followed the teachings of John Calvin.
 At about the same time, in England, Henry VIII, broke with
the Roman church when he was refused an annulment from
his 1st wife, Catherine of Aragon, whose only offense was
failing to give him a son as his heir. He established the
Church of England and made himself its head.
Modern Era
Reformation
 After 6 wives, two of whom he had executed, Henry was
succeeded briefly by a sickly son—Edward VI, then by two
daughters, Bloody Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I—who was the
most able monarch England ever had. Overtime, the
Anglican Church became increasingly more Protestant in
Doctrine.
 Ultimately, hundreds of Protestant denominations emerged
from these three primary forms of the Protestant
Reformation.
 In the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church
reformed its weaknesses while it reinforced its basic
doctrines.
Modern Era
Geographic Revolution
 The expanded world view created by the Crusades and the
expanded trade in spices and textiles from Asia which had
developed led to attempts to find new routes to the sources
of the trade not controlled by the Turks and the Italian citystates.
 Portugal, under the Prince Regent Henry, began a
search for routes south and east around Africa in the early
15th century.
 By 1488 Bartolemew Diaz reached the Cape of Good
Hope, at the southern tip of Africa and in 1498, Vasco de
Gama reached India and gave Portugal control of a new
route to the orient.
Modern Era
Geographic Revolution
 In 1492, the Spanish Court of Ferdinand and Isabella,
invested a small portion of the treasure taken from the
captured Moorish city of Grenada, to finance the expedition
of Christopher Columbus to cross the Atlantic and reach
the coast of Asia.
 By the 1520’s, the armies of Cortez and Pizarro had
conquered large portions of the new continents that
Columbus had found blocking his way.
 The Dutch, French and English joined in and came to control
outposts on the coast of Africa, Asia and the Americas. All
would come to control overseas empires which would
endure until the 20th century.
Modern Era
Geographic Revolution
 Along with new lands, the west also discovered new
technologies to support their voyages of discovery and
conquest.
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Caravel's: ships designed for long distance voyages
Galleons: ships with increased cargo holds
Mixed rigged sails to move both with and against the wind
Magnetic compass to determine cardinal directions
Astrolabes to determine latitude
Chronometers to determine exact time at sea and so to
calculate longitude
 This in turn helped stimulate the Scientific Revolution
Modern Era
Scientific Revolution
 The demands of improved navigation led to a renewed interest astronomy.
 Ptolemaic model of a geocentric universe conformed to both the knowledge of the
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classical era and the teachings of the church.
Nicholas Copernicus posits a heliocentric model which conforms to actual
observations of the earth in relation to the sun. De Revolutionibus widely circulated
thanks to printing press. Galileo Galilei, a papal astronomer, confirms it in The
Starry Messenger. For his support, he is condemned by the church and forced to
retract his statements. His ideas spread despite this, especially in the Protestant parts of
Europe.
In England, Isaac Newton publishes his Summa Mathematica in which he defines
universal laws of motion, the basis for physics. He also devises a system of calculus to
analyze forces in motion. He becomes known as the “smartest man on earth.”
Anatomy, physiology, biology, botany and chemistry all quickly develop.
The scientific method of hypothesis, experiment and conclusion become standards in all
scientific fields.
Modern Era
Enlightenment
 If laws could be discovered which regulated the physical
universe, then it stood to reason, that similar laws could be
discovered which regulated human society.
 If natural laws could be applied to improve the quality of
human life, it also seemed likely that they could be applied to
improve the quality of government.
 British Constitutional Monarchy and the American
Revolution both seemed to indicate that more enlightened
government was possible. If it worked for the English it
would work for the French. Or would it?