East India Companies
British, French, and Dutch joint-stock companies that obtained government monopolies of trade to India and Asia; acted independently in their regions.
Columbian Exchange
The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.
Mercantillism
Economic philosophy in which England established the colonies to provide raw materials to the mother country; the colonies receive manufactured goods in return.
Treaty of Tordesillas
a 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain, declaring that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal.
Mestizos
A person of mixed Native American and European ancestory
Niccolo Machiavelli
A Renaissance author that emphasized realistic discusions of how to sieze and maintain power. One of the most influencial authors of the Renaissance
Humanism
Focus on human kind as a center of intelluctual and artistic endeavors. Believed that the classical forms were superior to the medieval forms
Johannes Gutenberg
German printer who was the first in Europe to print using movable type and the first to use a press
Protestantism
Believed the church as an alternative of Papal authority. They didn't like that the church decided if you went to heaven or hell
John (Jean) Calvin
Started Calvinism: believed in the inherent evilness of humans. Predestination determined who would go to heaven at the moment of birth.
Jesuit
the army of the Catholic Church who were unsuccessful in Europe, but were more successful in the New World
Proletariat
a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages
Rene Descartes
French philosopher who believed in the importance fof skepticism: that you shouldn't believe what people tell you unless you can prove it; "I think, therefore I am"
Isaac Newton
discovered gravity, physics, calculus
Deism
The religion of the Enlightenment (1700s). Followers believed that God existed and had created the world, but that afterwards He left it to run by its own natural laws. Denied that God communicated to man or in any way influenced his life.
John Locke
English philosopher who advocated the idea of a "social contract" in which government powers are derived from the consent of the governed and in which the government serves the people; also said people have natural rights to life, liberty and property.
Absolutism
a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator
Louis XIV
French monarch of the late 17th century, personification of absolute monarchy
Glorious Revolution
In this bloodless revolution, the English Parliament and William and Mary agreed to overthrow James II for the sake of Protestantism. This led to a constitutional monarchy and the drafting of the English Bill of Rights.
Frederick the Great
This was the Prussian king who embraced culture and wrote poetry and prose. He gave religious and philosophical toleration to all subjects, abolished torture and made the laws simpler
Enlightenment
a movement in the 18th century that advocated the use of reason in the reappraisal of accepted ideas and social institutions
Adam Smith
Scottish economist who said that the government should not play a part in the economics and established supply and demand
Mary Wollstonecraft
English writer and early feminist who denied male supremacy and advocated equal education for women
Ivan III (the Great)
Responsible for freeing Russia from the Mongols; first czar(tsar)
Ivan IV (the Terrible)
Confirmed power of tsarist autocracy by attacking the authority of the boyars; continued policy of expansion; established contacts with western European commerce and culture.
Cossack
A free peasant in Russia who were often in the military and horsemen
Peter I (the Great)
Tsar from 1689 to 1725; continued growth of absolutism and conquest; sought to change selected aspects of the economy and culture through imitation of western European models.
Catherine the Great
This was the empress of Russia who continued Peter's goal to Westernizing Russia, created a new law code, and greatly expanded Russia