Pre-columbian peoples.

When the Europeans arrived in America, they found advanced civilizations and great empires.
Because Colombus believed that he had arrived in India, he called the local inhabitants Indians. However, today, these civilizations are called pre-Columbian, which means before the arrival of Colombus.

-MAYAS:
   lived in Central America and they worked mainly in agriculture, astronomy and mathematics, they used hieroglyphs.

-AZTECS:
  lived in the Valley of Mexico and they founded important cities like Tenochtitlan.

-INCAS:
   lived in high pateaus of the Andes and they worked in agriculture.

Summary (discoveries)

Cristopher Colombus, a navigator believed to be from Genoa, thought he could reach the Spice Islands by crossing the Atlantic. Hw knew the Earth was round but he thought taht it was much smaller. He did not know thta the continent of America existed.

Colombus presented his project to the Catholic Monarchs. Quenn Isabella signed the Capitulations of Santa Fe in 1492, agreeing to finance his voyage.

Colombus project was based on two ideas:
 - The Earth was round.But he calculated the diameter incorrectly.
 - The ocean was the only thing separating Europe and Asia. He didn't know about America.

In 1513, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa led an expedition taht crossed the isthmus of Panama. It was there that he discovered a new ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and confirmed that America was a new continent.

The name of America comes from Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian navigator who explored the coasts of the New World after Colombus. He claimed to be the first person to set food on the new continent.

In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan led an expedition to find a sea route connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.This expedition was the first voyage around the world.

Technical advances.

- Navigation maps of coasts and ports are called portolan charts.




-The rudder, the compass and the astrolabe, which allowed ships to navigate more accurately.

The Great Geographical discoveries. (introduction)

At the end of the 15th century, technical advances allowed Europeans to go on maritime expeditions to discover new trade routes. As well as the African coast and the Spice Islands, explorers discovered the continent of America and made the first voyage around the world.

European civilisations expanded to all the continents, creating large colonial empires. In America, the Spanish and Portuguese conquered the indigenous civilisations.They then imposed their culture and religion, and exploited local resources and people.

Vocabulary: (The Renaissance and the Reformation)

-Humanism: a new way of understanding the world developed in the 15th and 16th centuries.
-Renaissance: a change in thought led to a new cultural movement based on classical secular art.
-Protestant reformation: in this period, people began to criticise the corruption and abuses of the Catholic Church. This unrest led to a reform movement.
-Patron: is someone who gives money and support to a person or organisation and their
 activities.
-Perspective: the technique that gives paintings a three dimensional character.
-Printing press: a machine invented in the 15th century for producing text and images in large quantities.
- Protestant: a member of the Christian church that broke from the Catholic Church during the Reformation.
-Reformation: the movement to reform the Catholic Church that led to the Protestant  churches in the 16th century.

The Reformation.

At the end of the Middle Ages, people began to question the attitudes of high clergy.
The protestant Reformation began with Lutheranism:salvation throught faith and Bible.
Other protestant doctrines included Calvinism and Anglicanism.


Martin Luther: (Lutheranism).
   Lutheranism was based on 3 fundamental principles:
                                                        - salvation throught faith alone
                                                        - universal priesthood
                                                        - authority of the Bible


Lutherans believes on Lutheranism:
           - each man could interpret the Bible alone
           - without the invention of the church


Catholic Counter-Reformation.
  The spread of the Reformation in Europe led the Catholic authorities in Rome to persecute Protestants and begin and reform of their own church.
  The Reform of the Catholic Church was known as the Counter-Reformation.
  It began with the Council of Trent (1545-1563).
  The Council reaffirmed the main dogmas of Catholicism.
                                                                 - faith
                                                                 - the sanctity of mass
                                                                 - the seven sacraments
                                                                 - worship of virgin and saints

An interesting Renaissance video.