Glencoe World History Modern Times   2010

Chapter 4: Toward a New World

Chapter Overviews

Section 1 Europe in the Middle Ages
During the High Middle Ages, the development of labor-saving devices, improvements in farming that increased food production, and a revival of trade led to an increase in population. Many people still lived as peasants or serfs. They combined agricultural and craft work to provide for their families, while turning over part of what they produced to the lord of the manor. Trade contributed to the development of a money economy, the resettlement of ancient cities, and the emergence of new cities. Many cities were crowded, dirty places that nevertheless provided new opportunities for merchants and artisans. Guilds regulated employment in many crafts and professions.

Elected pope in 1073, Gregory VII worked to reform the Catholic Church and assert papal power. Religious fervor prompted new monastic orders for men and women. The Inquisition gave the Church a tool for discouraging heresy. The importance of the sacraments for ordinary Christians gave the Church a central role in people's lives. The veneration of saints was also popular. Innovations in architecture made it possible to build soaring Gothic cathedrals. The first universities were established in Italy, France, and England as educational guilds. Although Latin was the universal language of medieval civilization, new literature—mainly poetry—was appearing in regional languages, such as French, English, German, and Spanish.

Bubonic plague carried by rats infested with fleas decimated Europe's population in the mid-1300s. The plague devastated Europe's economy, led to anti-Semitism, and accelerated the end of serfdom. Church power declined as European kings rejected papal claims of supremacy. Faith in the papacy was undermined by the Great Schism, a nearly forty-year crisis during which a rival papacy was set up in France. The Hundred Years' War introduced new methods of warfare, and devastated England and France. The "new monarchies" of the late 1400s reestablished their centralized power in England, France, and Spain.

Section 2 Early American Civilizations
Mesoamerican civilizations appeared beginning with the Olmec around 1200 B.C. Maya civilization flourished between A.D. 300 and 900. The Maya built splendid temples and pyramids and had a complicated calendar and sophisticated writing system based on hieroglyphs. Rulers of the Maya city-states claimed to be descended from the gods. As the Maya declined, the Toltec flourished in central Mexico between A.D. 950 and 1150. A fierce, warlike people, the Toltec introduced metalworking, and supported some 60,000 people in their capital, Tula. During the 1100s, the Aztec began to migrate to the Valley of Mexico. They eventually established their capital at Tenochtitlán. The Aztec built temples and pyramids as well as roads made of stone. They controlled many semi-independent territories. By 1500, as many as 4 million Aztec were ruled by a monarch who claimed to be descended from the gods. Nobles held positions in the government and received large estates. Like the Maya, the Aztec practiced human sacrifice to appease the gods.

The Chavin, Nazca, and Moche cultures prospered in the region of Ecuador and Peru. The Inca started as a small community high in the mountains of Peru. In the 1440s, they launched a campaign of conquest that eventually brought the entire region under their control. The Inca emperor controlled an army of 200,000 soldiers and a highly centralized government. Inca society was highly regimented, with clearly defined roles for women. Terraced farms were a source of livelihood for most people. The Inca built impressive cities—such as Cuzco and Machu Picchu—and roads spanning nearly 25,000 miles. Although they had no writing system, they kept records using a system of knotted strings called the quipu.