Characteristics of the Early Modern Era
A variety of developments and changes have long since characterized the Early Modern era. Many developments, specifically in Europe, happened during the Italian Renaissance of the 16th through 17th centuries, which included the creation of elaborate musical and artistic styles. The Scientific Revolution, also in Europe, encouraged scientific experimentation and theorization, while the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Reformation caused religious upheaval and subsequent attempts to define and revitalize religious practices.
These major events have long been the focus of the Early Modern period, but newer scholarship requires the inclusion of other geographic locations and developments. With the colonization of the Americas, Indigenous peoples throughout North and South America saw their ways of life radically changed, as European people began utilizing the pre-existing internal slave trade in Africa and expanding it across the Atlantic. Oceania and Australia also saw the arrival of European colonizers, the first newcomers to that part of the world since before recorded history.
Both the Middle East and Far East had already modernized well beyond Europe by the time of the Early Modern period through technology and globalized trade; thus, the terminology does not apply as well. However, some political changes occurred in the Middle East and Asia in relatively the same era as the Early Modern era. These include the rise of the Ottoman Empire, which utilized the existing trans-Saharan trade networks, present since before the Medieval period. Another example is the start of the Ming Dynasty in China, which upset the established Mongol Empire.
Early Modern European History
The concept of the Early Modern period began with regard to early Europe, and many of these events occurred because of European contact with the rest of the world; thus, most of the events that fit neatly into the established timeline are European in nature. Europe in the 1500s was a time of great artistic, philosophical, scientific, and political growth. The Renaissance in Italy produced a collection of polymath thinkers who created art and architectural styles untested since the days of ancient Rome. Leonardo da Vinci was one such product, combining the arts and sciences to create works more anatomically correct and thus expressive of the human body.
These efforts also charged the Scientific Revolution, when experimentation and the scientific method developed. Because early modern scientists used ancient philosophers as the starting point of their inquiries, scientific efforts continued to have a moralistic tone and a focus in controlling the natural world. However, these were the beginnings of modern observations and testing.
The scientist Galileo shows his telescope to the Venetian government. The development of technologies such as these were key to the Scientific Revolution.
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Progressions with the Scientific Revolution led to the Enlightenment in the 17th century in Europe, when statesmen began to abandon long-established religious influences in favor of pure rationality. This directly affected the formation of modern nation-states and the rise of imperialism, as political thinkers insisted that rulers, rather than having a divine right, were chosen by the people and therefore should be held accountable to them. New constitutions arguing for the rights of man spread across Europe, as did the desire to increase those rights to new lands.
During the same time, the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation created new tensions in every part of Europe. Protestants left the Catholic Church for a variety of reasons, with Martin Luther finding fault with Church doctrine and King Henry VIII of England wanting a different wife. However, all waves of the Reformation represented rejections of the authority of the pope in Rome. As a response, the Catholic Church launched the Counter-Reformation, a series of reforms in the education of priests and the transmission of its teachings to lay people in order to re-educate in the face of Protestantism.
Increased religiosity from Catholic and Protestant people as well as later developments in the rights of man created a two-fold desire for European nation-states to spread throughout the world. This led to the creation of European-based empires, sweeping the world into the events of the Early Modern period. However, non-European communities and civilizations cannot be understood merely with reference to Europe, as each of them had their own rich societies before the arrival of Europe.
The Early Modern Period in Asia
Societies in Asia were already modernized far beyond Europe by the 1500s, making the term "Early Modern" something of a misnomer. However, some significant political changes did occur in conjunction with the changes in the West. One of these was the ascension of the Ming Dynasty in the late 14th century, begun by Zhu Yuanzhang. His established reign included a number of harsh policies toward dissenters and strict taxes. However, the uniformity of rule allowed stability and wealth to develop, and the Chinese Empire started trading with Europe, receiving an influx of new foodstuffs that increased agricultural health. The Chinese people also created their own products, including the famous blue and white china, which was popularized throughout the world.
Blue and white porcelain vase from the Ming Dynasty
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The Japanese people also experienced a change in power at the start of the 17th century in the form of the Tokugawa shogunate, a military-led government. This period of rule was characterized by strict social classes that could not intermingle, including a farming class required to provide for the entire civilization. Although Japan produced a number of fine goods and made significant cultural contributions, the shogunate discouraged trade and outside influences, especially with Europe.
A third powerful Asian empire was that of the Mughal Empire in India, descended from the Mongolian Empire. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Mughal government maintained a powerful and stable empire through military and structural systems. Unlike the Japanese leadership, the Mughal Empire allowed European incursions and trade, which ultimately led to colonization of India by Britain during the 19th century.
The Early Modern Period in the Americas
The Early Modern period also included significant developments in the Atlantic world and European incursions into the Americas. Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, and Dutch colonizers came to the New World, seeking new trade routes, sources of wealth, and chances to spread their religious and political ideologies. Although Indigenous populations had existed in the Americas since prehistory, the historical narrative tends to focus on later developments and tragedies, such as the conquest and destruction of societies through disease and land seizure. However, historians have increasingly focused on early cooperation of Native American peoples with European people in order to stop treating the takeover of Indigenous populations as inevitable.
European people arrived in the Americas in a disadvantaged position. They did not know the land or the best ways to farm, and they were unfamiliar with the languages and customs of the groups they encountered. Thus, the early decades of interaction with the Native peoples were marked by collaboration and an exchange of culture. The French colonizers had a longtime working relationship with the Iroquois Nation, and the two communities intermarried. Their intermingling also extended to the existing Indigenous slave trade among Native American nations.
Like the French people, other European nations helped expand slavery throughout the Americas with the Atlantic slave trade, whereby millions of African people were transported across the ocean, mostly to South America. The British-held colonies of North America continued to change and eventually underwent the American Revolution in which the colonists renounced the authority of the British king and parliament and established their own nation. With this new unification, the American government slowly grew in power after the Early Modern era, and existing Native American populations increasingly lost their lands.
The Early Modern Period in Africa and the Middle East
European nations were able to expand the African slave trade across the Atlantic. Rather than forming inland colonies, European colonists built forts and made trade agreements with African tribes, providing a new market for slaves. African tribes had kept slaves taken through conquest for centuries, but the Pre-Modern period saw an explosion of the exchange because of European contact.
The Middle East, the purview of the Ottoman Empire, was a powerful and expansive force during the Early Modern era. Because of superior technology, the Ottoman people were able to sweep across much of the Islamic and Byzantine regions in the Middle East, solidifying them into one empire. The Ottoman Empire also derived economic prosperity from trans-Saharan trade networks established in the ancient world. Only with the strengthening of European empires in the 19th century did European colonization of Africa and the Middle East truly begin.
The Early Modern Period in Oceania
Oceania and Australia were relatively unknown in the Early Modern period by anyone outside the region. However, European exploration and the first European settlements there made them part of the increasingly globalized world. In the 16th century, European people began arriving and creating a foothold in the region based on trade. However, they did not establish lasting colonies for another two hundred years.
Once they began, these colonies continued past the Early Modern period and left permanent marks in the region. Unfortunately, much of the early knowledge about Oceania came through the European lens, and only since the last century has proper consideration been given to the history of the Australian continent and surrounding islands. With these studies, scholars have found new appreciation for the extremely diverse communities spread across Oceania, each with unique societies and cultures.
Lesson Summary
The Early Modern period, defined as being traditionally from the 15th through the 18th centuries, was a time of great change in Europe. However, historians have also started noting developments across the world, recognizing that while Europe affected nearly every corner of the world during this time, other places had their own rich history before European arrival and continued to have one afterward. Europe had a number of major movements during this era, including the artistic and scientific booms of the Italian Renaissance and Scientific Revolution, as well as religious changes with the Protestant and Catholic Reformations. The European people made contact with other diverse societies and governments, including the Ming Dynasty in China, the Ottoman Empire of the Middle East, and the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan.
Each of these civilizations varied in response to the European people, sometimes allowing for trade and contact, and at other times rejecting it. Additionally, those societies living in the Americas saw their lives completely changed by European colonization, although the Native American peoples did collaborate with the European nations in the first centuries of contact. The European colonists expanded the existing African slave trade across the Atlantic as well and eventually colonized Oceania and Australia.
