Atlantic Slave Trade

Image Location

The Atlantic Slave Trade was around the 16th through 19th centuries, and it was a major cultural and social development.

Most of the slaves came from West Africa, and then they were transported to the New World, and slaves were the biggest Immigrant population in the 18th century.

The Portuguese were the nation who started the Atlantic Slave Trade.  They would bring the African slaves to labor in their cotton, sugar, tobacco, and coffee farms.

The First Atlantic System was mostly Portuguese slave traders selling slaves to Portuguese colonies, from around 1502 – 1580.

The Second Atlantic System was from 1580 – 19th century, and the slave traders were English, Dutch, French, and Portuguese.  Most of the slaves were being brought to the Caribbean Islands, where each country had colonies.

The Triangular trade route was the path in which the slave trader captains took to deliver slaves, and made profit at each stop. This became known as the Golden Triangle: trading slaves from Africa to the Caribbean in exchange for molasses to sale to New England for rum, which then was traded in Africa for more slaves.

The Golden Triangle. Image source.

During the 18th century England was the largest slave trader, but eventually England abolished slave trading long before America did, but not before a lot of damage had been done.

Even though all the countries were wrong to do the slave trading, it was not only them to be blamed –  the Africans were also to blame. When an African tribe attacked another tribe and took prisoners, they saw it fit to do whatever they wanted to the prisoners, and a lot of them decided to sell the captives to slave trading captains.

Not everyone at the time was in favor of slave trading. There were African Kings who didn’t participate in the slave trading, because they felt it was not right, and there were also ship Captains who also didn’t participate in slave trading.

America finally abolished slavery too.

Salem Witch Trials

Salem Witch Trials – Image Location

The Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts, at the end of the 17^th century.

It all started when three young girls started having convulsions, and blamed it on being bewitched by three other people, one of whom was a Caribbean slave named Tituba.  Even though she was not a witch, she confessed to the bewitching, in hopes of saving her life by becoming an informant. 

20 people were convicted and sentenced to death during the Salem Witch Trials; most of the convicts were women. 

The people in Salem blamed the “witches” for any of the bad things happening to them –  like bad crops, or someone getting sick. 

Cotton Mather was the son and grandson of well-respected puritan ministers, and he was considered one of the many people who started the Salem Witch Trials.  His goal was not to start a witch hunt, but to bring the colony back to higher moral standards of the church. 

Mather wrote more than over 450 pamphlets and books in his lifetime.  He also partook in the Great Awakening.  His preaching brought many second and third generation colonists back to higher moral standards and revivals.

 

Queen Elizabeth I of England

Queen Elizabeth I of England – Image Location

Queen Elizabeth I of England, was born on Sept. 7th, 1533, daughter of King Henry VIII. She would be the last monarch in the line of  English Tudors.

When Queen Mary, also known as Bloody Mary due to harsh sentencing of Protestants, became queen, she thought her half-sister Elizabeth was in a plot to overthrow her because of Elizabeth was a Protestant. This led to Mary imprisoning Elizabeth in a tower.  It wasn’t until after Mary died that Elizabeth was freed.

At the age of 25, Elizabeth became the next Queen of England, but King Philip of Spain, the husband of the late Queen Mary, thought that he should be considered for becoming King of England. King Philip attacked England with a fleet of Spanish ships called the Armada, but these ship were somehow destroyed and never reached England. Queen Elizabeth was credited with this defeat.

Queen Elizabeth was nicknamed the “Virgin Queen” because she never married nor had children, although she did have many suitors.

Queen Elizabeth I reigned over England for 44 years, and she brought stability during a time when surrounding countries were in turmoil, and established a new identity for England. The duration of her reign was called the Elizabethan era.

Due to many deaths of close friends, Elizabeth had a few bouts of severe depression in 1602 and again in 1603.  She died in 1603, and was buried in a shared tomb with her half-sister Mary at Westminster Abbey.

Mary, Queen of Scotts

Mary, Queen of Scotts – Image Location

Mary, Queen of Scotts, was born on December 8th, 1542, and she became queen at six days old when her father died, since she was his only surviving legitimate heir. Mary’s mother, Mary of Guise, ruled in her place while Mary grew up in France.

Mary grew up to marry Francis II of France, but he died two years after their marriage, and she went back to Scotland only to find it on the verge of a Protestant Reformation.
Her greatest opposition in Scotland was John Knox, who was a Protestant preacher and teacher.  Even though they disagreed, they always kept a peace of sorts when they met.

Mary tried to force her Catholicism on the Scottish people, but found out very soon that this was not a good idea, and she had to flee the country.  When Mary fled, she went to stay with her cousin Elizabeth I of England.  Elizabeth saw Mary as a threat because she was a Catholic and Elizabeth was a Protestant.

Elizabeth imprisoned Mary in some castles and manor houses. Mary was later found guilty of trying to assassinate Elizabeth.  Mary was beheaded on February 8th, 1587.

The British Empire – British Colonies Around the World from the 1600s to the 1800s

British Empire. Source.

“The sun never sets on the Union Jack,” is an old phrase used to describe how expansive the British colonies had become throughout the world during the 1600s to the 1800s.  The “Union Jack” was the nickname for the British flag.

When a group of people occupy a new land, but retain ties to their former land, such as paying taxes and allegiance to the former government, the new land is considered a colony and the people are colonists.

Britain was jealous of Spain and Portugal spreading and colonizing, and they wanted to begin colonizing lands too. Britain commissioned John Cabot to explore North America in the late 1400s, but he only explored and did not colonize any land.

In 1666, that the Bahamas were colonized by Britain. The most profitable places that Britain colonized was the Caribbean, know as the West Indies, and made Britain a lot of money.

Many are familiar with the starting of the British colonies in the United States with the founding of Jamestown on May 4 1607. This began Britain’s colonization of North America, and the original 13 British colonies are also the most well-known colonies of Britain. The original 13 colonies became part of the United States of America after the American Revolution, which took place from 1765 and 1783, and led to our freedom from Britain.

Around the time of the colonization of Jamestown, Britain was also colonizing the East Indies, the areas of India and Oceania. Britain formed a company called the East India Company, which held the interests of Britain and colonies established in India. Both Britain and private investors made a lot of money from this company, but in 1858 Britain claimed the entire company for itself, and eventually colonized most of India and the Far East, including Nepal, Bhutan, Banlgedesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, etc.

During this time, Britain colonized areas in South Africa and East Africa, and traded in gold, ivory and slaves.

After Britain lost the 13 colonies during the American Revolution, it set its eyes on the continent of Australia. In 1770, Britain colonized Australia with convicts, making it a penal colony.  But after it became a profitable colony due to gold and wool trade, many other British moved there as well. In 1769-1770, Britain also settled in nearby New Zealand

All six major continents were colonized to some extent by Britain, thus proving that “The sun never sets on the Union Jack.”

Francisco de Coronado

Francisco Vazquez de Coronado – Image Location

Francisco de Coronado, was born in Salamanca Span, in 1510, and he was a Spanish explorer. Francisco was born to a noble family, and grew up in Spain.  His father was Jaun Vazquez, who had positions in the administration of Emirate of Granada, which was recently captured.

He explored the New World in 1535.  He explored the South Western portions of the U.S. He also was the first ever explorer to see the Grand Canyon.  Francisco traveled with around 2,000 other Spanish men, four Franciscan Monks, and several slaves which were both from Spain and Africa.

Coronado Expedition. Image source.

He wanted to find Cibola’s, which were cities of gold, but he never found them. Francisco was very dissatisfied with his failure of not finding them.  The Cibola was thought to be part of the Seven Cities of Gold.

Francisco died in 1554, peacefully, and he is remembered as the greatest explorer to travel the American West.  There are quite a few songs written about him or his journey.

Coronado National Memorial. Image source.

A National Memorial for Coronado was established at the border of Mexico and Arizona in the southern mountains of the Sierra Vista, marking the trail believed to be taken by the Coronado Expedition.

 

Christopher Columbus

 

Christopher Columbus – Image Location

 

Christopher Columbus was the son of a wool merchant.  He was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy.

When Columbus was a teenager, he got a job working on a merchant ship.  He was at sea up until 1470, when a French ship privateered their ship.  The ship Columbus was on was destroyed, but Columbus managed to float to land on a piece of wood.  There he started studying mathematics, and cartography, astronomy, and navigation.

Columbus was inspired to explore the world by the books and stories of Marco Polo and Ptolemy.

Columbus wanted to sail across the sea to get to China, to spread Catholicism.  He wanted to sail to China, but there had to be a better way than going around Africa, so Columbus started wondering what  would happen if you could sail to the west, and then go North and around to China.

At that time, many people believed that the world was flat, so this caused some difficulties when it came to finding a someone to fund his explorations.  Columbus was eventually funded by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, along with some other investors who helped fund his journeys.  Since they still believed the world was flat, they didn’t really think he’d ever come back.

Columbus finally got a yes from them to set sail in January of 1492, and he left the Canary Islands on September of 1492.  His fleet consisted of  three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. 

5 weeks after he first set sail for the West, he came across the land of San Salvatore, what we now know as the Bahamas.

Columbus sent Queen Isabella 500 slaves, but she quickly and sternly sent them back.  She believed that any people Columbus found were Spanish citizens, and were not to be slaves.

Some say Columbus never knew he wasn’t in China, some say he did. Columbus never did find China in his explorations, but he started the “Exploration Age.”

Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo

Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.  Image Location

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was born in Florence, Italy, in 1452, and by the age of twenty, he was considered a master of the Guild of St. Luke.

A pen and ink drawing of a landscape of Arno Valley is Leonardo’s first known work. Leonardo’s greatest work is the Mona Lisa. No one knows for sure who the woman depicted in the painting is, but they do know that He spent many years making this work of art perfected.

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.   Image source.

Leonardo thought that Science and Art were not two different subjects, but connected.
People remember Leonardo da Vinci by the awesome legacy he left behind: the paintings, sketches, and the book of 1300 pages, comprised of his complex sketches and writings of his discoveries, and works.

Leonardo da Vinci died in 1519.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo was born outside of Tuscany, Italy, in a town called Caprese Michelangelo, Italy.  Michelangelo was sent away to study grammar, but had no interest in it; instead he took an interest in art. He became an apprentice of the man with the biggest workshop in Florence.

Michelangelo has two very famous and well known works: the statue of King David, from the Holy Bible; and the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which took him 4 years to paint.

Before Michelangelo died, he designed St. Peters Basilica. Michelangelo died before the building was completed though. He died in 1564.

Gutenberg and The Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg.  Image location.

Johannes Gutenberg was born in 1398, the son of an upper-class merchant, Gutenberg was a blacksmith and a goldsmith.  Little is known about Gutenberg’s early life, or his early education.

Gutenberg started to work on a printing device that would help make books cheaper and faster than it had ever been. The metals he used were tin, antimony, and lead; with these he made 290 blocks of letters, symbols, and graphics. He made an ink out of linseed oil and soot.  He believed this would work good on handmade paper. Gutenberg used the idea of a wine press to squeeze out the water in the paper, and it also helped move paper in and out of the press.

Gutenberg’s invention helped the Renaissance and the Reformation by making printing faster, so news could be spread quicker.

A copy of the Gutenberg Bible on display at University of Texas at Austin. Image Source.

Gutenberg desired to print the Holy Bible, so that everyone could own a copy.  48 of these copies have survived to this day, but only 21 of them are complete.  Gutenberg also was the first to use oil-based ink instead of water-based ink so the prints lasted much longer. The copies of Holy Bibles that Gutenberg created using his invention were printed in Latin.

 

Venice, the Cities on Water

Venice, Venezia in Italian, is a city in Italy, located on 118 small islands.

No Roads in Venice!

What is unique about Venice is that it doesn’t have roads; it has waterways and canals, which is how you travel. Since it doesn’t have roads for cars to drive on, Venice has Gondolas which are flat-bottomed boats by which you travel the water. Gondolas are manned by Gondoliers.

Venizian Carnival

Every year before Ash Wednesday, like Mardi Gras which is held in New Orleans, Venice holds The Carnival of Venice. It is an annual celebration, and about 3 million people attend. The Carnival of Venice is a masked event. There is a contest for the most beautiful mask – which judges your outfit and your mask. This is called the Culmination of the Carnival.

A photo of people at The Carnival – Image Location

A photo of an eaborate mask at The Carnival – Image Location

Famous Venezians

Antonio Vivaldi was born on March 4, 1678 in Venice, Italy and he died on July 28, 1741 in Vienna, Austria. Vivaldi was a mozzafiato violinist, a cleric, an Italian Baroque composer, and a teacher. His best known works are The Four Seasons, which are played by many violins.

Venice greatly influenced the Renaissance with music and art. Venice introduced painting on canvases. Some famous painters from the high Renaissance in Venice were Giorgione, Titan, and Veronese.

I Heart Venice

I would love to travel to Venice, Italy because I think it’s beautiful and intriguing. I think it would be a fun trip and experience. Traveling on the Gondolas on the waterways and canals sounds like fun. I like Italian food, so to try some authentic straight-from-Italy Italian food sounds awesome. The Carnival of Venice also sounds like fun.

Joan Of Arc – More Like Awesome

  

Joan of Arc, or Jeanne d’arc in French, was born in 1412 and died in 1431, when she was about 19 years old. When Joan was about 12, she started hearing voices, and seeing visions of angels, telling her to help deliver the French from the English, who were invading the French. This was during the Hundred Year War.

When she was about 16, she went to the French Court to talk to King Charles VII to see if he would let her lead his army. At first, she was denied. Then when she predicted the outcome of a battle about to happen, and it came true, she was then granted permission to go see King Charles VII. Since Charles had used everything else that he had, he agreed to let Joan lead his army. Every battle she lead came out victorious.

When King Charles VII was crowned King at Reims, Joan asked if she could return home, for her work was done. The King asked her to stay and fight, for France was not yet quite freed. Joan acquiesced, but said “I hear the heavenly voices no more and I am afraid.”

When Joan went into battle against the Duke of Burgundy, who was in alliance with England, she was captured and sold for a ransom to England. There she was kept in prison for over a year. She was charged with Heresy, witchcraft, and cross–dressing. Joan fought these charges, but in the end, was to be burned at the stake.

In 1431 she was burned.  A kind English soldier gave her a cross he had made her. She asked two priests to hold a crucifix for her, and a priest also read her the prayer for the dying. As the flames killed her she uttered one word, “Jesus,” and died.

Later Pope Callixtus III sanctioned her retrial, and they found her previous trial unfair, and her cross-dressing was seen as necessary.  The Pope annulled all the charges against her, and on April 18, 1909, Pope Pius X beatified Joan of Arc, or blessed her entrance to heaven.  On May 16, 1920, and Joan of Arc was canonized, or declared a saint, by Pope Benedict XV.

John Wycliffe

John Wycliffe was born on sheep farm 200 hundred miles from London, in the Hinterlands in Hipswell, during the mid 1320s. Wycliffe had a large family, and lots of territory. He received his early education at home.

In 1346, he left for Oxford University, but he didn’t get his doctorate until 1372 because of periodic outbursts of the Black Plague, which was caused by oriental rat fleas carried by black rats on merchant ships from Asia.

Two years later in 1374 he became the priest in a church in Lutterworth Leicestershire, England. After Simon Islip, who gave Wycliffe the position, died, his successor, Simon Langham, who was of monostatic training, appointed a monk to the position. So, Wycliffe went to the leadership, and complained, but in 1368 he gave up his complaint.

During this time, Rome was trying to demand money from England, which was a nation already struggling to make sure that if the French attacked them, they could fight them. Wycliffe contacted his local Lord John of Gaunt about this. Wycliffe asked Gaunt to tell Parliament not to give Rome the money. He disputed that the Roman Church was already too wealthy, and that Jesus had called his disciples to be in poverty, and that if anyone should keep taxes like that it should be local English authorities.

Wycliffe’s opinion got him into loads of trouble. He was brought to London, and was to answer charges of heresy. One reason was that he started translating the Bible from Latin to English. They banned his writings on May 4, 1415. People possessing one of Wycliffe’s translations would be charged with heresy, since it was not authenticated by the church.

Wycliffe suffered a stroke on December 28, 1384 in a parish church, during Holy Innocents Day. He died before the new year.