1. Unit 2
The Renaissance and the
Roots of the Modern World

2. What does it mean to be
modern?
 What, if anything, is modern in particular about
the Renaissance and Reformation?
 To what extent is the Renaissance and
Reformation not modern?
 Is the Renaissance and Reformation a logical
beginning for the story of the modern world?

3. Invented Traditions
“Traditions’ which appear or
claim to be old are often
quite recent in origin and
sometimes invented…”

4. First modern man?
“What else, then,
is all history, if not
the praise of
Rome?”
Petrarch,
1304-1374

5. “Let fate do her worst,
there are relics of joy,
Bright dreams of the past,
which she cannot destroy;
Which come in the night-time
of sorrow and care,
And bring back the features
that joy used to wear.
Long, long be my heart
with such memories fill’d!
Farewell….
Like the vase, in which roses By Thomas Moore,
have once been distill’d- 1779-1852
You may break, you may shatter
the vase if you will
But the scent of the roses
will hang round it still.”

6. Tools of Torture, 1508
Scaffold, Stock,
Stake, Thumbscrews,
Decapitator, Whipping post,
Sword, Rack,
Flesh pincers

7. Theodoric of York,
Medieval Barber
Click to watch
Saturday Night
Live skit

8. B.C. 753 Foundation of Rome

9. A.D. 1100 Period of the First
Crusade

10. A.D. 1294 Empire of Kublai Khan

11. A.D. 1498 Discovery of America

12. Rise of Renaissance Humanism
Renaissance-Natural Law
Middle Age--Divine Law

13. Humanism
 Emphasis more on here and now instead
 Role of individual
 Rights of Man vs. Rights of Men
 Exploration of wider world

14. Fairbanks, Alaska 12,000 years ago-
Modern times or not—
—depends entirely on perspective!

15. “Big History”
Years before Present
• 14 BILLION (universe)
• 4.6 billion (solar system)
• 2.5 billion (photosynthesis oxygen)
• 1.5 billon (first complex cells)
• 600 MILLION (first fossils)
• 500 million (vertebrates)
• 325 million (reptiles)
• 250 million (mammals)
• 240 million (dinosaurs)
• 200 million (birds)
• 65 million (extinction of dinosaurs)
 7 million (first hominines, bipeds)
 250,000 (Homo sapiens, language)

16. “Big History”
Three Eras of Big Human History
 ERA NO. 1 FORAGING
250,000 to 10,000 Years Ago - “Paleolithic” (Old Stone Age)
Energy use 2,000 to 5,000 calories per day per cap
 ERA NO. 2 AGRICULTURE
10,000 to 250 Years Ago - “Neolithic” (New Stone Age) to
Bronze and Iron Ages
Energy use 12,000 to 26,000 calories per day per cap
 ERA NO. 3 INDUSTRIAL
250 years to present - The Steam and Electric Age
Energy use 77,000 to 230,000 calories per day per cap

17. The Big
Story?

18. 2000 years of World History
“…everything to the left of 1800 is an approximation of population distribution
around the world and everything to the right of 1800 is a demonstration of
productivity divergences around the world -- the mastering of means of
manufacturing, production and supply chains by steam, electricity, and ultimately
software…” Derek Thompson, The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/06/the-economic-history-of-the-last-2-000-years-in-1-little-graph/258676/

19. Hans Rosling 3D
Visualization from
Poor & Sick to Rich
& Healthy in last
200 years
Click on the link to view the 3D Visualization
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo

20. “The Anthropocene,”
The Age of Man
More change in past six
seconds—250 years—than in
the previous 250,000 years.
Carbon Dioxide Emissions

21. Climate Change
 Science is never completely
certain!
 “The doubters are right that
uncertainties are rife in climate
science. They are wrong when
they present that as a reason for
inaction.” (Economist, March 18,
2010)

22. The Great Mystery of
Modern History
The great mystery of the modern world is how
and why the so-called “continent” of Europe,
which in the 15th century, was an economic,
cultural and political backwater, would come
to dominate every sphere of human activity
on the planet by the end of the 19h century.

23. 7 Revolutionary Factors
1. Science 5. Factory production
2. Liberalism 6. Nationalism
3. Energy 7. War
4. Market economy