The Ming Treasure ships

This site offers a brief examination of the Ming-sponsored naval voyages of 1405-1403. The subject is examined more closely in Chapter 28, but is worth exploring here.

http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/HIST/tutor/eurvoya/ming.html

Questions for further exploration:

Why were the Ming exploratory voyages different from those of Europe?

Ibn Rushd

These sites explore the achievements of Abul-Waleed Muhammad Ibn Rushd, known in much of Europe as Averroes.

http://users.erols.com/zenithco/rushd.html and
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1190averroes.html

Questions for further exploration:

What were some of Ibn Rushd’s achievements in philosophy and law? Why is he considered to have a major influence the rise of Western philosophy? What are some examples of Ibn Rushd’s ability to see the world as both a realm of God and a realm for the exercise of human reason?

The Early Ottoman Empire

This site explores the rise of the Ottoman Empire.

http://www.students.cs.uu.nl/people/tgulteki/osmanli.html

Questions for further exploration:

What were some reasons for the Ottoman Empire’s rise to power? To what extent were their early successes due to timing, to superior leadership, and to their approach to imperial administration?

Virtual Renaissance

This site offers splendid exhibits on the Italian Renaissance.

http://www.twingroves.district96.k12.il.us/Renaissance/VirtualRen.html

Questions for further exploration:

Click on Portal One and then click on the link taking you to an interview with Giovanni Renaissanci. What does Giovanni think “humanism” is? What does he think a “liberal” education should consist of, and what should it produce? Where does he think did “secularism” comes from and what does he think of it?

Francesco Petrarch

These sites illuminate the life and work of Francesco Petrarch, a man who many regard as the first modern poet.

http://www.degrandis.com/d3/whopet.html,
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/petrarch1.html,
http://www.byu.edu/ipt/projects/middleages/People/Petrarch.html, and
http://history.hanover.edu/texts/petrarch/pettable.htm

Questions for further exploration:

Why is Petrarch so highly regarded as an innovator? What styles and expressions mark his work as a break from the medieval tradition? Draw on the examples of his work provided at these sites to illustrate or exemplify your answers to these questions.

Facing the Plague

These sites examine how the townspeople of Western Europe responded to the Bubonic Plague.

Questions for further exploration:

These sites offer examples of how towns in England and Italy responded to outbreaks of bubonic plague. What is similar in their responses? How do these responses reflect traditional views of disease? How do they reflect a growing awareness of the use of science in addressing the outbreak of disease?

Women in Tudor England

This site provides a survey of the place of women in Renaissance England.

http://hiwaay.net/~crispen/tudor/tudor_women/index.html

Questions for further exploration:

How were women regarded in Tudor England? What opportunities for education were women provided? What rules governed the marriage of women and their place as married women? How did women dress? What laws governed the behavior of women?

Florence of the Medici

These sites explore the rise of Florence.

http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Student_Work/Florence96/FlorTour.html, http://www.mega.it/eng/egui/epo/refio.htm,
http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/People/medici.html, and
http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Student_Work/Florence96/alexc/medici.html.

Questions for further exploration:

What accounts for the rise of Florence as a powerful city-state? How were its politics molded by issues of wealth and social status? The success of the Medici family represented the entry into Florentine politics of what class of people? Provide some examples of the role the Medici family played in the history of Renaissance Italy.

The Inquisition

These two sites provide an historical overview of the Holy Office, or the Inquisition and the trial of Galileo by Church authorities.

http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Student_Work/Trial96/loftis/overview.html and
http://phyun5.ucr.edu/~wudka/Physics7/Notes_www/node52.html

Questions for exploration:

What was the function of the Inquisition? How was it initially pursued? How did the early courts of inquisition operate, i.e. the rights of the accused, punishments etc. Was the Inquisition uniform throughout Europe? In its later years, who were the chief victims of the autos-da-fe? What was the "Holy Office," and what was its view of Copernicus and Galileo?

The Maori

These sites offer discussions of Maori history and culture.

http://maori.culture.co.nz/,
http://maaori.com/people/, and
http://www.lonelyplanet.com.au/dest/aust/maori.htm

Questions for further exploration:

Discuss causes and means of the spread of Maori people to the land of the White Cloud. What impact did their initial contact with Europeans have on Maori statecraft and warfare?

How was land traditionally distributed among the Maori? How did the coming of the Europeans change Maori life? How did the betrayal of Maori treaties with the Europeans ultimately provide the means for a Maori revival?