3.1: The Changing World (1400-1600)
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- 3.1.1: Introduction
- Western Europe entered the 'Age of Discovery' during the 15th to 17th centuries, a time of exploration across the oceans and intrusive colonization in other geographic areas. Western Africa developed into multiple kingdoms, each with its city-state territories. In ancient Ghana, the kings inherited rule through the mother, a matrilineal society, as opposed to the kings in Europe who were patrilineal. Asia In the 1400s, the Ming Dynasty was economically dominant, supporting huge populations.
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- 3.1.2: Renaissance (1400-1550 CE)
- Rinascita, Italian for "rebirth," a period marking the end of Europe's feudal systems and entering a new form of a cultural and political society built on commerce. The shift from the Middle Ages in Europe to the Renaissance was a revival act of the classical styles of Greek and Roman art, highlighting humanists' progression. Leaving medieval values behind, humanistic learning dominated philosophy and the sciences.
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- 3.1.4: Mannerism (1520 to 1590 CE)
- Maniera in Italian was a new style, Mannerism, moving from the classical versions of the Renaissance, bringing images less focused on the beauty of balance and perfect symmetry to elongated features with expressive and unusually positioned figures. Instead of an idealized and harmonious portrayal, Mannerism artists used dissonance, imbalance, and ambiguous figures.
Thumbnail: Elizabeth I (ca. 1565, vellum on card, 5 cm diameter) Public Domain