Renaissance & Reformation
Growing frustration that Church leaders appeared more focused on wealth than spirituality helped fuel this 16th-century movement.
Protestant Reformation
This Enlightenment philosopher argued that governments must protect people’s natural rights to life, liberty, and property.
John Locke
This term describes the Enlightenment idea that governments receive their authority from the people and must protect citizens’ rights.
The Social Contract
These groups formed to negotiate higher wages, shorter hours, and safer working conditions.
This term is defined as the domination of foreign lands by powerful nations seeking resources and new markets.
Imperialism
This Renaissance invention dramatically increased literacy and helped spread new ideas by making books cheaper and easier to produce.
The Printing Press
This Enlightenment thinker wrote about separation of powers, inspiring modern systems with executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
Montesquieu
This financial policy—Britain’s attempt to raise revenue by taxing the colonies without their consent—helped spark the American Revolution.
"Taxation Without Representation"
England was the birthplace of industrialization partly because it had these essential natural resources.
Coal, Iron, Waterways
This type of imperial rule exists when a foreign power governs a region directly, leaving the local population with little or no political control.
Colony
This intellectual movement encouraged a return to classical learning and emphasized human potential and individual achievement.
Renaissance Humanism
This thinker unified physics and astronomy through his laws of motion and universal gravitation.
Isaac Newton
This period of the French Revolution, led by Robespierre, was defined by mass executions of those seen as enemies of the state
The Reign of Terror
This invention—along with the Spinning Jenny—helped shift textile production from cottages to factories.
Steam Engine
This conference divided Africa among European nations with little regard for Indigenous groups.
The Berlin Conference
This German monk ignited religious controversy in 1517 when he criticized the sale of indulgences, ultimately challenging Church authority across Europe.
Martin Luther
His telescope observations supporting heliocentrism led to his condemnation by the Catholic Church.
Galileo
This event helped spark many Latin American independence movements by weakening royal control and creating political instability in Spain.
Napoleons Invasion of Spain
This agricultural shift increased food production and pushed workers toward cities, fueling industrial labor forces.
Agricultural Revolution
This 19th-century conflict erupted in India when soldiers rebelled in response to British policies that violated cultural and religious customs.
This wealthy Italian family’s patronage helped spark the cultural flowering of the Renaissance.
Medici Family
This astronomer challenged the geocentric worldview by arguing Earth revolved around the sun.
Copernicus
This event on July 14, 1789, marked a violent attack on royal authority and symbolized the beginning of the French Revolution.
The Storming of Bastille
His theory of class struggle between bourgeoisie and proletariat became foundational to socialist thought.
Karl Marx
This king, with Henry Stanley, exploited the Congo through forced labor and brutal rubber extraction.
King Leopold II of Belgium