The Black Death and Society
Q:This deadly disease significantly reduced Europe's population in the 14th century, triggering major social and economic changes
A: What is the Black Death?
In feudal society, peasants worked the land in exchange for protection from this group.
A: Who were the lords or nobles?
This was the basic unit of the medieval economy, where peasants lived and worked the land.
A: What is the manor?
The rise of this economic theory in the early modern period emphasized wealth through trade, replacing local subsistence economies.
A: What is mercantilism?
This network of trade routes connected Europe with Asia and was known for transporting silk and spices.
A: What is the Silk Road?
The dramatic population loss from the plague led to a labor shortage, causing these to rise for surviving workers
A: What are wages?
The growth of towns and trade offered an alternative to feudal life and helped this class of merchants and artisans grow.
A: Who are the bourgeoisie or middle class?
As cities grew, manorialism gave way to this kind of economy based on money and goods.
A: What is a market economy?
This triangular sail innovation allowed ships to sail against the wind.
A: What is the lateen sail?
The fall of this city to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 cut off land trade routes, prompting Europeans to seek sea routes.
A: What is Constantinople?
This group saw increased bargaining power and social mobility due to the scarcity of labor after the Black Death.
A: Who were the peasants?
This 14th-century event allowed peasants to demand freedom or better conditions, sometimes even revolting against landowners.
A: What is the Peasants' Revolt?
: Agricultural innovations like the three-field system and better plows helped increase this.
A: What is crop yield or food production?
This type of ship, used by the Portuguese and Spanish, was fast and highly maneuverable for long ocean voyages.
A: What is a caravel?
This Portuguese explorer was the first to reach India by sea, proving the value of water routes to the East.
A: Who is Vasco da Gama?
The plague weakened the power of this land-based economic system, leading to its gradual decline.
A: What is feudalism?
The end of feudalism was marked by the shift in land ownership and farming from lords to these types of arrangements.
A: What are tenant farming or wage labor systems?
Overuse of land and growing populations led to a search for more of this essential resource.
A: What is arable land or farmland?
The magnetic compass, originally from China, was used by European sailors to determine this direction.
A: What is north?
Q: This explorer sailed west in 1492 and unintentionally discovered the Americas while searching for a new route to Asia.
Who is Christopher Columbus?
The decline in population from the plague led to more abandoned farmland and a shift toward this new, more profitable agricultural system.
A: What is commercial farming or enclosure?
This legal document, signed in 1215, symbolized the slow decline of noble and monarchal power and the rise of rights for common people.
A: What is the Magna Carta?
The rise of this economic theory in the early modern period emphasized wealth through trade, replacing local subsistence economies.
A: What is mercantilism?
The combination of maps, new ship designs, and navigation tools in the 15th century led to this era of increased maritime exploration.
A: What is the Age of Exploration?
The desire for land, gold, and new trade routes drove European powers to establish these in the Americas.
A: What are colonies?