World History Assignment: Renaissance to Colonial Settlements

This essay delves into key historical periods from 1450 to 1650, examining the Renaissance, Reformation, and Scientific Revolution, and their interconnectedness with European colonialism. The essay begins by analyzing how Renaissance artists and intellectuals reconciled humanism with the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church and the feudal system. It then explores the ways in which Renaissance thinking foreshadowed the Protestant Reformation, highlighting the role of humanists and textual analysis. The essay further discusses the Scientific Revolution as an extension of the Renaissance, outlining the shift in scientific views and methods. Finally, it critically assesses the hypocrisy inherent in Europe's colonial settlements, contrasting them with the core principles of the Renaissance. The essay utilizes academic sources to support its arguments, providing a comprehensive overview of these pivotal historical events.

Running head: WORLD HISTORY 1
World History
Name
Institution

WORLD HISTORY 2
Question 1
Humanism, dubbed as Renaissance Humanism was an intellectual movement in the 14th
and 15th centuries in Italy which was embraced by civic leaders, scholars, as well as writers. The
development of this movement was aimed to respond to the medieval scholastic conventions in
education during those times. As a result, humanists revolted against the utilitarian approach,
with their focus being to create citizens that are able to speak and write eloquently, thus engaging
the communities’ civic life. Humanism was regarded as an optimistic philosophy that considered
man to be a rational and sentient being that possessed the ability to make decisions as well as
think for themselves. The philosophy considered man to be inherently good naturally which
conflicted with the Christian view that considers man a natural sinner who needs redemption
(Rubini, 2014). This philosophy provoked a new insight into the nature of reality, questioning
beyond spirituality as well as God. Besides, it provided an understanding of the history beyond
Christian history. Aimed at reconciling the principle of humanism and other developments,
artists and other intellectuals combined Christian theology, classical themes, as well as classical
forms. Rather than rejecting Christianity and other developments, most of the Renaissance’s
greatest works were devoted to the Church, which patronized several Renaissance art.
Question 2
With the absence of the Renaissance, it would have been difficult to think that the
Protestant Reformation could succeed in Europe. The Renaissance considered man as the
pinnacle of life, indicating the world was not only a ‘vale of tears’ but rather something that was
of value and there was a possibility for individuals to survive without making reference to the
divine (Kostylo, 2016). Often, Renaissance is considered a pagan movement that was anti-

WORLD HISTORY 3
Christian. This view was true in Italy, the place where the Renaissance movement was born. The
humanists were viewed as worldly and who had less interest in the Church. Most of these
humanists were concerned with reforming the Church. The Reformation did intent to divide the
Catholic Church but rather reform it. The Reformers were of the opinion that the Bible was the
only text that mattered and anything not contained in the Bible ought to be rejected. As such, it is
true to conclude that the Renaissance Reformation was foreshadowed by Renaissance thinking
because Renaissance had produced Humanists that comprised of scholars and educationalists
who were focused on determining the truth by re-examining the Bible as well as classical texts.
The growth in textual analysis, as well as the Humanists ideas, redefined the intellectual
landscape along with encouraging several Church reformers. The intellectually later broke with
Rome, dividing Europe into Catholicism, Protestantism, along with confessional camps.
Question 3
Scientific Revolution was an extension of the Renaissance which took place between the
16th and 17th centuries. During this era of the scientific revolution, there was the development of
a new view of nature that replaced the Greek view. As a result, Science developed as an
autonomous discipline that was unique from philosophy and technology, which was considered
to have utilitarian goals (Ketokivi & Choi, 2014). Due to the ferment of Reformation and
Renaissance, a new view of science arose. This view brought several changes such as submitting
quantitative with a qualitative view on nature, reeducating common sense to favor abstract
reasoning, viewing nature as a machine and not an organism, emergence of experimental as well
as scientific methods, along with developing new criteria that emphasized on explaining the
“how” and not the “why”.

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Question 4
The establishment of colonial settlements was in a way hypocritical and contradicted
Renaissance. Such establishments involved a nation subjugating another by conquering and
exploiting its people while at the same forcing its language as well as cultural values upon the
population. The establishment of colonial settlements is closely associated with imperialism, a
policy of using influence as well as the power to control people. This was against the
Renaissance, a movement started by Humanists with its key principles being promoting the idea
that man was the pinnacle of his universe (Coleman, 2015). As a result, people ought to embrace
their achievements in education, science, classical arts, and literature. Renaissance exploration
was intended to assist the Europeans to learn about the world during the Age of Discovery. The
discovery of new trade routes by explorers was meant to increase trade with Asia and other
continents but resulted in the “rise” of Western Europe.

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References
Coleman, D. (2015). Settler Common Sense: Queerness and Everyday Colonialism in the
American Renaissance by Mark Rifkin. Leviathan, 17(3), 110-110.
Ketokivi, M., & Choi, T. (2014). Renaissance of case research as a scientific method. Journal of
Operations Management, 32(5), 232-240.
Kostylo, J. (2016). Pharmacy as a centre for Protestant reform in Renaissance
Venice. Renaissance Studies, 30(2), 236-253.
Rubini, R. (2014). The other renaissance: Italian humanism between Hegel and Heidegger.
University of Chicago Press.