History 2950 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Political Philosophy, René Descartes, Scientific Revolution
Document Summary
Background to revolutions: absolutism, mercantilism, enlightenment: mercantilism, the centrality of slavery, absolutism vs. limited monarchy, the ideology of the enlightenment. What was the role of absolutism, mercantilism, and the ideas of the enlightenment in the. How did they shape the world in which british, french , and. Concept: the atlantic world created by connection of continents of africa, europe and. Old ways of doing things are directly challenged. Europeans go to africa and western hemisphere for money. Whole creation of atlantic world is based on economics. Mercantilism: a system that seeks to increase the wealth of one country at the expense of others. In a 17th century atlantic world context, a system in which raw materials are extracted from the western hemisphere colonies to enrich european countries. Looked for fur (cash crop) because it was highly sought after in europe. The slipper in the cinderella story was originally not made of glass but of fur.
