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Jan 1, 1493
Age of Discovery - Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an Italian navigator, explorer, and colonizer. He original reason for exploration was to find trade routes to the Indies. As far-fetched as his idea was, it caught the attention of Queen Isabella of Spain, who believed that Columbus could bring Spain into weath through the spice trade. The passage that was assigned was from a letter Columbus wrote to Luis de Sant Angel. While the letter was written to Angel, it was clearly intended for the eyes of the King and Queen. -
Jan 1, 1572
Age of Discovery - Michel de Montaigne
Montaigne, a French aristrocrat, was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, most popular for bring the essay format into a forefront. He had a direct influence on many important later writers. Montaigne wrote an essay on the Cannibals of the new world, and how they were as bad, and probably better, than the men of Europe. "They are still governed by the laws of Nature and are only slightly bastardized by ours" -
Age of Discovery - Richard Hakluyt
Hakluyt was a English writer, most prominently remembered for his promotion and support of settling of England in North America. This is prevalent in his work, especially so in the piece we read. -
Scientific Revolution - Galileo Galilei
Called "the father of moden science," Galileo, a physicist, astronomer, and mathematician, was one of the key figure in the scientific revolutions. A strong believer in heliocentrism, the Catholic Church forced him to recant and life his life in obidience. The Starry Messenger, a treatise published by Galileo, was the first scientific treatise based on observations made through a telescope, of which Galileo helped to invent. -
Scientific Revolution - Francis Bacon
Bacon, a philosopher and author from England, played a crucial role in the scientific revolution. Throughout his life, Bacon served as Attorney General, and then Lord Chancellor of England, before becoming knighted. His work "Novum Organum" (new instrument) was a philosophical work published by Bacon in 1620. This work was one of the most influential in the development of the scientific method, a key to the scientific revolution. -
Scientific Revolution - Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes, hailed as the father of modern political, bridged the gap between the periods of Reformation and of Scientific Revolution. His work, the Leviathan, regards society and government, and is one of the earliest works on the social contract theory. "The difference of Commonwealths consisted in the difference of the sovereign, or the person representative of all and every one of the multitude." -
Enlightenment - John Locke
John Locke, an Enlish philosopher, played a major role in the Enlightenment movement of the time, and his influence is still felt today. His writings influenced other philosophers like Voltaire and Rousseau, and was key ingredient to the drafting of the American Declaration of Independence. He supposed that a contract could exist between the peoples and their monarchy or oligarchy, which laid the foundations of the French and American revolutions, and many to come. -
Age of Discovery - Mary Wortley Montagu
Montagu was yet another English write, most famous and remembered for her letter, like those read in our book. Those letter were some of the first important works of women, particularly about the Muslim world in which she traveled. "We travellers are in very hard circumstances. If we say nothing but what has been said before us, we are dull and have observed nothing. If we tell anything new, we are laughed at as fabulous and romantic." -
Age of Discovery - Jonathan Swift
Swift was a well known, Irish writer and satirist still very well regard for his essays, satires, and political pamphlets. His work, "A Modest Proposal" suggests that the Irish might ease there troubles by selling their children as food to the rich. ""A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food," is just one of the many lines of satire in the work. -
Scientific Revolution - Baron de Montesquieu
The Spirit of Laws, written and published by Montesquieu in 1748, was heavily emphasised by the Enlightenment concepts of reason and science. The work called for checks and balances on government, and no one group having sole power. "In republican governments, men are all equal; equal they are also in despotic governments: in the former, because they are everything; in the latter, because they are nothing." -
Enlightenment - Voltaire
One of Voltair's most popular works, Candide, was published around the time of the Enlightenment, was a good example of the satire and over all thinking of the government around the time. The main method of Candide's satire is to ironically contrast great tragedy and comedy. -
Enlightenment - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rousseau, a Swiss philosopher and prominent member in the coming of Enlightenment, was the author of many works. Rousseau theorized about social contracts as the origins of political community i.e. civil society. He also wrote about the nature of man. "The heart of the idea of the social contract may be stated simply: Each of us places his person and authority under the supreme direction of the general will, and the group receives each individual as an indivisible part of the whole..." -
Enlightenment - Adam Smith
The Wealth of Nations, considered by many to be the most influential work on Economics of the modern time, was written by Adam Smith and publish in 1776. Adam Smith had many ideas of how markets should work, and most of his ideas and concepts are still in use today. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love" -
Enlightenment - Immanuel Kant
Kant, an influential man toward the end of the Enlightenment period, was a very smart man. A philosopher from Germany, he spent most of his time arguing against classical metaphysic concepts, but still had time do write on the Enlightenment. "Enlightenment is man's emergence from self imposed immaturity for which he himself was responsible." -
Scientific Revolution - Olaudah Equiano
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, the autobiography written by Equino and published in 1789 details the life of Equiano as a slave into his life as a literate member of society. It was important to show how the slaves were being treated, even by there own kind. "Indeed, such were the horrors of my views and fears at the moment, that, if ten thousand worlds had been my own." -
Revolution - Emmanuel Sieyes
Sieyes was a French man, who wrote a pamphlet entitled "What is the Third Estate?" That pamphlet became the supporting literature in the Estates-General's transformation to the National Assembly. "What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been hitherto in the political order? Nothing. What does it desire? To be something." That phrase is still famous today. -
Revolution - Edmund Burke
Reflections on the Revolution in France, written by Edmund Burke in 1790, is one of the main texts AGAINST the French Revolution, which had just began one year prior. Edmund Burke served in the British House of Commons, representing the Whig party. He was one of the key opponents of the Revolution. -
Revolution - Olympe de Gouges
de Gouges, whose ideas were heard throughout the Revolution period, was a feminist playwright who fought for Women's rights and equal suffrage. Her work, Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, is a direct response to Rousseau's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. -
Revolution - Mary Wollstonecraft
Much like de Gouges before her, Wollstonecraft was an author and a feminist during the time of the French Revolution. Her work Vindication of the Rights of Woman is a highly regarded piece. "If the abstract rights of man will bear discussion and explanation, those of women, by a parity of reasoning, will not shrink from the same test."
