John Farndon - The Rise of Western Society: Sailing Ships and Revolutions

THE RISE OF WESTERN SOCIETY Sailing Ships and Revolutions Thanks to the creative team: Senior Editor: Alice Peebles Consultant: John Haywood Fact Checking: Tom Jackson Designer: Lauren Woods and collaborate.agency Original edition copyright 2018 by Hungry Tomato Ltd. Copyright 2018 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. Hungry Tomato is a trademark of Lerner Publishing Group All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review. Hungry Tomato A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

First Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA For reading levels and more information, look up this title at www.lernerbooks.com . Main body text set in Avenir Next Medium 10/12 Typeface provided by Linotype AG. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Cataloging-in-Publication Data for The Rise of Western Society: Sailing Ships and Revolutions is on file at the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-1-5124-5973-9 (lib. bdg.) ISBN 978-1-5124-9875-2 (eb pdf) Manufactured in the United States of America 1-43032-27701-10/12/2017

by John Farndon Illustrated by Christian Cornia THE RISE OF WESTERN SOCIETY Sailing Ships and Revolutions Minneapolis In the book, some dates have c. before them.

This is short for circa,or about, showing that an exact date is not known. Contents

Between 1500 and 1900, Europe was where it was all happening. The rest of the world might have wanted a quiet life, but those noisy Europeans kept sending out ships to every corner of the globe to conquer, colonize, and trade. First, the Portuguese and Spanish did this, then the English, Dutch, French, and Germans. They changed the world forever. Sailing Ships and Revolutions North America In the north, many Europeans came to settle as farmers.

They saw it as empty land, though it was already home to many native peoples. In 1776, British settlers broke away from Britain to found their own independent country, the United States of America. South America As Europeans arrived in the Americas, native peoples were pushed aside, turned into slaves, or simply killed. European diseases also ravaged local populations. Spain and Portugal soon had South and Central America firmly under their thumbs.

Africa Europeans dragged Africans to the Americas to be slaves, then began to take Africa over in the 1800s.

Each European country claimed a share, ignoring the locals. Much of Africa remained unknown to Europeans, though, until explorers began to trek deep into its heart. Europe Europeans fought war after war. But the continent buzzed with ideas and changes. Some were peaceful, like discoveries in science and the Industrial Revolution that brought the first factories. Less peaceful were the Reformation that split the Christian church, civil war in England, and the French Revolution.

Asia After sending boats to explore the world in the 15th century, the Ming emperors of China kept to themselves. The Japanese, after centuries of warring, also settled down to a long period of calm in the Edo period. But even here, Europeans eventually made their presence felt. Eurasia Eurasia was dominated by the empire of the Ottoman Turks with its luxurious capital at Constantinople. The Ottomans repeatedly invaded Europeand were repeatedly rebuffed by Christian European armies.