Capitalism: "the use of wealth to create more wealth" was a definition used by Stockmyer in college. But it was pointed out to him that this definition could also apply to sheep-breeding. Actually, capitalism is the use of money or its equivalent on a large scale to create more money. There used to be capitalism in the ancient world. The early Middle Ages had bartering. But $ was needed for the Crusades. Capitalism was different from the guild system. The church sponsored the "Just Price" system–the cost of the raw material + small labor profit. Capitalism works on lots of profit. In the early days, capitalism was good for the consumer who got a wider choice of goods at a varied price.
Banking: The church lost its grip on people. Now Christianity was into banking (In the Middle Ages, Christians are not supposed to be involved in usury–lending money and charging interest; In Modern Times, the Church began to say that usury was lending money for an exorbitant amount of interest). Banks first occurred in Northern Italy, where the money was. Medici was the 1st big banking family. The Medicis are based in Florence. Lorenzo the Magnificent was the grandson of the Medici founder. He spent lots of $ on artsy things, like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Banks could issue traveler's checks–"Bills of exchange" so large sums of wouldn't have to be carried around. The Medicis have six red balls on gold on their family crest. Six red balls on a field of gold signified a Medici bank. Three gold balls now means a pawn shop.
There were two major families in Italy who disagreed a lot. They were the Medicis and the Pazzis. Both tried to get someone of their family in as Pope. Before 1500, a Pazzi was pope. In 1478, the Pazzi pope (Pope Sixtus IV) collected an assassination team to get the Medici boys (Lorenzo and his brother) for political reasons. This is referred to as the "Pazzi Conspiracy." The only time the Medici boys were together was in Sunday morning Mass, so the assassins were to pose as the guards of the bishops and monks. There needed to be a signal for the assassins to attack by and somebody wanted to use the bell ringing during Communion. The assassins went on strike. (I mean, after all, it is ok to kill somebody, even on Sunday, in a church, but the line but be drawn somewhere!) Some monks agreed to do it but, not being in the habit (so to speak), they bungled it. They killed Lorenzo's younger brother but only wound Lorenzo. The pope throws Lorenzo out of church, but all of this was going to be a lot of trouble with the Medici fans, so the Pazzi pope made peace by agreeing to make one of Lorenzo's sons a cardinal at age 13. This kid later became Pope Leo X, who was Pope during the time of Martin Luther. Lorenzo died in 1492 and the house of the Medicis died out.
Exploration: Map makers (called cartographers) were irritated by not knowing where things were. They drew excuses on their maps for not knowing (like boiling seas, large monsters, etc.). There arose lots of explorers who were pushed mainly by greed. Maybe they could make big money in trade. Right at the time Italy had trade all boxed up cuz they were trading with the Moslems who were used to them but distrustful of foreigners. What if there was an all water route to India and China? Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal had an idea that Africa ended in the South somewhere. He was the 3rd son of the king of Portugal, so he's pretty sure he isn't ever going to get the kingdom and had time to mess around with exploring rather than paying attention to learning how to govern. An explorer named Diaz made it around the edge of Africa but ran out of supplies and had to go back. Somehow, Prince Henry was one of the few impressed and when he died everyone forgot about Diaz and his trip. Vasco de Gama went to went to India around Africa after Columbus found America. Columbus went west not south cuz he was using Ptolemy's measurement of the earth's circumference (Ptolemy was an ancient Greek who figured out the measurement by using geometry and stuff). Ptolemy was only half right so Columbus had twice as far to go as he had thought. On the way, Columbus kept 2 log books–one secret and one for the crew to read. He made 3 different trips all together by fibbing about his great findings.
England got into the exploration business by hiring Cabot (Italian sailor) and his son. Italians are the only ones who know how to sail. He went West to Newfoundland and Canada and North America. France got to North America and went down the Mississippi River.
Magellan wanted to go through the place where North and South America joined. He couldn't find it so he went around the southern tip of South America. It took him 3 years to sail around the world.
There was $, gold, and slavery in Africa. But Italy was hogging all of the fun. Spaniard explorers happened to stumble onto the Aztecs (Indians of Mexico). The Aztecs had a really high civilization. They were sun worshipers who gave human sacrifices to the sun cuz it needed the strength to beat out the night before it appeared again. They had lots of gold and silver so Cortez (Spanish explorer/general) went to get it. The Aztecs had a legend about an Aztec chief named Quetzalcoatl who would one day return in a changed form (light-skinned and bearded) on a great beast. Lo and behold, who should come knocking at the Aztecs' door but Cortez (a paleface with a beard) on a horse (which had never been seen by Aztecs) with a cannon. He was let into the city and treated very well cuz they thought he was Quetzalcoatl. Cortez conquered the Aztecs with the help of some of their enemy tribes. Then Pizarro (another Spaniard) found the Incas of Peru (another rich and highly civilized tribe) and conquered them. Spain's pretty much got the goodies of South America.
From the Exploration of the New World, Europe got: potatoes, tomatoes, corn, drugs, tobacco, coffee, tea, perfume, peanuts, gold, silver, sugar. The New World got: the Spanish conquerors, measles, smallpox, influenza. 80% of the Indians of South America were dead 100 years after the coming of the Spaniards. They traded syphilis for gonorrhea.
Now there was an all water route to India via Africa and (by mistake) a New World. Spain was getting rich from the gold and silver from its colonies. Northern Italy was ruined cuz nobody had to buy from them anymore and the banking syndicate collapsed.
Slavery was revived. White guys went to the African coast and offered $ for P.O.W.s from African wars to be shipped to the New World. The slave ships had lots of decks on them (only 4 feet high) and chains. Lots of slaves died from disease. Lots leaped into the ocean cuz they were afraid the white guys were going to eat them. 30-40% of a shipload died sometimes. Christians justified the slavery business cuz if the Africans hadn't been made slaves they wouldn't have come into contact with Christianity and, therefore, it is good for the slaves cuz they might get a chance to save their souls (if they had souls, that is, which was a matter for debate during that time).