A Journey Through History: From Paleolithic to Absolutism

Posted on Nov 3, 2024 in Geography

The Paleolithic Era

The Paleolithic era is a prehistoric stage characterized by the use of chipped stone tools, along with other organic materials like bone, horn, wood, leather, and fibers (though these are poorly preserved and less understood). It is the longest period of human history, comprising 99% of it, and extends from 2.5 million years ago (in Africa) to about 10,000 years ago.

The Mesolithic Era

The Mesolithic era is a prehistoric period between the Paleolithic and Neolithic, lasting roughly between 10,000 BCE and 5,000 BCE. Its name means “Middle Stone Age,” as opposed to the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) and Neolithic (New Stone Age). This era was marked by the end of the ice age and a consequent improvement in living conditions.

Parietal or Rock Art

Paintings and engravings found in caves from the Paleolithic era.

Art Mobilier

Artistic representations on stones that could be transported, such as the Venus figurines.

The Neolithic Era

The Neolithic era is the third stage of prehistory, starting from 5,000 BCE and lasting until the emergence of writing. It is characterized by:

  • Sedentary lifestyles
  • Livestock and agriculture
  • Smaller hunting tools and the hunting of smaller animals
  • The beginning of trade
  • Domestication of animals

The Egyptian Writing System

Egyptian writing was crucial for maintaining the Egyptian empire. Literacy was concentrated among an educated elite of scribes. Only those trained as scribes could attain a certain level of service to religious, pharaonic, and military authorities. The hieroglyphic system was always challenging to learn, but in later centuries it became even more complex, perhaps intentionally, to preserve the scribes’ status.

Hellenism

Hellenism refers to the period of Greek culture that spans from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE to the death of Cleopatra.

The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was a period of Roman civilization in classical antiquity characterized by an autocratic form of government. The empire’s birth was preceded by the expansion of its capital, Rome, which extended its control around the Mediterranean Sea.

Romanization

Romanization is the process of acculturation of the areas conquered by Rome during the Roman Republic or the Empire. Through this process, conquered indigenous peoples adopted Roman technology, political and religious institutions, organizational forms, and legal principles. In many cases, they also underwent a process of linguistic substitution, gradually adopting Latin.

The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire is the term used since the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 CE (5th century) to refer to the Eastern Roman territory in the Middle Ages. The goal of Emperor Justinian I was to restore the splendor of the ancient Roman Empire. The empire’s end came with the entry of the Turks into Constantinople (the empire’s capital) in 1453 (15th century).

The Carolingian Empire

The Carolingian Empire is a term from 6th-9th century historiography used to refer to a period of European history stemming from the policies of the Frankish kings Pepin and Charlemagne. It represented an attempt to revive the political, religious, and cultural life of the Middle Ages in Western Europe. A significant event was the coronation of Charlemagne as emperor in Rome, symbolizing the restoration of the Western Roman Empire.

The Early Middle Ages

The Early Middle Ages (Frankish kingdoms) extends from the fall of the Roman Empire (476 CE) to the beginning of the 11th century. This period saw:

  • The start of feudalism
  • Successive invasions from both the north (Germanic groups) and south (Berber groups)
  • Abandonment of cities as people fled to the countryside out of fear
  • Large class differences, with poverty becoming more pronounced and new social classes emerging
  • Dominance of the Church, which increased its power and wealth, becoming one of the upper classes alongside kings and feudal lords, eventually dominating political, economic, and social life in Spain.

The High Middle Ages

The High Middle Ages spans from the beginning of the 11th century until the discovery of America (1492), which marks the beginning of the modern age. This period was characterized by:

  • Increased population due to fewer wars
  • The rise of trade, ending the need for self-sufficiency
  • The emergence of a new social class: the bourgeoisie, a middle class of merchants who were paid for their work rather than working for a lord
  • Advances and progress, including scientific breakthroughs and the invention of the printing press, which facilitated the transmission of culture and knowledge
  • Significant advances in medicine and nursing
  • Continued power and dominance of the Church, though groups within the Church began to criticize its wealth and power

Guilds

Guilds were economic associations of European origin that brought together artisans of the same trade. They appeared in medieval cities and lasted until the late modern age. Their aim was to balance the demand for work with the number of active workshops, ensuring work, economic stability, and apprenticeship systems for their members.

Medieval Spain: Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus refers to the territory of the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim rule during the Middle Ages, between 711 and 1492. With the progress of the Reconquista, initiated by Christians in the mountains of northern Spain, the borders were gradually pushed south until the conquest of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492, ending Islamic power in the Iberian Peninsula.

The Reconquista

The Reconquista was the historical process during the Middle Ages in which the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula sought to regain control from Muslim rule. This process took place between 722 (probable date of Pelayo’s rebellion) and 1492 (the conquest of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs).

The Renaissance

The Renaissance was a broad cultural movement of the modern age that occurred in Western Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. It resulted from the dissemination of humanist ideas, which led to a new conception of humanity and the world. The name “Renaissance” was used because it incorporated elements of classical culture.

Humanism

Humanism is an intellectual and philosophical movement that arose during the 15th and 16th centuries in the most prosperous regions of Europe (Italy, Belgium, and Holland). It is characterized by:

  • Revaluing the individual as a human being
  • Recovering the ideas, culture, and art of the classical period
  • Distinguishing faith from scientific knowledge
  • The invention of printing

Authoritarian Monarchy

Authoritarian monarchies were political systems that emerged in the mid-15th century. In these systems, political power was concentrated in the king, but he had to maintain pacts or balances with territorial specificities and privileges of individuals, families, territories, and groups of various natures (guilds, universities, municipalities).

Absolutism

Absolutism is a 17th-century political system in which the ruler’s power is not subject to any institutional constraints except divine law. The monarchy holds legislative, executive, and judicial power. Examples include the Habsburg rulers Charles V, Philip II, Philip III, Philip IV, and Charles II. Absolutism coincided with the Baroque period.

Feudalism

Feudalism was a social, political, and economic system based on the fief that dominated Western Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. It primarily involved cultivated land owned by servants, who had to give a portion of their production as a “census” (lease) to the master of the land, usually a minor noble (feudal lord) who in turn owed loyalty to a king.