3 What do we mean by Europe?
Before you examine the characteristic features of the early modern period in Europe, you need to think about what we mean by ‘Europe’. It is difficult to know exactly where to draw the boundaries of the continent: while the northern, southern and western edges are defined by oceans and seas, there is no geographical feature that clearly marks the eastern boundary of Europe. However, just as we can define the dates of the early modern period by certain features, we can define Europe by certain common characteristics – a shared Christian faith (although there were significant numbers of both Jews and Muslims in Europe), and an intellectual tradition based on ideas from ancient Greece and Rome. As with defining the early modern period, historians have slightly different conceptions of the boundaries of early modern Europe. Many focus on western Europe, while others include Russia and eastern Europe, where people followed the Christian Orthodox faith.
Activity 1 The map of early modern Europe
This should take around 20 minutes
Early modern Europe was divided into very different states. The best way to get a grasp of these is to look at a map.
Part A
Take a few minutes to look at the interactive map and note down anything that strikes you as being very different from a modern map of Europe.
Discussion
You were probably struck by the mass of small states found in modern-day Germany and Italy. Other states look more familiar – France and Spain occupied much the same area as in the present day, although the boundaries weren’t exactly the same. You can also see that some areas around the margins of the map didn’t fall under the control of any state or government.
Part B
When moving around the map you will see that boundaries are highlighted. Clicking anywhere in an area will display a label which gives you more information about who ruled that region.
Use the interactive map to look at the labels on the different parts of the Italian peninsula. What do you notice about these states?
Discussion
You should have found a number of different types of states in the Italian peninsula – such as the Papal States (ruled by the Pope), the kingdom of Naples (ruled by a monarch) and the republic of Siena (centred on the city of Siena). Part of the territory was ruled by France and the map shows the boundaries of all the areas controlled by the French king. A number of states were made up of such scattered areas of land, distributed across the continent. Take a moment to look for other fragmented states.
Part C
Use the interactive map to trace the changes in national boundaries by moving the slider on the timeline between 1500 and 1800. How would you describe the overall changes to the map of Europe? (You will need to move the slider back and forth a few times to compare the maps.)
Discussion
The most striking difference between 1500 and 1800 is the shrinking of the area of small states in the region around modern-day Germany. This was part of a wider shift from many small states to a small number of large states – you may have noticed that the separate kingdoms in Britain merged into one and that the number of states in Italy also decreased.
OpenLearn - Early modern Europe: an introduction
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