World History, 1500 AD to the Present - Essay Example

He represented a growing population of Catholics who were dissatisfied with the administration of the church and who felt that reformation was called for. This one action spurred detractors and supporters of the Catholic Church to decide once and for all what was acceptable practice within the religion. The primary outcome of this movement was the establishment of Protestantism in Europe and the splintering of the Christian faith into many different factions. The African slave trade is something that was both very localized in terms of certain participating countries, such as the United States, Great Britain, Portugal and the various African countries from which slaves were taken; however, it was also an undeniable global force.

From the earliest years of the African slave trade in the 15th century, Portugal took a leading role in the spread of slaves from their native continent to Europe and to the South American continent (Bulliet et al, 2000). As trade progressed, countries such as Spain, France, England, and Denmark joined in with their own ships. What has been termed a 'middle passage' refers to the triangular journey from Europe to Africa, then to the Americas? Captives were forcibly led to collection points in Africa where they were purchased by Europeans, then loaded onto ships for delivery to the New World.

Men were chained together to save space, and all captives were fed one meal a day. Many of the Africans died due to dysentery, scurvy, measles, smallpox and other diseases.The 18th century was peppered with revolution and rebellion in terms of politics and human rights; it is generally thought that these events led to a more widespread political participation within many nations. The French Revolution and the Irish Revolution (1789; 1798, respectively) were two such events that certainly did lead to a higher interest in politics and social structure in both countries and other nations nearby (Overfield and Andrea, 1993).

The French Revolution saw the abolition of the aristocracy and the rise of the working class because of a burgeoning idea that all people were equal and were born with certain inalienable rights. The absolute monarchy was removed and the next years were spent in constant governmental reconstruction. The Irish Revolution was unsuccessful in that it failed to shake off the control of Great Britain in Ireland, however, the social atmosphere before, during and after the Revolution shows clearly that the Irish people were very concerned for their own welfare and willing to participate in any number of plans to gain autocracy.