Causes of Protestant Reformation
(i) The practice of sale of indulgence, nepotism, and simony came under attack
(ii) Inexperienced youths were appointed to lucrative bishoprics.
(iii) Clergymen received incomes from several churches but never appeared in any of them
(iv) The peasantry saw the Church as an oppressive landowner. Martin Luther organise the Protestant Reformation
(v) After a visit to Rome Martin Luther became disgusted with the corruption and luxury of the Church.
(vi) He wrote ninety-five complaints against the Roman Church known as, 95 Theses.
(vii) He argued that Bible alone is supreme and not the Pope and Bishops.
(viii) He believed that only two main rituals, namely, baptism and Holy Communion are accepted by the Bible. In this way the Protestant revolt began.

(i) Portugal led the way first in exploration, discovering the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores.
(ii) Sailors sent out by Prince Henry, the Navigator reached Guinea Coast of Africa.
(iii) Later Bartholomew Diaz rounded the Cape of Good Hope. In 1492 Columbus came to a land of America.
(iv) Vasco da Gama reached the island of Mozambique.
(v) Later, he reached part of India and opened avenues for direct trade.
(vi) Cabral sailed to India, following the route of Vasco da Gama, and reached Kozhikode.
(vii) These new maritime discoveries, led t< ; >the direct trade of Europeans to the countries of the East.

(i) Major parts of Spain like Aragon and Castile were under the control of the Moors.
(ii) Together King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella worked hard to drive away the Moors and unite Spain.
(iii) The king and queen took power in their hands and controlled the nobles by eliminating them from the royal councils.
(iv) This made Spain to emerge as a nation-state. England emerged as nation-states.
(v) There was conflict between two royal houses in England namely the House of york and House of Lancaster for the throne.
(vi) In this civil war, Henry Tudor emerged victorious and he started a new line of monarchy in England.
(vii) He entered into matrimonial alliance with Elizabeth of York family. This made England to emerge as a nation-state. France emerged as nation-states.
(viii) Burgundy and western parts of France was for long in English possession.
(ix) At the end of the hundred years war, Louis XI Burgundy returned, after he had driven the English out of the country.
(x) Finally brought under control and Burgundy became part of France in about 1483. This made France to emerge as a nation-state.

(i) Even in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Florence had produced Dante and Petrarch, the two great poets of the Italian language.
(ii) Dante s Divine Comedy is a summation of medieval culture.
(iii) Its dominant theme is the salvation of mankind through reason and divine grace.
(iv) It abounds with many other themes such as human love, love of country, interest in natural phenomena.
(v) Petrarch produced works both in Latin and Italian.
(vi) An early humanist, he is considered to be the father of Italian Renaissance literature.
(vii) Boccaccio, also a Florentine, produced Decameron, a collection of 100 stories.
(viii) Niccolo Machiavellis The Prince became famous because of its relevance as a political guide for the rulers.
(ix) In his view, the supreme obligation of the ruler was to maintain the power and safety of the country over which he ruled.