Other Exploreres

Vasco Nuñez de Balboa he was a pioneer, explorer and Spanish conqueror ruling. It was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from its eastern coast and the first European city to establish a permanent American mainland.On the morning of September 25, 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, from the heights of the mountains of Chucunaque River in the current Panama, sights amazed an unknown sea that called South Sea due to the orientation of that part of the coast in the environment today called Gulf of San Miguel.

Amerigo Vespucci he was a merchant and Florentine cosmographer, naturalized Castilian in 1505, who participated in at least two voyages of exploration to the New World continent that today is called America in his honor. He held important positions in the House of Trade in Seville, which was named "Chief Pilot" in 1508; but its universal fame is due to two works published under his name between 1503 and 1505: the Mundus Novus and the letter to Soderini, who attributed a leading role in the discovery of America and its identification as a new continent.

Ferdinand Magellan the service of Charles I, discovered the natural channel navigable today called the Strait of Magellan, the first European to go sailing from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, previously called South Sea. He began the expedition, led to his death by Juan Sebastian Elcano, to achieve the first circumnavigation of the Earth in 1522.

Juan Sebastian Elcano was a Spanish sailor who participated in the first round the world. The Trinidad sailed badly and fell in Tidore port for repair and return across the Pacific to Panama. Elcano finally took command of the expedition back. He had trouble returning to Spain with what remained of the expedition, without knowing the way back across the Pacific, and seemed crazy to try, so chose navigate the Portuguese seas westward along known routes and Africa with possibilities for watery.



THE PRINTING PRESS

A printing press is a device for evenly printing ink onto a print medium (substrate) such as paper or cloth. The device applies pressure to a print medium that rests on an inked surface made of movable type, thereby transferring the ink. Typically used for texts, the invention and spread of the printing press are widely regarded as among the most influential events in human history,revolutionizing the way people conceive and describe the world they live in, and ushering in the period of modernity.

This technology was transmitted to Korea during the Goryeo Dynasty, where the Korean inventors subsequently made many new technological improvements and innovations upon the original technology and in 1234 created the world's first metal movable-type printing technology for printing paper books 216 years before Gutenberg's printing press. This led to the printing of a Korean book, using the ancient Chinese writing system, known in Korean as the Jikji in 1377; it is the oldest extant movable metal printed book. This form of metal movable type technology has been described by the French scholar Henri-Jean Martin as similar to Gutenberg's.

The mechanical movable type printing press was developed in Europe by roughly 1450 and is credited to the German printer Johannes Gutenberg. The exact date of Gutenberg's press is debated based on existing screw presses that were an essential component of the printing press device. Gutenberg, a goldsmith by profession, developed a printing system by both adapting existing technologies and making inventions of his own. His newly devised hand mould made possible the rapid creation of metal movable type in large quantities. The printing press displaced earlier methods of printing and led to the first assembly line-style mass production of books.

In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication which permanently altered the structure of society. The relatively unrestricted circulation of information and (revolutionary) ideas transcended borders, captured the masses in the Reformation and threatened the power of political and religious authorities; the sharp increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging middle class.

                   

MEDIEVAL INSTITUTIONS IN SPAIN

The apex of the institutional system was the monarchy, justified since the beginning of the reconquest as a legacy of the Visigothic Hispania in the Cantabrian cores: Kingdom of Asturias, Kingdom of León and county and then the kingdom of Castile; or Carolingian feudalism in the Pyrenees: Barcelona Condal Court subsequently principality of Catalonia, county and later kingdom of Aragon, and the kingdom of Navarre. This, in fact, had met almost all of the Christian territories early eleventh century, then break it up with the inheritance of Sancho III the Great among his descendants of Jimena dynasty, facing each other while being geographically expanded by Al-Andalus. By then the concept of hereditary monarchy was sufficiently settled to use it as a heritage institution within the vassal dynamics of feudalism, with all the limitations that this expression has in the Iberian Peninsula. The European influence that came with the Camino de Santiago and the Order of Cluny determined to be the house of Burgundy which ended entroncando in the western kingdoms (Portugal, Leon and Castile).The same supporting procedures (to which is added the very existence of the monarchy) were used to justify social dominance of the nobility (the bellatores or feudal defenders), with the higher clergy formed a single ruling class: the privileged.

The formation of the authoritarian monarchy culminates with the powerful Trastámara dynasty originated in Castilla in the person of a bastard, Henry II of Mercedes, boosted power by jealous high nobility to avoid the same concentration of power, which is also implemented Aragon following the Compromise of Caspe. The crisis of the fourteenth century had been determined to produce a clear separation between high and low nobility of noblemen and gentlemen, whose social prestige, when he could not be sustained in the control of land, was wanted with all kinds of proofs, habits, enforceable kings of arms, coats of arms ... if they could not be supported by those not hide their economic decline.after the revolt anti Pedro Sarmiento speaks of Toledo (1449). That legal discrimination remained a major factor of social cohesion fortiori even after the expulsion of the Jews (1492) and the Moors (1609) as a useful scapegoat maintaining the existence of the new Christian, provided that no escaping or the highest noble houses and the king.



The Hundred Years' war


The Hundred Years' War was a series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453 between the House of Plantagenet, rulers of the Kingdom of England, against the House of Valois for control of the Kingdom of France. Each side drew many allies into the war.

For their French possessions, the English kings since the Norman Conquest were vassals of the kings of France. The French kings had endeavored, over the centuries, to reduce the possessions of their over-mighty vassals, to the effect that only Gascony was left to the English. The confiscation or threat of confiscating this duchy had been part of French policy to check the growth of English power, particularly whenever the English were at war with the Kingdom of Scotland, an ally of France.

Through his mother, Isabella of France, Edward III was the grandson of Philip IV of France, and nephew of Charles IV of France, the last king with direct lineage to the House of Capet. In 1316, a principle was established denying women succession to the French throne. When Charles IV died in 1328, Isabella, unable to claim the French throne for herself, claimed it for her son. The French rejected the claim, maintaining that Isabella could not transmit a right which she did not possess. The French denial of Edward III's claim to the French throne initiated the period of conflict between England and France now known as the Hundred Years' War. Several overwhelming English victories in the war raised the prospects of an ultimate English triumph. However, the greater resources of the French monarchy precluded a complete conquest. Starting in 1429, decisive French victories at Patay, Formigny, and Castillon concluded the war in favor of France, with England permanently losing most of its major possessions on the continent.

The war owes its historical significance to multiple factors. By its end, feudal armies had been largely replaced by professional troops, and aristocratic dominance had yielded to a democratisation of the manpower and weapons of armies. Although primarily a dynastic conflict, the war gave impetus to ideas of French and English nationalism. The wider introduction of weapons and tactics supplanted the feudal armies where heavy cavalry had dominated. The first standing armies in Western Europe since the time of the Western Roman Empire originated during the war, composed largely of commoners and thus helping to change their role in warfare. With respect to the belligerents, English political forces over time came to oppose the costly venture. The dissatisfaction of English nobles, resulting from the loss of their continental landholdings, became a factor leading to the civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487). In France, civil wars, deadly epidemics, famines, and bandit free-companies of mercenaries reduced the population drastically. Shorn of its Continental possessions, England was left with the sense of being an island nation, which profoundly affected its outlook and development for more than 500 years.

                                                                                           

THE WARRIOR NOBLES

In the Middle Ages there was a very high class, the latter formed by a privileged group of warriors and religious, prominent members of the Church. The warrior nobility lived in castles and their main occupations were the war and the battle between knights tournaments. Its revenue came from taxes that were paid their servants for the enjoyment of their land. The knights were of a class a little lower than the military and religious landowners, and you could get to it, thanks to some merit in war or combat.
The priests, abbots and bishops belonged to the same social group warrior nobility, and were responsible for the direction of one of the most important institutions of the Middle Ages, the Church.
The importance of the Church, had consolidated long ago, when the Roman Empire had donated large tracts of land in different parts of Europe. This power made the lives of bishops and abbots warp. away from the basic principles of Catholicism: poverty, obedience and chastity. Led a life of riches, vassals who surrendered tributes and taxes and serfs who worked the land.
To justify this comfortable lifestyle, theologians who strove to maintain harmonious society should be be three social class, interdependintes: the warring, those praying and working. Other important functions of the church, was that many monasteries and churches were dedicated to translate, interpret and archive all the books of the time., Which made him transform into true centers of culture. The language used was Latin, considered cultured and universal language. Also there were the priests.

The peasants were the lowest class of this era, and were engaged in animal husbandry and agriculture. These activities have been developing for several centuries ago, when the decline of the Roman Empire began. Each family worked as a production unit and produced what needed to live. Eventually they must also produce to keep the warrior and religious nobility. The peasants also joined forming villages, located in the middle of vast expanses of fields. They were very poor, formed by mud and straw houses.
In these communities there were other people doing other activity were craftsmen, they worked wood, metal, clay, leather, etc. His works were used in agricultural production and in daily life. The peasant proprietors were not actually true duels were those of the aforementioned nobility.

 

The pillars of islam

 

Islam has five primary obligations, or pillars of faith, that each Muslim must fulfill in his or her lifetime. They are as follows :                                                                           

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   Shahadah, profession of faith, is the first pillar of Islam. Muslims bear witness to the oneness of God by reciting the creed "There is no God but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God." 

  

  Salah, prayer, is the second pillar. The Islamic faith is based on the belief that individuals have a direct relationship with God. The world's Muslims turn individually and collectively to Makkah, Islam's holiest city, to offer five daily prayers at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and evening. In addition, Friday congregational service is also required. Although salah can he performed alone, it is meritorious to perform it with another or with a group. It is permissible to pray at home, at work, or even outdoors; however it is recommended that Muslims perform salah in a mosque.

 

    

   Zakat, almsgiving, is the third pillar. Social responsibility is considered part of one's service to God; the obligatory act of zakat enshrines this duty. Zakat prescribes payment of fixed proportions of a Muslim's possessions for the welfare of the entire community and in particular for its neediest members. It is equal to 2.5 percent of an individual's total net worth, excluding obligations and family expenses.

    

    Sawm, fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, is the fourth pillar of Islam. Ordained in the Holy Qur'an, the fast is an act of deep personal worship in which Muslims seek a richer perception of God. Fasting is also an exercise in self-control whereby one's sensitivity is heightened to the sufferings of the poor. Ramadan, the month during which the Holy Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, begins with the sighting of the new moon, after which abstention from eating, drinking and other sensual pleasures is obligatory from dawn to sunset. Ramadan is also a joyful month. Muslims break their fast at sunset with a special meal, iftar, perform additional nocturnal worship, tarawih, after evening prayer; and throng the streets in moods that are festive and communal.

   

   Hajj, the pilgrimage to Makkah, is the fifth pillar and the most significant manifestation of Islamic faith and unity in the world. For those Muslims who are physically and financially able to make the journey to Makkah, the Hajj is a once in a lifetime duty that is the peak of their religious life. The Hajj is a remarkable spiritual gathering of over two million Muslims from all over the world to the holy city. In performing the Hajj, a pilgrim follows the order of ritual that the Prophet Muhammad performed during his last pilgrimage.

      

     

                                                                                                               

Muhammad

Muhammad was a man from Mecca who unified Arabia into a single religious polity under Islam. Believed by Muslims and Bahá'ís to be a messenger and prophet of God, Muhammad is almost universally considered by Muslims as the last prophet sent by God to mankind. While non-Muslims regard Muhammad as the founder of Islam, Muslims consider him to have restored the unaltered original monotheistic faith of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets.

Born in about 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, Muhammad was orphaned at an early age; he was raised under the care of his paternal uncle Abu Talib. After his childhood Muhammad primarily worked as a merchant. Occasionally he would retreat to a cave in the mountains for several nights of seclusion and prayer; later, at age 40, he reported at this spot, that he was visited by Gabiel and received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One".