Explain the difficulties that Europe was confronting at the beginning of the fourteenth century

1.    Explain the difficulties that Europe was confronting at the beginning of the fourteenth century.  Describe how these conditions made the population particularly susceptible to pandemic disease.  Describe the geographic spread of the plague.  Point out the connections between the spread of the plague and the long-established trade routes.  Finally, explain the tremendous demographic impact of the Black Death on Europes population.

2.  Describe the unification of Spain and explain how Spain will become one of the most powerful nations in Europe and a primary actor during the Age of Exploration and Discovery.  Explain the unification of Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella.  Describe the significant power of Isabella.  Explain the steps they took to unify Spain, placing particular emphasis on the expulsion of the Muslim and Jewish populations.

  3.  Explain the military component of this period of exploration.  Describe how technological advances in artillery increased the effectiveness of the Europeans.  Describe how new conquests had to be protected from native peoples and other Europeans.  Discuss the motives for the period of discovery gold, trade, the Atlantic colonies.

        4.  Define Renaissance.  Explore the difficulties inherent in defining the Renaissance.  Discuss the Renaissance as a period of change.  Explore the notion of Renaissance Ideals and discuss how the Renaissance was shaped by the realities on the ground in each country.

Essay: Choose one of the essay topics below and write a fully-developed and detailed response. You must use a minimum of three sources including, but not limited to, the Internet. The essay must be a minimum of two typed, double-spaced pages. You must include a bibliography of all sources used in order to get credit for the essays! Follow paper guidelines under Course User Guide (double spaced, Times New Roman, 12pt).  Also, INCLUDE AUTHOR AND PAGE INFORMATION IN THE BODY OF YOUR PAPER INDICATING WHERE YOU REFERENCED MATERIAL FROM SOURCES IN YOU BIBLIOGRAPHY.  It should look something like, ..(Brown, 24).  This shows you took information directly or paraphrased from whatever book, website, etc, that author Brown wrote and the page number you got the information from.