The Transition to Modern Society, c. 1400 to 1700

1The source: a philosopher names three world-changing inventions

In 1620 the English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon published Novum Organum ("the new instrument"), a plan for a new kind of science. In it he asked which discoveries had changed the world most:

"we should notice the force, effect, and consequences of inventions, which are nowhere more conspicuous than in those three which were unknown to the ancients; namely, printing, gunpowder, and the compass. For these three have changed the appearance and state of the whole world: first in literature, then in warfare, and lastly in navigation; and innumerable changes have been thence derived, so that no empire, sect, or star, appears to have exercised a greater power and influence on human affairs than these mechanical discoveries."

Francis Bacon, Novum Organum (1620), Book 1, edited by Joseph Devey.

Analyse it. Bacon is right that the three transformed Europe, and his judgement, inventions over empires and stars, is itself a sign of a new, modern way of thinking. But he is wrong that their origin was unknown or European. Gunpowder and the compass were Chinese inventions, the Song Chinese used the compass for navigation in the 11th century, and Bi Sheng invented movable type in China around 1040. Gutenberg's press of about 1440 was a European breakthrough, but not the first printing. A source can be insightful about effects and wrong about causes.

2Five forces that moved Europe from medieval to modern

A sixth force came from the sea: the voyages of exploration, which connected Europe directly to Africa, Asia and the Americas.

3Case study: the voyages seen from Africa

The voyages are often told as a European story of discovery. Look at the map from the African coast instead.

• Portugal had been trading down the West African coast since the early 15th century, mainly in search of gold and enslaved people. In February 1488 Bartolomeu Dias became the first European navigator to round the southern tip of Africa.
• Vasco da Gama left Lisbon on 8 July 1497 with four ships and 170 men. On the East African coast he met hostile rulers at Mombasa but a warm reception from the Sultan of Malindi, whose city was in conflict with Mombasa. There he hired a Gujarati pilot who knew the monsoon winds, and reached Calicut (Kozhikode) in India on 20 May 1498. The "European discovery" of the sea route to India depended on African politics and Indian Ocean knowledge.
• In the Kingdom of Kongo, King Afonso I (ruled 1509 to about 1542) became a Christian and exchanged letters, priests and goods with Portugal, but his reign also saw the Atlantic slave trade expand.

The same voyages that helped make Europe "modern" began the Atlantic slave trade, in which about 12.75 million Africans were loaded onto ships for the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries. The transition to modern society in Europe and the suffering of Africa are parts of one story.