4 a short history of the united states
journey and probably reached present- day Newfoundland, or possibly
some place along the coast of modern-day New England. They made
camp and explored a wide area, no doubt visiting sections that later
became part of the United States. Further explorations by other Vi-
kings may have taken them down the St. Lawrence River.
In any event the Vikings never established permanent settlements in
the New World, and nothing came of their discoveries. It took several
more centuries for western Europe to begin to initiate important
changes in its society that would result in the migration of many of its
people to the New World.
The Crusades undoubtedly triggered a good deal of these changes.
In 1095 , Pope Urban II called Christians to liberate the Holy Land
from the Muslims who controlled it. Thousands of Europeans re-
sponded and traveled to the East, where they were exposed to a differ-
ent and more exotic culture, a way of life that excited their imagination.
Later they returned home from their adventure with new tastes, new
ideas, new interests, and new demands for foods and goods that they
had experienced in the East, such as spices, cotton, and silk cloth.
Their desire for the products of the East was further enhanced by
Marco Polo’s account of his extensive travels and life in China, pub-
lished in the thirteenth century. The gold and silver as well as the
spices and silk clothing that Polo described captured the imagination
of Europeans. Trade routes were developed to bring these products to
an eager market. Soon the manorial, agricultural, closed economy of
the medieval world gave way to a capitalistic economy based on trade,
money, and credit. Existing cities flourished and new ones were
founded. This urban development attracted artisans of every stripe
who perfected their crafts and initiated a technological revolution.
The printing press made possible the wide distribution of books and
stimulated learning. It also contributed to the formation of universi-
ties in a number of cities. The compass and astrolabe were introduced
by which navigation of the seas became safer and encouraged seamen
to seek new routes and new worlds beyond those already known.
As a result of these and many other less notable changes the Middle
Ages, with their authoritarian and rigid system of beliefs and practices,
slowly disintegrated. The power of the pope and bishops who controlled