1. France
1.1. Geography and Agriculture
1.1.1. The Pyrenees, the Alps and the Rhine were what France’s rulers believed to be natural borders. This was used as a justification for an aggressive policy and repeated invasions.
1.1.2. After Paris, Rouen was the second largest city in France, in large part because of its port. Marseille was France's second major port: it benefited greatly from France's trading agreements signed in 1536 with Suleiman the Magnificent. To increase maritime activity, Francis I founded the port city of Le Havre in 1517.
1.1.3. Lyon was the center of France's banking and international trade markets. Market fairs occurred four times a year and facilitated the exportation of French goods, such as cloth and fabrics, and importation of Italian, German, Dutch, English goods. It also allowed the importation of exotic goods such as silks, alum, glass, wools, spices, dyes. Lyon also contained houses of most of Europe's banking families, including Fugger and Medici.
1.1.4. The territory of France during this period increased until it included essentially the extent of the modern country, and it also included the territories of the first French colonial empire overseas.
1.2. Religion
1.2.1. Once united under Roman Catholicism, France was now facing religious division as Calvinism began to spread.
1.3. Government and Military
1.3.1. French political power under the rule of Louis XIV, "The Sun King", builder of Versailles Palace Owned powerful artillery. Regarded as a major power in Europe. Many houses in France who had some relation to the crown. The Valois Branch ended in 1589. The Protestant Reformation, inspired in France mainly by John Calvin (Calvinism at it’s finest), began to challenge the legitimacy and rituals of the Catholic Church.
1.4. Economy and Trade
1.4.1. The economy of Renaissance France was, for the first half-century, marked by a dynamic demographic growth and by developments in agriculture and industry.
1.4.2. Silk production (introduced in Tours in 1470 and in Lyon in 1536) enabled the French to join a thriving market, but French products remained of lesser quality than Italian silks. Wool production was widespread, as was the production of linen and of hemp (both major export products)
1.4.3. Marseille was France's second major port: it benefited greatly from France's trading agreements signed in 1536 with Suleiman the Magnificent. To increase maritime activity, Francis I founded the port city of Le Havre in 1517. Other significant ports included Toulon, Saint Malo and La Rochelle.
1.4.4. Regional markets and trade routes linked Lyon, Paris and Rouen to the rest of the country.
1.5. Science and Technolgy
1.5.1. Floating dock
1.5.2. Lifting tower
1.5.3. In 1543, Copernicus published his theory that the earth was not the center of the universe, but rather, that the Earth and the other planets orbited around the sun. Called the Copernican Revolution, his theory forever changed astronomy, and ultimately changed all of science.
1.5.4. Dutchmen, Zacharias Janssen, invented the compound microscope.
1.6. Arts and Education
1.6.1. The art of the period from François I through Henri IV often is heavily inspired by late Italian illustration and sculptural developments commonly referred to as Mannerism, which is associated with Michelangelo and Parmigianino, among others. It is characterized by figures which are elongated and graceful that rely upon visuals, including the elaborate use of mythology.
1.6.2. Initial artistic changes at that time in France were executed by Italian and Flemish artists, such as Jean Clouet and his son François Clouet, along with the Italians, Rosso Fiorentino, Francesco Primaticcio, and Niccolò dell'Abbate of what is often called the first School of Fontainebleaufrom 1531. Leonardo da Vinci also was invited to France by François I, but other than the paintings which he brought with him, he produced little for the French king.
1.6.3. Université de Douai established
1.6.4. Education during childhood was very important, whether it was school or work. People who learned during an early age would be able to gain more experience and skill compared to a person who would start later. These skills would create a benefit for them, for the skills they learned for many years would help them make a living, or live in their certain environment.
2. Persia
2.1. Government and Military
2.1.1. The highest level in the government was that of the Prime Minister, or Grand Vizier (Etemad-e Dowlat)
2.1.2. Shah Abbas realized that in order to retain absolute control over his empire without antagonizing the Qizilbash, he needed to create reforms that reduced the dependency that the shah had on their military support. Part of these reforms was the creation of the 3rd force within the aristocracy and all other functions within the empire, but even more important in undermining the authority of the Qizilbash was the introduction of the Royal Corps into the military. This military force would serve the shah only and eventually consisted of four separate branches.
2.1.3. The Safavid state was one of checks and balance, both within the government and on a local level. At the apex of this system was the Shah, with total power over the state, legitimized by his bloodline as a seyyed, or descendant of Muhammad.
2.1.4. Despite the reforms, the Qizilbash would remain the strongest and most effective element within the military, accounting for more than half of its total strength. But the creation of this large standing army, that, for the first time in Safavid history, was serving directly under the Shah, significantly reduced their influence, and perhaps any possibilities for the type of civil unrest that had caused havoc during the reign of the previous shahs.
2.2. Religion
2.2.1. Even though the Safavids were not the first Shia rulers in Iran, they played a crucial role in making Shia Islam the official religion in the whole of Iran, as well as what is nowadays the Republic of Azerbaijan.
2.3. Geography and Culture
2.3.1. The twin bases of the domestic economy were raising livestock and agriculture.
2.3.2. Shah Abbas I recognized the commercial benefit of promoting the arts—artisan products provided much of Iran's foreign trade. In this period, handicrafts such as tile making, pottery and textiles developed and great advances were made in miniature painting, bookbinding, decoration and calligraphy. In the 16th century, carpet weaving evolved from a nomadic and peasant craft to a well-executed industry with specialization of design and manufacturing.
2.3.3. The Safavids benefited from their geographical position at the centre of the trade routes of the ancient world. They became rich on the growing trade between Europe and the Islamic civilisations of central Asia and India.
2.3.4. Traveling through Persia was easy because of good roads and the caravanserais, that were strategically placed along the route. The Persian caravanserais were better built and cleaner than their Turkish counterparts.
2.4. Social Structure and Family Life
2.4.1. A proper term for the Safavid society is what we today can call a meritocracy, meaning a society in which officials were appointed on the basis of worth and merit, and not on the basis of birth.
2.4.2. The Iranian society during the Safavids was that of a hierarchy, with the Shah at the apex of the hierarchical pyramid, the common people, merchants and peasants at the base, and the aristocrats in between.
2.4.3. They are very philosophical over the good and bad things in life and about expectations for the future. They are little tainted with avarice, desiring only to acquire in order to spend. They love to enjoy what is to hand and they refuse nothing which contributes to it, having no anxiety about the future which they leave to providence and fate.
2.4.4. Their imagination is animated, quick and fruitful. Their memory is free and prolific. They are very favorably drawn to the sciences, the liberal and mechanical arts. Their temperament is open and leans towards sensual pleasure and self-indulgence, which makes them pay little attention to economy or business.
2.5. Economy and Trade
2.5.1. The Portuguese Empire and the discovery of the trading route around the Cape of Good Hope not only hit a death blow to Venice as a trading nation, but it also hurt the trade that was going on along the Silk Route and especially the Persian Gulf.
2.5.2. Correctly identified the three key points to control all seaborne trade between Asia and Europe: The Gulf of Aden, The Persian Gulf and the Straits of Malacca by cutting off and controlling these strategic locations with high taxation. Shah Abbas I drove the Portuguese out of Bahrain, but he needed naval assistance from the newly arrived British East India Company to finally expel them from the Strait of Hormuz and regain control of this trading route. He convinced the British to assist him by allowing them to open factories in Shiraz, Isfahan and Jask. With the later end of the Portuguese Empire, the British, Dutch and French in particular gained easier access to Persian seaborne trade, although they, unlike the Portuguese, did not arrive as colonisers, but as merchant adventurers. The terms of trade were not imposed on the Safavid shahs, but rather negotiated.
2.5.3. The seaborne trade route was of less significance to the Persians than was the traditional Silk Route. Lack of investment in ship building and the navy provided the Europeans with the opportunity to monopolize this trading route. The land-borne trade would thus continue to provide the bulk of revenues to the Persian state from transit taxes.
2.5.4. The one valuable item, sought for in Europe, which Iran possessed and which could bring in silver in sufficient quantities was silk, which was produced in the northern provinces, along the Caspian coastline.
2.6. Science and Technology
2.6.1. The status of physicians during the Safavids stood as high as ever. Whereas neither the ancient Greeks nor the Romans accorded high social status to their doctors, Iranians had from ancient times honored their physicians, who were often appointed counselors of the Shahs.
2.6.2. The only field within medicine where some progress were made was pharmacology, with the compilement of the "Tibb-e Shifa’i"
2.6.3. The extensive development of architecture was rooted in Persian culture and took form in the design of schools, baths, houses, caravanserai and other urban spaces such as bazaars and squares. It continued until the end of the Qajar reign.
2.6.4. The Safavids learned the value of firearms and artillery early, from the neighboring Ottomans. Shah Ismail built a corps of musketeers, the tofangchi.
2.7. Arts and Education
2.7.1. It was a high point for the art of the book and architecture; and also including ceramics, metal, glass, and gardens. The arts of the Safavid period show a far more unitary development than in any other period of Iranian art.
2.7.2. The Safavid Empire was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Persian empires, with artistic accomplishments, since the Muslim conquest of Persia.
2.7.3. Education is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 11.
2.7.4. Primary education is followed by a three-year guidance cycle, which assesses students’ aptitudes and determines whether they will enter an academic, scientific, or vocational program during high school.