VIRTUOUS LIVING - Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

(iii)(iv)There was a general lack of committed sense of patriotism among theItalian elitists. Although many people knew themselves to be Italians, theynevertheless concentrated on business in these fragmented city-states.They left matters of city-state defence to mercenaries fighting internalwars – city-states against each other. Such rivalries often led to the seekingof foreign alliances, which in turn took advantage of the military weaknessof the city-states’ defence systems.The trade centre shifted from Italy to the Atlantic, and took away theeconomic life-line that had put Italy in the limelight of economicdevelopment.Although the spirit of renaissance was drastically reduced, its impact was irreversible.It had marked a transition from medieval to modern civilisation. There were majordevelopments in economics, arts, political thought, and science. As regardseconomics, the Renaissance period “saw the emergence of commercial capitalism andpartial control of economic affairs by the state through a series of empirical decisions,later known collectively as Mercantilism”. (Helm 1961:317). These developments incommercial volume and discipline led to faster economic growth within the context ofthe transitory nature of this period. Although there had been an economic depressionin the greater part of the 16 th century, later, an unbroken line of development ensued,running to the middle of the 18 th century (cf Helm 1961:317-8). The main featuresnoted during this period were surplus capital, international financiers, and larger unitsof both agriculture and industry. The spirit of the renaissance had seen the expansionof cities of international exchange, especially the German ones, which boosted tradeto international proportions.The Renaissance provided the transition from “medieval” to “modern” Europe withall its achievements in art, literature, science, politics, and economic development.But it unfortunately also put Europe in a position of dominance which would have farreachingeffects on the African continent. This will be examined in the next section.61