Sixth Grade
Worksheets
Business Booms During the Renaissance!
Caption: The Ponte Vecchio (old bridge) in Florence, Italy, completed in 1345.
During the Renaissance, the economy in Europe changed from a feudal economy to a more modern economy based on trade and free enterprise.
The Middle Ages had been a time of feudal estates. Each estate was its own little world, producing nearly everything that it needed. Many people worked on one estate to produce the food, clothing, and other necessary goods. These workers, called peasants, were bound to the land. They stayed with the estate usually for their entire life.
Dramatic natural events including droughts, famine, and the plague, along with political and social changes, brought an end to the feudal way of life.
