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The End
Changes in Europe: Renaissance
The Age of Exploration (1500s) brought about more changes to Europe. Not only did European powers compete for control of their territories around the globe, but explorers like Ferdinand Magellan traveled around the Earth, and new products began to flow back and forth between continents. This exchange of goods and ideas between the Old World (Europe) and the New World (Americas) is called the Columbian Exchange.
The Renaissance (1400s), for example, brought a rebirth of ancient Greek and Roman culture that seemed to have been lost for centuries. Just as the Greeks and Romans once did, Renaissance figures explored new forms of art, architecture, literature, and philosophies. This was a huge change from the dark ages, when most people were preoccupied with simply surviving, having enough food, or risking life in battle.
Historians break down European time periods into three distinct eras: The Ancient Era, The Medieval Era and The Modern Era. The ancient Romans dominated most of Europe for around 1000 years. With the fall of Rome in 476AD came another thousand year period called the Medieval Era, also known as the Dark Ages or the Middle Ages. By about the 1400s however, huge changes began to occur in Europe. These changes rippled through all aspects of European life and culture. Everything from art, philosophy and religion to science, economics, and governments were forever changed.
The Reformation (1500s) signaled even more monumental changes to Europeans and their beliefs. Most of Western Europe had connections to the Roman Catholic church, but reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin exposed flaws and corruption within Catholicism, and started new, Bible-centered ‘protestant’ denominations that spread all over the continent and around the world.
The Scientific Revolution (1500s) led to new ideas in the realm of astronomers, physicists, and anatomists who challenged accepted beliefs about the nature of the universe. Galileo proved the heliocentric theory of Copernicus, and Andrea's Vesalius had produced the most accurate illustrations to date of what was inside the human body. Isaac Newton discovered gravity, the nature of rainbows, light, and sound.