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The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was an intellectual and philosophical movement that occurred in Europe in the 17th and the 18th centuries.
Age of Enlightenment (or Reason) (Europe, 18th century) Scientific Revolution (Europe, 18th century) Long nineteenth century (1789–1914) Georgian era (the United Kingdom, 1714–1830) Industrial Revolution (Europe, United States, and elsewhere 18th and 19th centuries, though with its beginnings in Britain) Age of European colonialism and ...
The date used as the end of the ancient era is arbitrary. The transition period from Classical Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages is known as Late Antiquity.Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the transitional centuries from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world: generally from the end of the Roman Empire's ...
Yet just as Petrarch, seeing himself at the cusp of a "new age", was criticising the centuries before his own time, so too were Enlightenment writers. Consequently, an evolution had occurred in at least three ways. Petrarch's original metaphor of light versus dark has expanded over time, implicitly at least.
Western Europe was forced to discover new trading routes, as happened with Columbus' travel to the Americas in 1492, and Vasco da Gama's circumnavigation of India and Africa in 1498. The numerous wars did not prevent European states from exploring and conquering wide portions of the world, from Africa to Asia and the newly discovered Americas.
The Scientific Revolution was a series of events that marked the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transformed the views of society about nature.
The early modern period is a subdivision of the most recent of the three major periods of European history: antiquity, the Middle Ages and the modern period. The term "early modern" was first proposed by medieval historian Lynn Thorndike in his 1926 work A Short History of Civilization as a broader alternative to the Renaissance.
This category groups topics regarding the Age of Enlightenment, as well as: Factors which figured in the political developments of the late 18th century and early 19th century, including the American Revolution and French Revolution .