Age Of Exploration Essay

Throughout history, there have been turning points that have changed the course of society. The three most important turning points were the Age of Exploration, the Renaissance, and the Reformation. Each had many positive and negative effects on history. During the Age of Exploration, many explorers set out in their massive sailing ships to find another way to get to India, but what they discovered was a major turning point in the history of the world. During the Renaissance, many people in Europe began having new ideas and concepts about life and even started believing in humanism, which was emphasizing the value of humans in many forms (during this time it was art). And finally during the Reformation, it was a time of religious conflict was shaped Europe into what it was today.
The Age of Exploration was one of the World History’s most important turning point. Before the Age of Exploration and right after the Crusades, trade between Asia and Europe had increased. However, there was a major setback and that was the prices of the goods that were traded. Starting from China, an object could be traded into India (for example) and then traded into Saudi Arabia for a higher price. And later on it would get traded into Europe for an even higher price. So the Europeans had to pay the bigger price for something that could have been worth less by going to the source itself. That lead to the Age of Exploration. Using big ships with huge sails, Europeans set out to find ways to trade with China and India by going around Africa or by simply going west into the Atlantic to find another way to get to China or India (that’s what Columbus had thought). The Portuguese started off the Age of Exploration by finding a way to get to India by goi...

... middle of paper ...

...ning of one small but powerful man, Martin Luther. Luther was a holy person himself and he began noticing the corruption in the Church. He tolerated everything till the last straw in which he saw a priest, Johann Tetzel selling indulgences. Tetzel said that for a certain amount of money, he said that he would assure their entry to heavens and as well as their dead relatives as well. This final outrage lead Luther into writing his 95 theses about indulgences. This would lead to the questioning of the Church and soon it would lead to the exposure of the Church throughout Europe by one powerful weapon that Luther had. And that was the printing press. Within a few nights, all of europe came to know the truth about the Church and many people were happy that finally, someone had told everyone about how the Church really was. Many changes occurred during this period.