The Renaissance And The Period Of The Renaissance

The word “Renaissance” is defined as rebirth or revival. In the European civilization, the renaissance of art, literature, painting, music shared in certain trends and influences. When we talked about the Renaissance, we generally mean the period of western European history from 1400 to 1600. The Renaissance gradually spreads through Italy and Western Europe. As it did, people grew interested in giving new life to Greek and Roman styles of art and architecture. Renaissance people began to create unique cultures of their own.

Some Renaissance thinkers felt that they were living at the dawn of magnificent new era, leaving behind a time they considered “the dark ages.” They believe that they would not only revive the glories of the ancient world, but surpass them. This belief changed the life of European people. Historians now realize that the achievements were already present in medieval age.

First was the invention of movable type and the printing press. Johannes Gutenberg and Johann Fust, German goldsmith, invented movable type in 1446. Then, Gutenberg invented the printing press to produce the world’s first printed book, the Bible.

Before this, all books had been written out and produced by hand. Therefore they were expensive and rare. Since most people could not afford to own books, most people did not learn how to read. With the help of printing press, books and the ideas and stories become much more widely available.

Renaissance was a period when Europeans made many voyages of exploration. In 1492, the Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus, landed on island in the Caribbean. At first they thought that the land was part of Asia. The main turning point in the world history is that Columbus had reached a continent whose exis...

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... constant threat of cureless tragedy along with it.

In an essay titled “On the Influence of Enlightenment on Revolutions,” writer and editor Johann Tietftrunk made the argument that the history of every age gives us example of revolution. France itself had it been truly enlightened and would have never began its revolution or else certainly carried it out.

Many modern writers agree with this agreement. They point out that the Enlightenment must be considered in context. Their hope for the future was a better world, one based on reason, sentiment, and respect for individual. The Enlightenment brought the Western Europe mind to the threshold of a new freedom. It waved aside everything, every form of religious and civil authority, every imaginable fear. For two centuries God seem to speak in a new voice to human kind. For better and for worse, that voice still speaks.