<b>The Renaissance<b>

Beginning in fourteenth-century Italy, Europe went through a transition over 400

years from medieval to modern times known today as the Renaissance, meaning a "
rebirth" or "revival." The Renaissance is a nebulous concept for which there is
no clear beginning or end. It does, however, usefully mark the complete recovery
from the barbarism of the Dark Ages to the new advancement in all fields that t
ranscended the achievements of the great ancient civilizations.
Many different factors at work in the Middle Ages contributed to this revival an
d new advancement. One was the renewed interest in learning. The first college a
t Oxford University was founded in 1264. By 1400 there were more than 50 univers
ities in Europe. Education and debate were stimulated by access to ancient texts
preserved by the Arabs and freshly translated into Latin. Europeans had made co
ntact with the Arabs in the Holy Land, in Sicily, and in Spain. The rediscovered
works of the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, for example, became the standa
rd for teaching mathematics into the nineteenth century. The Arabs also transmit
ted a new system for numbers, the concept of the decimal point, and the concept
of zero, all invented in India. The spread of learning accelerated rapidly follo
wing the invention of the printing press around 1450.
A second factor was the rising standard of living, especially in the great comme
rcial cities of Italy. The Crusades had opened European eyes to the wealth of th
e East, especially silks, spices, and cotton. The merchants of Venice, Genoa, Fl
orence, and other cities came to dominate the trade between Europe and the Easte
rn Mediterranean. With the excess wealth they accumulated in business, these mer
chants began embellishing their homes and cities with art. Sculpture, painting,
architecture, music, poetry, and literature found new expression, exhibiting an
interest in subjects beyond the religious themes that dominated previously in th
e Middle Ages. Popular depictions of everyday life, romance, and adventure revea
led that European culture was becoming more humanistic and less focused on relig
ion.
The revival was also due to technological progress that led to more efficient pr
oduction of goods and services. Manufacturing, farming, and trade all improved p
ast the abilities of the ancients. The drive for profits encouraged inventivenes
s and exploration. A middle class of merchants and craftsmen began grasping poli
tical power commensurate with their economic power, at the expense of a declinin
g nobility.
By roughly 1500 the nations of Europe were leading the world in many important t
echnologies. Energies unleashed by the exploration of the world, the search for
trade routes, the Protestant Reformation, and continued political competition in
Europe itself would make Europe the dominant region of the world within a few c
enturies.