Tag: modern age in europe: the renaissance

The Renaissance  was a cultural movement that initially began in Florence, Italy, but later spread throughout Europe. It started around 1350 and ended around 1600. During the Renaissance (a word that means "rebirth"), people experienced changes in art, learning, and many other things.

Dante was an Italian poet who had written an epic poem called 'Divine Comedy' on the state of the soul. It reveals the religious and social life of the day. 

A great painter and sculptor, Leonardo was also a great musician and a scientist. His paintings of 'The Last Supper' and 'Monalisa' are the great masterpieces of art. New techniques were adopted in his paintings to give a fine feeling of reality. 

Newton discovered the laws of gravitation and said that all heavenly bodies are controlled by this gravitational force. 

In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus published a new theory stating the earth revolves around the sun. This is known as the Copernican theory. This theory was considered a serious challenge to the Ptolemaic theory and the Roman Catholic Church. This was strongly supported by Galileo afterwards.

According to the 2011 Census, Christianity is the majority religion in the United Kingdom with 59% and among Christians, the Protestants form the largest community with 44% of the whole population. 

On May 20, 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut what is now Kozhikode, India. Da Gama was the first European to reach the lucrative trade centers of India by sea. Da Gama's sea route to India allowed Portugal to establish a rich trade with India and southeast Asia. Thus, Portugal was able to expand its empire to include many provinces in India.

The followers of Martin Luther were called Protestants. They ware called protestants because of their "Protest". They were in protest of the major beliefs of the Catholic Church at the time. They held differing beliefs than the Catholic Church and sought to create a new Christian sect based on these new beliefs.

Renaissance signifies emancipation and expression. On the intellectual side, it marked the revival of literature and art, on the political side it marked the death of universal authority of Pope, the emergence and consolidation of well-organised nation states. Socially, it marked the spirit of individualism and the recognition of man as an individualism. 

The Mona Lisa is a famous painting of the Renaissance period. The mysterious smile of Mona Lisa has led to much discussions and debates. Leonardo da Vinci, one of the famous artists of the Renaissance period, completed the painting in between AD 1503 and AD 1505. It is preserved in the Paris museum.