Introduction: 1450–1699

Introduction: 1450–1699

Overview

The years between 1450 and 1699 were a time of worldwide upheaval and change, of discovery and rediscovery, of exploration and invention. During this period the boundaries of man's physical world expanded, intellectual horizons broadened almost beyond belief, and a technological explosion put into motion an ongoing wave of learning, advancement, and innovation that has continued, albeit fitfully and chaotically at times, to this very day.

During these two and a half centuries, science itself, particularly in the West, underwent a dramatic evolution, becoming evermore central to human endeavor, and expanding its scope to encompass a more accurate view of the world and the universe in which it is located. The age-old belief that both man and the earth were the center of the universe crumbled, though not without resistance, as scientists employed new tools and techniques to explore the skies above and the interior of the human body. Moving virtually hand in hand with science were advances in mathematics, which gave scientists new tools to measure and calculate the forces that shape the world.

Technology, the application of science to practical ends, made greater progress during these centuries than during all the preceding centuries of human existence.

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