It was in this era that we really revolutionised our technologies and arts, from the Mono Lisa to gun powder we excelled dramatically, here are some of this things that were given to us in the 1500-1800AD era:
Architecture was always there as man have been creating stuff for centuries but it was in this era that we could create buildings and palaces on a massive scale. This style of architecture was first created in Florence and quickly spread through other Italian cities, it was then picked up by the rest of Europe and quickly became popular. These building were inspired by the works of the Ancient Greeks and Romans early art works.
Three dimensional art was introduced, compared to the old medieval flat arts this was a huge leap in art. This also represented wealth. This kind of art mainly focused on the human these were called ‘portraits’ rather than focusing on religious arts. Also the discovery of perspective was a huge leap as that managed to create a whole new view on art.
At this point in time there was a return to antiquity, the classical civilisations of Greece and Rome.
During the black death the rich was hit as bad as the poor therefore when everything returned back to normal families with wealth became the strongest by buying the newest technologies such as gun powder, bows and the deadly cannons. If you was able to buy these you were a force to be reckoned with. Due to these new weapons knights and castles lost rule.
Due to the rise of science and technology people such as Kepler, Leonardo Da Vinci and Copernicus learnt that the world was spherical and that the planet was in fact not the centre of the universe and that God does not control everything. This was the age of enlightenment and Humanism.
This was also the start to freelance trading men such as Marco Polo traveled through Asia and Europe with his Father and Uncle which is how he learnt to become a top merchant he returned 24 years later to only be imprisoned but told his stories to his cell mate. Once he was free he became wealthy through the open trading market and being a top merchandiser. His journey inspired the famous Christopher Columbus.
So we come to the mighty Shakespeare, a man who took theatrical arts to a new level, due to Shakespeare thousands of not only common folk but the richest and mightiest would take time to see his theatrical master pieces. This was called the art for the people as it would bring together the smartest and dumbest, strongest and weakest, richest and poorest people to see his plays. This was the rise of theatrical art.
1440 AD The rise of the news paper and all thanks to a company called ‘ Gutenberg Printing Press’ which created reading material at little effort and very quickly which led to books to be of less value. They created this with a moveable type, unlike what had previously been done in the whole of history they did not have to hand write anything. Without realising they had changed not only the nation but eventually the world.
He who first shortened the labor of copyists by device of movable types was disbanding hired armies, and cashiering most kings and senates, and creating a whole new democratic world: he had invented the art of printing.
(Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, 1833)
We then come to 1712 AD and he rise of the modern world this all started with the steam engine, the steam power allowed Britain to become the work house for the world making Britain one of the richest countries on the globe. 80% of people were farmers today less than 1% are now farmers all thanks to the steam powered engine. Many people would start working in factories at the age of 10-12. Thanks to this the common people saw a huge increase in their income and now they were able to start becoming part of the society that they had no part in before. Their living standards got better due to an increase in water supply thank to steam power and thanks to all the brand new machines that we had invented. This was a turning point in history as there was not 1 person who was not affected by this great change.
“For the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth … Nothing remotely like this economic behavior has happened before. –Robert E. Lucas, Jr.
1800 AD was the year of electricity and thanks to Thomas Edison, due to this discovery we were able to create light without the means of fire. This would clearly be a huge discovery not just for a nation, but for the world. Not only did he create the first light bulb, but he created the first electrical battery for a car, the first motion picture and a stock ticker.
1833 AD introduced the world to the first Zeotrope which allowed us to animate still pictures and 1840 AD introduced the world to the first still picture camera.
1870 AD First telephone and the start of mass communication which allowed the world to communicate without having to get a paper and pen all they had to do was pick up the phone, which led to mail factories to lose money.
History Through and through 