The Renaissance

I asked myself the same question. The Renaissance was a great advance in man kind. Starting in roughly the 1400s, there was a burst of knowledge and ideas that began throughout Europe. People began to invent things that we use today, perhaps not the same object, but a better version of it.

Arts
New techniques in arts came up with famous artists such as Titian with his most famous painting The Assumption of the Virgin, Michelangelo who was a great artist in sculpting, painting, poetry, and architecture, Da Vinci with the famous painting of Mona Lisa, and many others. There were also many famous poets from the age of The Renaissance such as William Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, who also established colonies in Virginia, and many more. The ideas from the arts inspired new writers and a new style of writing that we look back on and favor today.

Inventions Galileo Telescope

Aside from just pretty paintings and sculptures, there were also many inventions of The Renaissance. Some of the important ones were of course the microscope, later modified by Galileo, who also used the telescope to explore outer space and earth's relativety to it. There was also the very important invention of the printing press by Johann Gutenberg in 1436, which has changed a lot of society today, making the reproduction of written material a lot faster and easier. This huge invention eventually created the "modern" typewriters which inspired printing through computers. You may not know that the first submarine was engineered in the 17th century by Cornelius van Drebbel, who crafted a submarine that was basically a rowboat covered in leather. It could stay underwater for a few hours at a time, but the depth was very limited. This invention was not part of The Renaissance era, but van Drebbel got his ideas from ideas of the Renaissance.

Impact
The Renaissance had a huge impact on exploration because of the new technologies available to the Europeans. There were technologies that were developed during The Renaissance that allowed for the exploration of North, South, and Central Americas, such as the caravel. Caravel

The caravel was a highly maneuverable, three masted ship first used by Spain and Portugal that was able to endure the rough waters of deep sea sailing, which made it possible for Western Exporation. The Renaissance also provided new ideas of cartography and navigation, where explorers could map out their expedition. Without the ideas and inventions throughout The Renaissance, the discovery of the Americas would most likely be delayed by several years. This would offset the timing of the explorers in the centuries to come, so it seems that the timing of inventions was great for the discovery of the Americas.