In history, the early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages of

the post-classical era. Although the chronological limits of the period are open to debate,
the timeframe spans the period after the late portion of thepost-classical age (c. 1500),
known as the Middle Ages, through the beginning of the Age of Revolutions (c. 1800) and
is variously demarcated by historians as beginning with the Fall of Constantinople in 1453,
with the Renaissanceperiod, and with the Age of Discovery (especially with the discovery
of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492, but also with the discovery of the sea route
to the East in 1498), and ending around the French Revolution in 1789. Historians in recent
decades have argued that from a worldwide standpoint, the most important feature of the
early modern period was its globalizing character.[1] The period witnessed the exploration
and colonization of the Americasand the rise of sustained contacts between previously
isolated parts of the globe. The historical powers became involved in global trade. This
world trading of goods, plants, animals, and food crops saw exchange in the Old Worldand
the New World. The Columbian exchange greatly affected the human environment.
In the world, capitalist economies and institutions began to appear, becoming more
sophisticated and globally articulated over the course of the early modern period. This
process began in the medieval North Italian city-states, particularlyGenoa, Venice,
and Milan. The early modern period also saw the rise and beginning of the dominance of
the economic theory of mercantilism. It also saw the European colonization of the
Americas, Asia, and Africa during the 15th to 19th centuries, which spread
Christianity around the world.
The early modern trends in various regions of the world represented a shift away from
medieval modes of organization, politically and other-times economically. The period in
Europe witnessed the decline of feudalism and includes theReformation, the
disastrous Thirty Years' War, the Commercial Revolution, the European colonization of the
Americas, and the Golden Age of Piracy. Ruling China at the beginning of the early modern
period, the Ming Dynasty was one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social
stability in human history.[2] By the 16th century the Ming economy was stimulated by
trade with the Portuguese, the Spanish, and the Dutch. The Azuchi-Momoyama period in
Japan saw theNanban trade after the arrival of the first European Portuguese.
Other notable trends of the early modern period include the development of experimental
science, the speedup of travel through improvements in mapping and ship design,
increasingly rapid technological progress, secularized civic politics and the emergence
of nation states. Historians typically date the end of the early modern period when
the French Revolution of the 1790s began the "modern" period.[3]