Early modern Europe
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The period includes the Reformation, the disastrous Thirty Years' War, the European colonization of the Americas and the peak of the European witch-hunt craze.
Difference between 'early modern' and the Renaissance
The expression "early modern" is sometimes, and incorrectly, used as a substitute for the term Renaissance. However, "Renaissance" is properly used in relation to a diverse series of cultural developments; which occurred over several hundred years in many different parts of Europe — especially central and northern Italy — and span the transition from late Medieval civilization and the opening of the early modern period.
Artistically, the early modern is not a common designation as the Renaissance is clearly distinct from what came later. Only in the study of literature is the early modern period a standard period. Music is generally divided between Renaissance and Baroque. Similarly philosophy is divided between Renaissance philosophy and the Enlightenment. In other fields there is far more continuity through the period such as warfare and science.
The term early modern is most often applied to Europe, and its overseas empire. However, in Japan, the Edo period from 1590 to 1868 is also sometimes referred to as the early modern period.