The Early Modern Period is an periodization of past times, after the Middle Ages. Just as other periods, each historical period has a fundamental features of society, culture, politics and ideas that give the time an underlying unity and set apart from earlier and later times. The beginning of the Early Modern Period and thus the end of the Middle Ages (Medieval Period) is associated with a group of fundamental changes that occurred in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. We follow the fall of the Byzantium Empire to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD.

The time saw a rebirth of interest in the writings of scholars from Ancient Greece and Rome. A new emphasis on the use of observation as the basis of knowledge and changed the image of man under the influence of humanism. This series of developments are called the Renaissance. They led to new ideas such as the model of the solar system with the sun at the center while the planets revolved around it. These new ideas were spread aided by the development of printing using movable type.

There was also a significant change in the economy. The number of people holding land under the feudal system declined. Instead of getting access to land in return for military service or unpaid labor, farmers paid rent in goods or money. Central authority gained importance and some countries developed into nation states. The economies around the shores of the Atlantic Ocean developed at a rapid pace. This strongly increased the economic and political importance of Europe during that time, while other civilizations were threatened to survive. The Chinese Empire was the exception. They flourished under the Ming and Qing dynasties.

In religion, the Catholic Church was challenged through criticism of its theology and practices. Ultimately, it led to the emergence of new Protestant churches and the end of the Reformation in 1517. It triggered the European Wars of Religion.

And around the same time, Europeans discovered cultures beyond Europe, the Age of Discovery. The voyage led by Christopher Columbus began the colonization of the Americas, and the discovery of the sea route to the East is found. European countries with many ships began to expand to the New World. Trade with Asia was common, after they found a way around Africa into the Indian Ocean. In a later stadium began the colonization.

The end of the Early Modern Period, and so the beginning of the Late Modern Period is associated with two major developments. From 1789 to 1799, the French Revolution, a major political upheaval, threatened to overturn the traditional structure of society. The power was concentrated in the hands of the monarch, the nobles and the church. The French Revolution opened the door to the creation of a new political culture. 

About the same time, the old power sources for all forms of work, such as the muscle power of men, women and animals, were gradually replaced by the engines powered by steam. This allowed the creation of machines and the production of goods on a scale unseen before. The industrial Revolution shifted the production from households and small workshops to large factories. A huge social change, like the rapid growth of towns. 

Historians differ on exactly which developments belong to the early modern times. Some of them prefer a later date as the boundary between the Early and Late Modern Times. We chose to follow the beginning of the French Revolution as mark between the two periods.