How did the renaissance make columbus' voyages possible?

Question

In europe the time period which historians call the rennaissance. how did the renaissance help columbus' voyages and made him able to do it! PLEASE I NEED HELP!:(

Answer 1

First, MMM is sadly misinformed. To begin with, Galileo wasn't even BORN till decades after Columbus's death!

More basically, Copernicus and Galileo were concernd with the motions of celestial bodies in relationship to the earth (and vice versa!) They did not have ANYTHING to do with advancing any theories about the shape and size of the earth itself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernicus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo

In fact -- and here's the biggest mistake of all -- despite what many folks were told by their third grade teachers, it is absolutely untrue that 14th-15th century churchmen and scholars thought the world was flat! It was well understood throughout Europe from at least the 4th century B.C., that the world was round. What Columbus's opponents disagreed with him about was the SIZE of the earth and how far one would have to sail to reach Asia. According to their calculations he would not be able to safely sail that far. Guess what! THEIR estimate of the earth's size was pretty good. It was Columbus who was mistaken... and but for his unexpectedly finding a continent between he would likely have perished as sea, as they expected
http://users.zoominternet.net/~matto/M.C.A.S/notes_size_shape.htm
http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Lcolumb.htm
http://www.jimloy.com/astro/columbus.htm


All that said, there's another, bigger, problem with the question you raised. If by the term "Renaissance" you simply mean the so-called 'Italian Renaissance", there is very little actual connection between that and Columbus's voygages. In fact, the Italian Renaissance was mostly a CLASSICAL revival in the arts!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Renaissance

Now the term "Renaissance" has more recently been applied to OTHER important revivals in learning as well, including to the 'Renaissance of the 12th Century' (the "high middle ages"), which in many ways was far MORE productive in concrete terms than what later took place in Italy. In fact, this earlier Renaissance is connected with the founding of the university system and ultimately with the beginnings of modern science.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_of_the_12th_century

It was also as a result of this earlier period, late in the Middle Ages, that the important technological advances took place that made the great voyages of discovery possible starting about the mid-15th century (that is, with the Portuguese voyages along and finally around Africa). In particular, developments in shipbuilding and navigational tools made it possible, for the first time, to travel great distances over the open ocean.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_technology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science_in_the_Middle_Ages

There is ONE other possible connection, sort of, between Columbus and the Italian Renaissance. The Medici banking family was the major financieer of all this artwork, etc. And it appears they may have had something, directly or indirectly to do with the outfitting of one or more of Columbus's voyages. I'm not completely clear on how this worked, but check out the following (which, interestingly, also help clarify the relationship between Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci):
http://www.bigoid.de/conquista/biographien/vespucci.htm
http://www.mariner.org/exploration/index.php?type=explorer&id=14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Middle_Ages#Southern_Europe

Answer 2

By the time Columbus sailed, Copernicus and Galileo had advanced the theory that the world was round and not flat. Better navigation instruments were invented and the art of ship building had progressed to the point that they had become far more seaworthy. Trade routes had been re-established after the "Dark Ages" and it was already known ships could sail from India and China west. Columbus reasoned that he could sail from east to west also across the Atlantic and reach India and China and the spice, silk and diamond/gold etc. riches there. Problem was, the world was a bit bigger and there were two continents in the way to the Pacific! When he landed somewhere south-east of Florida, the first natives he saw were thought to be from India, and he called them Indians, a mistake which has been carried foreword to this day in people we call American Indians.

Answer 3

nicely it grew to become right into a rebirth in the classical. the renaissance made human beings go away their primitive habit from the middle a while. human beings in the process the renaissance have been interested in creating new discoveries, opposition between countries like Portugal and Spain allowed human beings to be extra interested in commerce and stuff like that. bear in concepts HIS for renaissance which stand for humanism, individualism, and secularism that's what the its represented.

Answer 4

renaissance was abt an expansion and development in knowledge. columbus wnated to travel to the unknown and bring back jewels and spices to establish himself. it was also a time of humanism. ppl had faith in colubmus b/c ppl had faith in everyone else.