Guest Author - Laura Nevin
The Italian explorers' view of the New World began to evolve and began to include the very concept of a new world. Many Italian explorers had to re-evaluate their cosmography, and alter their maps to reflect their new found knowledge of new lands, and the many new places which were available to discover. The emergence of the New World also brought about colonization which was the plan of many Renaissance leaders such as Isabella and Ferdinand. The emergence of the New world inspired the emergence of new powers too.
This strange concept of a New World was equally confusing of that of a new age. It began to bamboozled people. The most important contribution to the Renaissance, to the discover of the New World that the Italian Explorers achieved, was not the new lands they uncovered but the change in the way people began to think when they had to explain themselves, and their discoveries.
After the middle ages, most of Europe had become very open to new ideas which was setting up to the beginning of the Renaissance. With this new mindset, so to speak; it lead to the need for literature. With the invention of the Printing press, literature increased. People could share ideas even going wide spread. The printing press led to bibles began mass printed for the first time in history. This led to people to began to question what they had never questioned before.
During the middle ages, the Catholic Church was strict. It was fully linked within people's lives. People didn't question the authority of the church because it had been all they had known for so long. The Catholic Church also governed art. This show the lengths the church went to limit people's knowledge. Art was mostly religious and any paintings which included the human form, was to be very mutilated showcasing the truth of man's obvious sinful nature.
This is why the emergence of the New World had not only a geographical impact but also a religious. People, even people of status had began to question the Catholic Church on matters of religion, on the matters in the bible.