Abstract
‘New worlds and old worlds’ outlines the background of the scientific revolution in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The Italian Renaissance was not the first rebirth of Latin civilization, but the previous ones were curtailed by the natural disasters of the 14th century. The Italian Renaissance allowed the development of humanism, a movement which revived the study of Roman and Greek learning and restored many ancient texts, and the invention of movable-type printing also increased the availability of books. Reforms within Christianity caused turbulence throughout Europe, and Iberian explorers returned with strange reports from the new continent of America.
