Was there really only one Renaissance?
I recently read a book called “Age Of Discovery” written by Ian Goldin & Chris Kutarna. This impressive and inspiring work is sub-titled “”Navigating The Risks And Rewards Of Our New Renaissance”. The theme of the book is that, since around 1990, we have been living in a time which is in effect a New Renaissance and we should learn some of the lessons from the original Renaissance of 1450-1550.
However, in first chapter of the book, the authors argue that renaissances can be you found in every civilisation. As well as the European Renaissance, they instance:
- The Mayan Classic Period of 300-900
- The early centuries of Korea’s Choson Dynasty (1392-1897)
- The Islamic Golden Age from 750-1260
- China’s Tang Dynasty of 618-907
- India’s Gupta Empire of 320-550
- The Mughal Empire under Akbar the Great (1556-1605)
We should avoid adopting a superior Western-centric view of history and appreciate that many parts of the world have exhibited periods of great cultural and technological flourishing.