Age of Discovery

During the "Age of Discovery" and the Reformation there were

many changes taking place in Europe. In the sixteenth century society,

culture, and politics played a huge role in these changes. Politically,

Europe saw the development of the first nation states and created a

highly competitive state system. European politics were mostly

based on national interests and dynastic rivalries however they had

a bigger problem on their hands when a religious war broke out.

This war was between Catholics and the Protestants. The conflicts

between politics and religion seemed to merge into each other at

times mainly because many politicians saw things from a religious

point of view. On page 285 under Religion and Politics it states "

From the very beginning, the fate of Luther's movement was closely

tied to political affairs." Which to me goes to say that politics and

religion is indeed merged into each other in almost all aspects as I

stated earlier. The Cultures of this time had a huge change as well

because of new exploration and the findings of silver, gold, and

spices people became money hungry and started to believe that

they could sell these things to get freedom of God's punishment for