Secularism emerged as a political and social philosophy in the Renaissance period of European history and grew in influence during the Enlightenment and Industrial eras. It advocates primarily for the separation of the political and the religious (for example, no laws based on religious codes, etc.). It also contends that life on Earth is "more important" than the afterlife and that all religious beliefs should be tolerated, although these tenets of secularism were added by degrees as the centuries went by.

These works of Dante and Chaucer were both written in the vernacular languages of the countries they lived in. Vernacular means locally spoken, as opposed to how most work was published in this time period, in Latin. Dante and Chaucer helped accelerate the movement away from the elite language of Latin towards the popular languages of English, Italian, French, and so on. 

Petrarch was an Italian poet in the fourteenth century. He is often described by historians as the father of humanism and the father of the Renaissance.

The feudal system had prevailed in Europe since the fall of the Roman empire. In the feudal system, a lord owns a large tract of land, and he provides grants of land to peasants or “serfs" who work the land and live on the land. The serfs provide food and resources to the lord; in exchange, he protects them with a hired army and/or fortification. The rising wealth of towns and the growth of the urban middle class during the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods gradually eroded the feudal system and strengthened the power of monarchies and parliaments across Europe. A new era of absolute monarchy dawned, and was itself slowly (in some cases very quickly) replaced by constitutional monarchy and republicanism.

The Courtier is an important literary work of the Italian Renaissance. It was written by Baldassare Castiglione in the early sixteenth century. In the book, Castiglione describes the ideal Renaissance Man: how he should be artistic, athletic, scientifically-minded, etc. 

Erasmus is one of the most celebrated writers of the Nothern-Renaissance movement. His most famous work, In Praise of Folly, was written in the early sixteenth century and is essentially a satirical work, in which "folly" praises itself. It was meant as an attack on the abuses of the clergy within the Catholic Church and was widely influential at the time. 

Miguel de Cervantes was a Spanish writer during the Renaissance. He published his most famous work, Don Quixote, in the early seventeenth century. It is one of the most famous novels of all time, and its influence on the Spanish language and Spanish culture is unparalleled. 

Humanism arose in the early part of the Renaissance period. It was based on the study of classical writings, and the early humanists revered the Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Plato. Humanism emphasized the inherent ability of people to reason, to think critically, and to examine phenomena via evidence.

A "Renaissance Man" is an individual who is dedicated both to the sciences and to the arts. Indeed, to a Renaissance Man the distinction between science and art would be wholly unclear. They used science to understand how to produce better works of art. The classic example of a Renaissance Man is Leonardo da Vinci. He was a consumate artist, but also an inventor and a theorist. 

Beginning with Christopher Columbus' initial voyage in 1492, the Spanish began exploring, conquering, and colonizing the Americas. The Portuguese, having their own growing Empire across Asia and Africa, sought Papal advice on which king could rule which areas. The Treaty of Tordesillas drew a line in the Eastern portion of South America, which gave everything west to Spain and east to Portugal. Thus, the only portion of South America settled by the Portuguese was Brazil.