Enlightenment 1685

The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason) was a period in the history of Europe and Western civilization[1] during which the Enlightenment,[b] an intellectual[6] and cultural[6] movement, flourished, emerging in the late 17th century[6] in Western Europe[7] and reaching its peak in the 18th century, as its ideas spread more widely across Europe[7] and into the European colonies, in the Americas and Oceania.[8][9][10] Characterized by an emphasis on reason, empirical evidence, and scientific method, the Enlightenment promoted ideals of individual liberty, religious tolerance, progress, and natural rights. Its thinkers advocated for constitutional government, the separation of church and state, and the application of rational principles to social and political reform.[11][12][13] Age of Enlightenment 1687–1789