Printing and Voyages

In 1405 China sent the biggest fleets the world had seen to Africa, then stopped. Europe, small and divided, kept going.

Printing spread new and old ideas quickly, and the Renaissance revived classical learning. Portugal's sailors crept down the African coast.

In 1492 Columbus reached the Americas, and in 1498 da Gama reached India. The world's separate halves were joined, with huge consequences for both.