ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment is a time in history when people started thinking for themselves! Before this time, everyone believed what they were told, and they didn't question it. But during the Age of Enlightenment, many people started thinking about things in a different way. They asked questions and looked for answers themselves.

During this time, many famous people came up with new ideas about how the world worked. They believed that reason and logic were the best ways to understand things. They thought that we should use our minds to figure things out, rather than just believing what we were told.

One of the most important things that happened during the Age of Enlightenment was the development of science. Scientists started using reason and logic to explain how things worked. They came up with new theories about the universe, such as the laws of gravity.

People also started thinking about politics in a different way during this time. They believed that everyone should have equal rights and that governments should be based on the consent of the governed. This led to the American Revolution and the French Revolution, which changed the way people lived in those countries forever.

Overall, the Age of Enlightenment was a time when people started thinking for themselves and using reason and logic to understand the world. It was a time of great change and progress, and many of the ideas that were developed during this time are still important today!