All through history, some people were enlightened. That means they were open to learning about the world. But in Western history, only one period of time was actually called the Enlightenment.
That time reached its high point in the mid-1700s CE. How did this era get that name? It was a time when thinkers and writers found new ways to look at the world. They did not accept traditional ideas of government and education. They asked questions about religion and what it meant to be human. Instead of going along with old ideas, they looked to reason and thought. In fact, the time is also called the Age of Reason. The Enlightenment came after a period of incredible expansion of knowledge. That time is called the Scientific Revolution. Read on to see how the Scientific Revolution set the stage for the Enlightenment.