Define the term "Renaissance," and explain why that period in Western history is referred to as such. Identify some of the major figures (at least three) associated with the Renaissance, and discuss their contributions to history.

"Renaissance" means rebirth. The term refers to how intellectuals, scientists and artists between the 14th and 16th centuries brought back classic Greece and Roman works and a rationalist thinking.

The term is used to remark the difference between the Renaissance times and its immediate previous period, the Middle Ages, which the users of the term Renaissance believe was dark and unfruitful for critical and scientifical thinking.

Three major figures of the Renaissance were:

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519). He was a painter, scientist, architect, sculptor, botanist and much more. His many interests show why he is so representative of the Renaissance: he wanted to understand the world and the human being in all its possible dimensions, and he tried so by trying to go beyond the knowledge and methods utilized in his time. He left many works of art, like the Mona Lisa (c. 1503), and contributed scientific investigation.

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527). He wrote The Prince, the book that founded political science. In this book, politics operate in a realm of its own, detached from moral and religion, something new by then. The prince served to the perception that politics was a field of human action, not of divine action.

Michelangelo (1475-1564). He was an architect, painter, and sculptor. He is most known for the ceiling of the St. Peter's Basilica (1546-1564), remembered by the famous painting where God involved in a form of the human brain touches the hand of Adam, and the sculpture Pietá (1499). He left a legacy of works that influence art until today.