After the time of the Romans, the s

After the time of the Romans, the speed of discovery slowed down, and indeed many earlier discoveries were lost for hundreds of years. It was not until the fifteenth century, with the coming of the Renaissance, that discoveries were again made on a large scale. Europe was suddenly filled with a wish to explore the world. No less important was the invention of printing, giving many men an opportunity to read and to own books which before had been available to only the wealthy few. The spread of ideas was rapid, and led in its turn to the writing of more books. The voyagers of the Renaissance discovered the existence of many new and strange lands, and in these lands were all sorts of unknown animals and plants