Editing Civilization (section)

=== Modernity ===
{{Main|Modernity}}
{{Further|Middle Ages|Early modern period|Great Divergence|Age of Discovery}}
{{See also|Culture|Major religious groups|World language|Clash of Civilizations}}

A major technological and cultural transition to [[modernity]] began approximately 1500 CE in [[Western Europe]], and from this beginning new approaches to [[science]] and law spread rapidly around the world, incorporating earlier cultures into the technological and [[industrial society]] of the present.<ref name="nature.com"/><ref>{{cite book|title=Civilization|last=Ferguson|first=Niall|author-link=Niall Ferguson|year=2011}}</ref>