The Renaissance & Early Modern Era's start date, 1454, was selected because it immediately follows the end of the Hundred Years? War and the Fall of Constantinople. The following century was marked by the height of the Renaissance in Europe, the rise of the Ottomans and the Wars of the Roses in Britain. Also, European colonization expanded into Africa, Asia and the Americas, Japan became unified and the rise of both indigenous and colonial trade empires in Africa became important. The set discusses major changes in world economics and demographics.