The European Renaissance has been called the age of discovery, but it was also the time of the rediscovery of Greek philosophy, art, and science. Thus, although the Renaissance seems in many ways unique and distinct, it might also be thought of as the natural culmination of medieval thought as well as a transitional period between the Middle Ages and modernity. Broadly speaking, the Renaissance, a term that literally means rebirth, comprises the period from about 1300 to 1650. Some historians, however, contend that focusing on the Renaissance as a separate historical period may cause us to misread the flow and meaning of ideas and events. The factors that led to and sustained the transformation of European intellectual, social, economic, and political life are complex and manifold. As medieval institutions disintegrated, the unifying principles of medieval society were challenged by new ideas and facts generated by the exploration of the word, the world, the heavens, and the human body.