CLEP Western Civ I

Answer: E - One of (if not the) most important byproduct of the Crusades was the degree to which naval trade flourished. Italy was the most immediate benefactor of the naval improvements. With a reinvigorated naval trade industry, Italy began to prosper financially and the vast wealth accrued by the Italian sea merchants allowed for improved education, a more worldly perspective on intellectual and aesthetic culture, and it ultimately financed the Renaissance. The technological developments in seafaring and renewed interest in oceanic travel encouraged Western European nations to build the necessary tools and manifest the necessary skills to explore the world, which was the motive that defined the 15th and 16th centuries during the Age of Exploration. (While European colonialism flourished after the Crusades, colonialism had no effect on the Italian Renaissance. Scientific and medical knowledge from the Arab world and the still-growing Catholic Church both influenced the Renaissance and exploration, to an extent, but they were not the driving influences for either event like wealth and naval capabilities were.)