Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Age of Enlightenment began in 1637 when René Descartes published his Discourse on the Method. This publication introduced a radical new way of thinking that systematically dismantled the foundations of medieval authority.
Key philosophers included Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. Voltaire argued for civil liberties and reason over faith, Rousseau developed the social contract theory, Locke asserted natural rights to life and property, Hume challenged the nature of knowledge, and Kant introduced the phrase dare to know.
The Encyclopédie was a monumental work published between the 2nd of May 1751 and 1772 in 35 volumes. It was compiled by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert to spread Enlightenment ideas and challenge traditional doctrines and the political power of organized religion.
The Age of Enlightenment directly influenced the American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789. John Locke's ideas on natural rights formed the foundation for the Declaration of Independence, while Enlightenment philosophy inspired the dismantling of the Ancien régime in France.
The Age of Enlightenment spread to the Americas, Asia, and Africa, reaching the Ottoman Empire in the 1830s and influencing Japan and China by the 1880s. In India, the Bengal Renaissance led to Enlightenment reforms beginning in the 1820s, while the Arab world experienced the Nahda movement following the French invasion of Egypt and Syria in 1798.