Age of Enlightenment

period of European history and cultural movement of the 17th and 18th centuries
Event cultural_movement Q12539
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Summary

Age of Enlightenment is a cultural movement[1]. It ranks in the top 1% of cultural movement entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (38,545 views/month).[2]

Key Facts

  • Influenced by: renaissance humanism[3], Scientific Revolution[4]
  • Follows: Classicism[5], Grand Siècle[6]
  • Followed by: Romanticism[7], French Romanticism[8]
  • Location: Western Europe[9]
  • Commons category: Age of Enlightenment[10]
  • Said to be the same as: illuminism[11]
  • Opposite of: disenlightenment[12]
  • Has part(s): American Enlightenment[13], Scottish Enlightenment[14], Polish Enlightenment[15], Modern Greek Enlightenment[16], Russian Enlightenment[17], Spanish Enlightenment[18], Haskalah[19], French Enlightenment[20]
  • Start time: 1700[21]
  • End time: 1820[22]
  • Topic's main category: Category:Age of Enlightenment[23]
  • Described by source: Encyclopedia of Political Theory[24], Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary[25], Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th edition (1885–1890)[26], Dresdner Hefte[27], Basque Literature Terms Dictionary[28]
  • Topic has template: Template:Age of Enlightenment[29]
  • Subject named as: Aufklärung[30]
  • Different from: Illuminationism[31], enlightenmentism[32]
  • On focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:List of articles all languages should have[33], Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4[34]

Body

Outcome and Impact

Things named for Age of Enlightenment include Dialectic of Enlightenment[35], a literary work[36], founded in 1944[37], written by Max Horkheimer[38].

Why It Matters

Age of Enlightenment has Wikipedia articles in 30 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[39] It is known by 60 alternative names across languages and contexts.[40]

It has been cited as an influence by capitalism[41], a social formation[42]; Prussian virtues[43], a virtue[44]; and Maximilian von Montgelas[45], a politician[46], 1759–1838[47], of Kingdom of Bavaria[48], awarded the Order of Saint Hubert[49], specialised in politics[50].

Entities named for it include Dialectic of Enlightenment[35], a literary work[36], founded in 1944[37], written by Max Horkheimer[38].

FAQs

Who did Age of Enlightenment influence?

Age of Enlightenment has been cited as an influence by capitalism[41], Prussian virtues[43], and Maximilian von Montgelas[45].

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [5] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  2. [6] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  3. [7] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  4. [8] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  5. [9] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [10] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  7. [11] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  8. [12] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  9. [13] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  10. [14] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  11. [15] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  12. [16] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  13. [17] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  14. [18] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  15. [19] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [20] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [21] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  18. [22] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  19. [3] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  20. [4] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  21. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  22. [24] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  23. [25] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  24. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [27] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  26. [28] ↑ . euskaltzaindia.eus. Retrieved . euskaltzaindia.eus. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  27. [29] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  28. [30] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  29. [31] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  30. [32] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  31. [33] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  32. [34] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Inverse relationships (entities pointing at this one)

  1. [41] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site
  2. [43] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site
  3. [45] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site
  4. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org. → on this site

Inline context (facts about related entities)

  1. [42] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  2. [44] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  3. [46] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  4. [47] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  5. [48] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  6. [49] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  7. [50] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  8. [36] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  9. [37] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site
  10. [38] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org. → on this site

Class ancestry

  1. [1] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [2] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [39] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [40] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Age of Enlightenment. Retrieved October 13, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/age-of-enlightenment
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BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_age-of-enlightenment_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Age of Enlightenment}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/age-of-enlightenment}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-13}}
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Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 13w ago · Nyuhn · 2026-07-10 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14541 → 4HAl8w
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/40849|batch #40849]]: ZGBK ID"
  2. 15w ago · Susmuffin · 2026-06-26 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Harper's tag → enlightenment
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ Harper's tag: enlightenment, Matched to [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/entry/289926626|enlightenment (#289926626)]] in [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/catalog/7915|Harper's ta"
  3. 17w ago · Jindřich Rubeš · 2026-06-12 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Svkkl authority id → h0000212-osvicenstvi
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Svkkl authority id: h0000212-osvicenstvi, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/259492|batch #259492]]"
  4. 20w ago · Twofivesixbot bot · 2026-05-23 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Follows → Classicism, Grand Siècle
    End time → +1820-00-00T00:00:00Z
    Influenced by → renaissance humanism, Scientific Revolution
    Has part(s) → American Enlightenment, Scottish Enlightenment, Polish Enlightenment +5
    + 20 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbsetclaim-update-qualifiers:1||1|3 */ National library of israel j9u id: 987007548261505171, mv to monolingual text names on J9U statements"
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