The Enlightenment is the name given to a period of discovery and learning that flourished among Europeans and Americans from about 1680ââ¬â1820, changing the way they viewed the world. This was also a time when Britain became a global power and grew wealthy. A significant part of that wealth came from Britain`s colonial empire and its active involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.
Housed in the oldest room in the present Museum ââ¬â originally designed to house King George III`s Library ââ¬â this diverse permanent exhibition shows how British people understood the world at this time through their collections. The displays convey a sense of how objects were organised and displayed during the 18th century. Sir Hans Sloane`s collection, with several additional libraries and collections, became the foundation of the British Museum, which was established on 7 June 1753 by an Act of Parliament.
While Enlightenment thinking and collections provided the foundations for much of our present understanding of the history of human cultural achievement, they also tended to tell that story from a predominantly European perspective. This period, and its legacies, are now increasingly being reassessed from a range of critical perspectives.
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