Renaissance art continued to develop in complexity and sophistication over the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. By the seventeenth century, it had advanced so much from its Renaissance origins that it had become a distinct style. This new style was found in art, architecture, and music; its emphasis was on elaborate detail, extensive ornamentation, and densely complicated textures. Later artists would refer to it derisively as the "Baroque Period," which means "bizarre and overly complicated," and the name stuck. The quintessential masterpiece of baroque style is the French King Louis XIV's Palace of Versailles (ver-SAI).
It was during this time that Europe began to have an increasingly disproportionate influence on world affairs. Spain's exploration of the New World had given rise to the Spanish Empire, which at its height stretched 5.3 million square miles across the Caribbean, North and South America, and the Pacific Ocean. With the Ottoman Empire in control of the Bosphorus Straits, Europe was cut off from the Silk Road and was forced to find new trade routes to India and China. Spain used its Empire to open westward trade routes. Portugal, sharing the Iberian peninsula with Spain, and the Netherlands, nestled between France and Britain, grew into trade powerhouses, sailing around Africa and establishing outposts and colonies to provide safe harbor. France and England (which is now dragging along Ireland and Scotland so we have to call it "Great Britain" for the next few hundred years) also established colonies throughout the world, soon eclipsing Spanish power in the New World. From now on, European conflicts quickly became global events, and European art, architecture, philosophy, literature, and music began to spread throughout the world.
Music during this time is notable for an explosion of advanced instrumental music performed by skilled performers called virtuosi, and highly complicated polyphony, a style known as counterpoint.
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