 Fixing the end point of the Latin medieval tradition is difficult. Although the traditional and still widespread date of 1500 is often today said to have no significance, that year has often been chosen by general historians to mark the beginning of modern times, as a round figure near to 1492, the date of Columbus’s first voyage to the New World, and 1517, the beginning of the Reformation, which would destroy the apparent unity of Catholic Europe. Many medieval historians now, however, do not wish to place a boundary at this time and stress the continuities in economic and social life that lasted until the Industrial Revolution. In any case, there is no reason why periodizations in the history of philosophy should coincide with those in other areas.