The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history from around the 14th to the 16th century (c. 1300-1500). The Late Middle Ages marked the end of centuries of prosperity and growth in Europe and was hit by a number of famines and plagues, reducing the population to around half of what it was before the epidemics. This period also saw the beginning of the Italian Renaissance, the invention of the printing press and travels and discoveries of the New World.