The third volume of "History of Europe" (the previous ones - 1988 and 1992) is built on a problem-regional principle, which made it possible to reveal the specifics of socio-economic relations and political structures in Europe at the end of the 15th - first half of the 17th centuries. Special sections are devoted to popular movements in the city and village, problems of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, great geographical discoveries. Much attention is paid to the problems of culture and ideology, in particular the Renaissance and humanism.