What was the "enlightenment"? who were some of its major thinkers and writers?

The Enlightenment culminated in the French Revolution (1789-1799) and was followed by the Romantic period. Major figures of the Enlightenment include Voltaire, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, David Hume, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Isaac Newton and Thomas Jefferson

The Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement which dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century and some of the thinkers were Voltaire and john lock