Actually, other than traveling the Silk Road (Marco Polo, etc.), exploration didn’t happen until after the Renaissance, so it didn’t have any effect on it whatsoever. The Renaissance was during the Late Middle Ages (basically 1300-1500), and other than travels along the Silk Road, the Age of Exploration started in 1492 with Columbus.

The travels along the Silk Road, however, had a fairly large impact on the transition from Medieval to Renaissance culture. During the Early Middle Ages (basically the fall of Rome to the late 900’s), culture was mainly tied to feudalism. Sickness was rampant, life span was 20-30 years or so on average, and only the wealthy had any education.

Around the late 900’s/early 1000’s, things took an upswing. Weather patterns changed, allowing for increased crop growth (which allowed for more wealth spread among the people and more free time to study). Wars were not so rampant (though they obviously did still happen), which increased life span. Sicknesses also decreased in many areas, which increased life span. Technology allowed more work to be done in a smaller amount of time, which allowed for more wealth and free time – which allowed more people to become educated.

It was mainly these changes that facilitated the transition to Renaissance culture. In the 5-650 years or so before this, people simply had no need for travel or education, neither did they have the time. When these changes took place, their lives switched from survival mode to seeing what else was out there. They became more interested in the ideas and artwork of the Classical period, and they had the ability to travel to India and China to trade goods.

This travel and exploration along the Silk Road opened up a whole new world for Medieval Europe. Silks, spices, ivory, and other luxuries were brought in for the wealthy, and as wealth and free time rose, the commodities brought a greater price. This also introduced the concept of banking to Europe – prior to this point, people just traded goods and services, or they paid in silver. The main currency of Asia was gold. Silver and gold needed to be changed into a common currency for exchanged – enter the advent of banking.

This brought more and more power to merchants and bankers, and less and less power to feudal lords and royalty. During this time, the main structure of feudalism fell, as vassals no longer held complete power over their people. Soon, merchants and bankers had more money than royalty did, and royalty became indebted to them in order to finance conquests and wars. As this process wore on, it ushered in a transition to Renaissance culture – where people were more concerned with knowledge, beauty, and wealth than with survival and keeping the status quo of feudalistic society.

The closing of the Silk Road was one factor that called an end to the Renaissance – “Christian” (European) people no longer had an “easy” (relatively speaking) way to get to Asia, as their passage was blocked by Muslims who, after the Crusades and such, wanted them out. They started to use the knowledge they had gained during the Renaissance to forge out into the Age of Exploration. Suddenly, with the discovery of new routes and new lands, conquest and trade routes took first place in everyone’s minds. The knowledge of the Renaissance stayed with people, but the quest for beauty and truth fell away.

This is my explanation; I suggest you read the book to make sure that my words fit with your source. Different sources have different viewpoints, and if your source takes a different viewpoint than my research has, your teacher/prof will know that you haven’t read it.

However, this is an overview of what precipitated the changes of that time period. (There were other factors as well – the Crusades, etc. – but other than resulting in enmity with the Middle East, they didn’t play a large role in the transition of society.)

Hope that helps!