Age of Exploration

The Age of Exploration is regarded by most scholars to have begun with the advent of Sthroseum, the first cheaply obtainable elevator. This allowed air travel to be much more accessible, incentivizing adventurers, traders, and the like to take to the skies and seek new places to trade with, find new sources of important resources, and new lands to settle.
Mapmakers and navigators alike soared in prestige as the need to accurately record and navigate the new places surged.

Airships became ubiquitous over the course of this Age. Floating semi-cities were not unheard of as halfway points in some skies where nearest land was too far away for many smaller ships to make the trip in a single trip.