In general, the cargo. If there's a few boxes and barrels, then their trip would've been relatively short, as opposed to lots of boxes and barrels, which would indicate a longer trip.
Although, if the ship looks absolutely wrecked, the amount of cargo won't indicate the length of the trip, as extra cargo tends to be thrown off in a storm so as to lighten the boat.
Now, some specific things on the ship would show more details of the trip on that now-sunken ship would have been like.
For example, the amount of barrels containing gunpowder (not that it would've been
preserved; the water would've gotten in at some point) is indicative of their expectancy of pirates, or other ne'er-do-well's on the sea.
The crew's quarters (or lack thereof) would help to show how well (or not) they lived.
Another would be the things that wouldn't (or would) have been on the ship from their port of origin; treasure, etc. Maybe they have spices, or gold, or ceramics. This would show where the ship had been going (or coming from).
The Renaissance was the ending period of Medieval times when societies were already opening and able to create a period of cultural, artistic, political and economic rebirth from the dark ages of Medieval times.
During this period religion was put aside and philosophy, literature, and art became the center of the knowledge, which was also a change from the Medieval period.
We can say that the Renaissance is a part of the Middle Ages because it is the end of it before the modern-day civilization.
There were lots of foreign changes that presented challenges for the US. I'll give you a few examples from different time periods. First would be when England wanted to tax the Americans in the Revolutionary period. They did this to try and restrict America's freedom. Another example would be that Russia had spies during the cold war period. This was to gain intelligence of the US war plans. Also when Germany sent the Zimmerman Telegram to Mexico during the WWII period. This was to get Mexico to launch a surprise attack on the US.
The battle of Lexington and Concord