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Aug 3, 1492
Christopher Colombus sailed to America. (Italian)
Columbus sailed to America. He was hired to sail to America by the Spanish KIng Ferdinand and Queen and Isabella. This opened the Americas to colonization. This caused America to be the place that everyone wanted to go to. -
May 10, 1497
Amerigo Vesucci Discoveres that the New World was not Part of India. Founded South America.
An Italian explorer who explored America and discovered that it is it's own continent, and not part of India. He also discoved the city Rio de Janeiro. This brought about more colonization because the major European powers wanted to be the first to settle on a new continent. -
Jan 19, 1521
Hernando Cortes Conquers the Aztec Empire
Hernando Cortes was a spainard who came to Mexico to find Gold and claim it for the Catholic church and Spain. He also conqured the Aztechs. Because of this the main religion in Mexico today is still Catholic Christianity. -
Jan 19, 1533
Francisco Pizzaro Conqueres Peru
Francisco Pizzaro a Spainard who sailied to Peru also looking for riches. He conqured the Incas and destroyed the city of Machu Picchu. The ruins of the city are still a huge tourist destination today. -
Jan 19, 1534
Jacques Cartier Claimed Canada for France
A Frenchmen who claimed Canada for France and founded Qubec city. Because of this, French is still the main language of Qubec today. -
Thomas Hobbs
He believed that people are naturally greedy, cruel and selfish. Therefore, people signed a social contract, or an agreement that people will give up their freedom to live in an organized society. -
John Locke
He believed people were not that bad. Everyone has Natural rights - life, liberty and property.He also believed that government's main job was to protect natural rights. If violated, people could overthrow government. -
English civil war begins. Roundheads vs Cavaliers
Oliver Crommwell leads the Roundheads against Charles I and the Cavaliers. After lots of fighting, the Roundheads win. Oliver was a puritan and he put a lot of unnecessary laws intro practice, like drinking alchohol was forbidden and other things. This cause the English people to go back to a Monarchy 11 years later. -
Louis XIV Becomes the King of France.
He ruled for 72 years and claimed to be the divine ruler of France. He rueld with absolute control. He built the grand palace of Versailles which is still a major tourist destination. -
Charles I gets beheaded.
After the English revolution, Charles I is beheaded. This put the Puritans in power, and they made many new laws. England eventually went back to a monarchy. -
Louis XIV Builds the palace of Versailles.(France)
Louis XIV begins building the Pallace of Versailles and he invited some nobles and government officials to live with him. The palace is still standing today and this is where the french presidents are sworn into office. -
The Glorious Revolution begins. James II flees.
James II (Charles II's son) was Catholic and was ingoring parliament. James II felt threatened, so he fled. KIng William of Orange and Queen Mary become the king of England. No one died during this revolution. This caused England to create a limitted monarchy, and this governemtn helped them gain power. -
William of Orange becomes King of England.
After James II was forced to flee from England, William of Orange (Netherlands) became King and Mary became Queen. It lead to the creation of the limited monarchy, and that caused England to gain a lot of power. The kings of the Netherlands are still called "of orange" today. -
Peter the Great moves capital of Russia to St. Petersburg
Peter the Great moved the Capital of Russia to St. Petersberg. This helped westernize Russia and got them more involved with the rest of Europe.
