AP World History - Early Exploration

The Black Death

Jan 1, 1346

The Black death, a huge outbrake of plague carried by rat fleas, kills 25 million people, one-third of the population. No one knew where the disease was coming from, what was carrying it, or how to treat it. By the time a possible treatment was created, the epidemic ad already wiped out a third of Europe's population.

First guns appear in Europe

Jan 1, 1347

The first guns appear in Europe. This event is very important because we are still using this old technology today, even though guns have evolved in size, power, and accuracy since this time. Guns are one of the few technologies created this ealry, that are still in use to tis day.

Printing Press

Jan 1, 1440

The first printing press that uses movable type prints the first book, the Gutenberg Bible. This invention made it possible for books to be made inexpensivly, and more quickly, causing knowledge to flow even faster than before.

Fall of Constinople

Jan 1, 1453

Muslim Turks captured the famous Christian city, Constinople. Most historians use this date as the fall of the Roman Empire, and some also use it as the biginning of the historical period known as the Renaissance.

Portuguese Reach India

Period: Jan 1, 1497 to Jan 1, 1498

In the years of 1497 and 1498, Vasco de Gama (a Portuguese Explorer) reached India by sailing around the southern tip of Africa. This is a major event because it shows explorers everywhere just how big the African continent is, and provides a new trade route through the Ocean. This new route knocks out the traders that carry the inexpensive goods from India to Europe where they would sell it almost twice or three times as much as what they paid for it.

Discovery of India?

Jan 1, 1498

Columbus discovers the Americas, however, he believes he had discovered a new trade route to India, and had landed off the coast of Asia. This was a major discovery that would soon play an important role in the Old World's future.

Amerigo and America

Feb 4, 1499

Amerigo Vespucci begins to explore along the coast of South America. As he begins to inspect the climate, culture, inhabitants, and civilizations, Amerigo comes to the conclusion that they hadn't found Asia, instead they found an entirely new continent that they called, "the New World."

New Map of the New World

Jan 1, 1507

Scholars create the first New World map that includes the continents of te New World. The scholars also name these continents "America" after the feminine version of their founder's name, Amerigo. This is a big deal because it is how our country's name came to be.

Discovery of the Pacific Ocean

Jan 1, 1513

Explorer, Balboa, crosses through the Isthmus of Panama and discovers the PAcific Ocean. This is very important because originally, no one believed that tere would be two oceans and a continent in between the west coast of Euopre and the East coast of China, but the discoveries were made, and the predictions were proved false.

Smallpox Epidemic

Jan 1, 1514

As Europeans were increasing their contact with the Indians and Native Americans, they also began to spread their diseases. Te Indians caught the smallpox, a disease that the Europeans were prone to, but still carried with them. This played an important factor when te Europeans began wiping out the Indians. Many of them were already weak from the disease.

Martin Luther

Jan 1, 1517

Martin Luther was very disturbed with the idea of recieving salvation and being right with God. After studying the subject in the Bible, Luther went on to prove that the Popes of the Catolic Church ad been lying to their people all along, and stealing their money along with that. This did not only fire Luther up, but also fired up the German people. This causes te Protestant Reformation in Germany.

Fall of the Aztec Empire

Jan 1, 1521

The Aztec Empire was one of the leading and most strongest empires in South America. However, once Spanish forces get into the Empire, they use their technologically advanced weapons and animals to completely conquer and destroy the Aztec Empire and their city. This is the point when the Europeans begin to colonize the Americas.

First Voyage Around the Wold

Jan 1, 1522

The remaining of Magellan's expedition returns to Spain, completing the first voyage around the world. This gives the scholares and map makers a real idea of how big their world truely is.

Revolving Around the Sun

Jan 1, 1543

In 1543, Nicholas Copernicus (astronomer) publishes a book that says the earth, and every other planets revolve around the sun. This is the first, any scholar, or basically, anyone has really carefully considered the possiblitiy that our world wasn't the center of the universe.

Australia

Jan 1, 1606

A Dutch explorer lands on the coast of Australia, and discovers a new continent. This new continent is added to the maps, and now, the maps are nearly complete. The only missing continent would be Antarctica.