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Period: Jan 1, 1096 to Jan 1, 1291
Crusades are fought
In 1076, the Muslims had captured Jerusalem - the most holy of holy places for Christians, nicknamed the "City of God". This is where Jesus was born and lived most of his life until he was crucified on Calvary Hill, also in Jerusalem. However, Jerusalem was very important for the Muslims. Christians fought to get Jerusalem back while the Muslims fought to keep Jerusalem. -
Jan 1, 1300
Renaissance begins
The Renaissance was a period in time of "rebirth" in classical art and literature that changed many peoples lives. These ideas led to a rediscovery of Greek and Roman culture. -
Jan 1, 1337
100 Years War begins
The Hundred Years' War was a series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453 pitting the House of Plantagenet, rulers of the Kingdom of England, against the House of Valois for control of the Kingdom of France. Each side drew many allies into the war. -
Jan 1, 1347
Black Death begins in Europe
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history that spread at an unbelievable rate. This resulted in an estimated death of a third of Europe's population. -
Period: Jan 1, 1368 to
Ming Dynasty in China
Ming Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China for 276 years (1368–1644) following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming, described by some as "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history," was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han Chinese. -
Period: Jan 1, 1405 to Jan 1, 1433
Voyages of Zheng He
China was, in economic progress, an advanced country in the world. Setting sail by the orders of emperor Cheng Zu established relations with foreign countries, to expand trade contacts and to look for treasures to satisfy the desire of the sovereign for luxuries. -
Jan 1, 1431
Joan of Arc burned at the stake
Joan of Arc began hearing voices and experiencing visions, which she interpreted as signs from God. These visions led her to deliver France from the invading English and establish Charles VII, the uncrowned heir to the French throne, as the country’s rightful king. -
Jan 1, 1453
Ottomans coquer Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Emperor Constantine XI. -
Jan 1, 1455
Johannes Gutenberg - printing press
The Gutenberg printing press developed from the technology of the screw-type wine presses of the Rhine Valley. A hand press, in which ink was rolled over the raised surfaces of moveable hand-set block letters held within a wooden form and the form was then pressed against a sheet of paper. -
Jan 1, 1492
1st Voyage of Columbus
Having convinced the King and Queen of Spain to finance his voyage, Christopher Columbus departed mainland Spain on August 3, 1492. He quickly made port in the Canary Islands for a final restocking and left there on September 6. -
Jan 1, 1492
Jews, gypsies & moors expelled from Spain
Spain became unified with the capture of Granada through Catholicism. Catholicism was the only zeal of religion allowed by the church and when Jews continued their Jewish ways they were expelled from Spain. -
Jan 1, 1499
Da Gama lands in India
Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama becomes the first European to reach India via the Atlantic Ocean when he arrives at Calicut on the Malabar Coast. -
Period: Jan 1, 1500 to
Slave trade across Atlantic
The vast majority of those enslaved that were transported to the New World, many on the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, were West Africans from the central and western parts of the continent sold by West Africans to Western European slave traders, or by direct European capture to the Americas. -
Period: Jan 1, 1501 to
Safavid Empire
The period of the Safavids, named for the dynasty that took control of Persia at the start of the sixteenth century, marks the start of modern Persia. -
Jan 1, 1502
Naming of the "New World"
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas, certain Atlantic and Pacific oceanic islands to which the closest continental shelf is that of the Americas (such as Bermuda), and sometimes Oceania (Australasia). The term originated in the early 16th century after Europeans made landfall in what would later be called "the Americas" in the age of discovery. -
Period: Jan 1, 1503 to Jan 1, 1507
Da Vinci paints the "Mona Lisa"
Mona Lisa, an oil painting on a poplar wood panel by the Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer Leonardo da Vinci, probably the world’s most-famous painting. The sitter’s mysterious smile and her unproven identity have made the painting a source of ongoing investigation and fascination. -
Jan 1, 1508
Michelangelo begins painting Sistine Chapel
The ceiling is that of the large Papal Chapel built within the Vatican between 1477 and 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV after who it is named, and was painted at the commission of Pope Julius II. The chapel is the location for papal conclaves and many important services. -
Jan 1, 1517
Martin Luther posts 95 Theses
In 1517, the priest and scholar Martin Luther approaches the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nails a piece of paper to it containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation. -
Jan 1, 1519
Magellan starts his 'around the world" trip
Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who organised the Spanish expedition to the East Indies that resulted in the first circumnavigation of the Earth, completed by Juan Sebastián Elcano. -
Jan 1, 1526
Mughal Empire begins
Mughal dynasty, Muslim dynasty of Turkic-Mongol origin that ruled most of northern India from the early 16th to the mid-18th century, after which it continued to exist as a considerably reduced and increasingly powerless entity until the mid-19th century. -
Jan 1, 1534
Henry VIII founds Angelican Church
Henry was appalled by the Catholic church because they wouldn't grant him the divorce he wanted. he decided to create the Anglican church, a Christianity based religion between Catholicism and Protestantism. -
Jan 1, 1537
Pizarro invades the Inca Empire
Atahuallpa, the 13th and last emperor of the Incas, dies by strangulation at the hands of Francisco Pizarro's Spanish conquistadors. The execution of Atahuallpa, the last free reigning emperor, marked the end of 300 years of Inca civilization. -
Jan 1, 1543
Coppernicus publishes heliocentric theory
Copernican heliocentrism is the name given to the astronomical model developed by Nicolaus Copernicus and published in 1543. It positioned the Sun near the center of the Universe, motionless, with Earth and the other planets rotating around it in circular paths modified by epicycles and at uniform speeds. -
Period: Jan 1, 1545 to Jan 1, 1563
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent held between 1545 and 1563 in Trento (Trent) and Bologna, northern Italy, was one of the Roman Catholic Church's most important ecumenical councils. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation. -
Period: Jan 1, 1556 to
Phillip II rules Spain
Philip II was born in 1527 and he died in 1598. Philip II became king of Spain in January 1556. He governed Spain in her so-called "Golden Age". However, his reign saw the economic decline of Spain, her bankruptcy and a disastrous decade from 1588 to 1598 which included the disaster of the Spanish Armada. -
Jan 1, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England
She was the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. She was also the daughter of King Henry VIII's second wife. She established the Prodestant Church. -
Period: to
Age of Enlightment
Cultural movement of intellectuals beginning in late 17th-century Western Europe emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It spread across Europe and to the United States, continuing to the end of the 18th century. -
Jamestown, colony in Virginia, founded
The founding of Jamestown, America’s first permanent English colony, in Virginia in 1607 – 13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in Massachusetts – sparked a series of cultural encounters that helped shape the nation and the world. -
Louis XIV becomes King of France
Born on September 5, 1638, to King Louis XIII of France (1601-1643) and his Habsburg queen, Anne of Austria (1601-1666), the future Louis XIV was his parents’ first child after 23 years of marriage; in recognition of this apparent miracle, he was christened Louis-Dieudonné, meaning “gift of God.” -
Quig Dynasty in China Begins
During the Qing Dynasty, China was ruled by the Manchus, a tribe of foreigners from northeastern China. The reigns of the first three emperors, which lasted for 133 years, were a time of peace and prosperity for China. -
Thomas Hobbes writes Leviathan
The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) is best known for his political thought, and deservedly so. His vision of the world is strikingly original and still relevant to contemporary politics. -
Thomas hobbes writes Leviathan
Leviathan, Hobbes's most important work and one of the most influential philosophical texts produced during the seventeenth century, was written partly as a response to the fear Hobbes experienced during the political turmoil of the English Civil Wars. -
Period: to
Oliver Cromwell rules England
From 1649 to 1653, Parliament ran England but from Cromwell's point of view, it was not a system that worked effectively and England, as a nation was suffering. -
Peter I (the Great) becomes Czar
Peter was a grandson of Tsar Michael Romanov (who was crowned as Tsar in 1613). In 1682 Peter was proclaimed Tsar at the age of 10. -
Period: to
Catherine the Great rules Russia
Catherine was intelligent and ambitious. During her husband's lifetime, she had at least three lovers and, if her hints are to be believed, none of her children were his. It is thought that she had affairs with Alexander Vasilchikov, Sergei Saltykov and Stanislaw August Poniatowski, among others. -
French Revolution Begins
Started when rioters in Bastille stormed in the fortress for supplies and weapons.
Peasants looted and burned anyone who had higher authourity. -
U.S. Constitution is ratified
When a bill of rights was proposed in Congress in 1789, North Carolina ratified the Constitution. Finally, Rhode Island, which had rejected the Constitution in March 1788 by popular referendum, called a ratifying convention in 1790 as specified by the Constitutional Convention. -
Reign of Terror begins
The Reign of Terror begins when Robespierre declares Terror "the order of the day." This marks the beginning of almost two years of repressing perceived enemies of the Revolution. -
Napoleon becomes Emperor
In Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Napoleon I, the first Frenchman to hold the title of emperor in a thousand years. Pope Pius VII handed Napoleon the crown that the 35-year-old conqueror of Europe placed on his own head. -
Napoleon defeated at Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo, which took place in Belgium on June 18, 1815, marked the final defeat of French military leader and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), who conquered much of continental Europe in the early 19th century. -
Tokugawa Shunate ends
Under the Tokugawa rule, the government was a feudal military dictatorship called bakufu, with the shogun at the top. The emperor reigned but did not rule; he was only a symbol to be worshipped. It was the shogun who actually ruled Japan. He ruled directly over a quarter of the country; the rest was divided among the daimyo or feudal lords. Under the shogun and the daimyo were the samurai (military followers or soldiers).
