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Mar 4, 1394
Prince Henry of Portugal is Born
Infante Henry, Duke of Viseu, better known as Henry the Navigator, was an important figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and the Age of Discoveries in total. He was responsible for the early development of European exploration and maritime trade with other continents. -
Period: Mar 4, 1394 to
Chapter 19/20
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Apr 28, 1402
Yonglo becomes Ming Emperor
When Hongwu died in 1398, his son Yonglo became emperor, ruling from 1402 to 1424. Yonglo moved the Ming capital to Beijing and built a vast imperial city there surrounded by high walls. -
Jul 11, 1405
Zheng He captains his first voyage
Zheng He's first voyage departed July 11, 1405, from Suzhou[19]:203 and consisted of a fleet of 317 ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen. -
May 11, 1488
B. Dias reaches Cape of Good Hope
Dias wanted to continue sailing to India, but he was forced to turn back when his crew refused to go further. Itwas only on the return voyage that he actually discovered the Cape of Good Hope, in May 1488. Dias returned to Lisbon in December of that year, after an absence of sixteen months. -
Jan 2, 1492
Ferdinand & Isabella end war with Muslims
On January 2, 1492 Muhammad XII of Granada surrendered the Emirate of Granada, the city of Granada, and the Alhambra palace. It is still celebrated every year on that date by the City Council of Granada. -
Oct 12, 1492
C.Columbus sports land in North America
During his first voyage in 1492, instead of reaching Japan as he had intended, Columbus landed in the Bahamas archipelago, at a locale he named San Salvador. Over the course of three more voyages, Columbus visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America, claiming them for the Spanish Empire. -
Jun 7, 1494
Spain and Portugal agree to Treaty of Tordesillas
The Treaty of Tordesillas Tratado de Tordesillas signed at Tordesillas on 7 June 1494, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands -
May 20, 1498
Vasco De Gama lands in India
After decades of sailors trying to reach India with thousands of lives and dozens of vessels lost in shipwrecks and attacks, Gama landed in Calicut on the 20 May 1498. Reaching the legendary Indian spice routes unopposed helped the Portuguese Empire improve its economy that, until Gama, was mainly based on trades along the Northern and coastal West Africa. These spices were mostly pepper and cinnamon at first, but soon included other products, all new to Europe which led to a commercial monopoly -
Apr 20, 1501
Amerigo Vespucci charts New World coasts
Amerigo Vespucci went on voyages between 1497 to 1504 and in 1501 he charted the new world coasts -
Apr 30, 1504
Hernando Cortez lands on Mexican coast
Upon his arrival in 1504 in Santo Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola, the 18-year-old Cortés registered as a citizen, which entitled him to a building plot and land to farm. Soon afterwards, Nicolás de Ovando, still the governor, gave him a encomienda and made him a notary of the town of Azua de Compostela. -
Aug 28, 1522
First slave revolts in Hispaniola
As earky as 1522 slaves revolts happened in Hispaniola when slaves killed over 20 slave owners -
Nov 16, 1532
F. PIzzarp meets Altahualpa
When hostile natives along the coast threatened the expedition, Pizarro moved inland and founded the first Spanish settlement in Peru, San Miguel de Piura. Inca Atahualpa however refused to tolerate a Spanish presence in his lands, and was captured by Pizarro during the Battle of Cajamarca on 16 November 1532. -
Dec 3, 1533
Ivan the Terrible assumes the throne of Russia at age 3
Ivan IV Vasilyevich, 25 August 1530 – 28 March 1584, known in English as Ivan the Terrible. Ivan Grozny was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and Tsar of All the Russias from 1547 until his death. -
Apr 8, 1534
Jacques Cartier claims land in Candad
Cartier set sail in April 1534 with two ships and 61 men, and arrived 20 days later. During that first expedition, he explored the western coast of Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence as far as today's Anticosti Island, which Cartier called Assomption. He is also credited with the discovery of what is now known as Prince Edward Island. -
Nov 15, 1581
Czar Ivan the Terrible kills his oldest son and heir
On November 15, 1581, Ivan Ivanovich heard his wife scream. His father, entering her chambers, had discovered that she was wearing unconventionally light clothing, and started berating her. He also physically attacked her. The Tsarovich rushed to her defense, saying, "You sent my first wife to a convent for no reason , you did the same with my second, and now you strike the third, causing the death of the son she holds in her womb." As the pair continued arguing, the topic turned to military -
Ivan the Terrible Dies
Ivan died from a stroke while playing chess with Bogdan Belsky[38] on 28 March [O.S. 18 March] 1584.[38] Upon Ivan's death, the ravaged kingdom was left to his unfit and childless middle son Feodor. Feodor died childless in 1598, ushering in the Time of Troubles. -
English navy defeats Spanish Armada
ust after midnight on July 29, the English sent eight burning ships into the crowded harbor at Calais. The panicked Spanish ships were forced to cut their anchors and sail out to sea to avoid catching fire. The disorganized fleet, completely out of formation, was attacked by the English off Gravelines at dawn. In a decisive battle, the superior English guns won the day, and the devastated Armada was forced to retreat north to Scotland. The English navy pursued the Spanish as far as Scotland and -
English East India Company is founded
On 31 December 1600, the Queen granted a Royal Charter to George, Earl of Cumberland, and 215 Knights, Aldermen, and Burgesses under the name, Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading with the East Indies. -
Dutch East India Company is founded
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia. -
Henry Hudson is last seen
Henry Hudson set out with a crew of 21 men and his son in 1610, managed to navigate through what is now Hudson Strait, and discovered Hudson Bay. After great hardship wintering in James Bay, his crew mutinied, and Hudson, his son, and eight crew members were set adrift in an open boat. Only eight men made it back to England. -
Thirty Years' War begins
The Thirty Years' War was fought from 1618 until 1648. Most of it was fought in Germany. Most of the powerful countries in Europe were in the war. It started as a fight about religion. The Protestants and Catholics were the two groups that disagreed. As the war continued, the Habsburg dynasty and other powers used the war to try to get more power. One of the examples of this is that Catholic France fought for the Protestants. This made the France-Habsburg rivalry worse. -
Louis XIV becomes king of France
Louis began his personal rule of France in 1661 after the death of his chief minister, the Italian Cardinal Mazarin.[3] An adherent of the theory of the divine right of kings, which advocates the divine origin of monarchical rule, Louis continued his predecessors' work of creating a centralized state governed from the capital. He sought to eliminate the remnants of feudalism persisting in parts of France and, by compelling many members of the nobility to inhabit his lavish Palace of Versailles, -
The Thirty Years war ends
On 14 March 1647 Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden signed the Truce of Ulm. In 1648 the Swedes (commanded by Marshal Carl Gustaf Wrangel) and the French (led by Turenne and Condé) defeated the Imperial army at the Battle of Zusmarshausen and Lens. The Battle of Prague in 1648 became the last action of the Thirty Years' War. The Swedish general Hans Christoff von Königsmarck, commanding Sweden's flying column, entered the city and captured the Prague Castle (where the event that triggered the w -
Oliver Chromwell and Puritans execute king of England
Cromwell was one of the signatories of King Charles I's death warrant in 1649, and as a member of the Rump Parliament he dominated the short-lived Commonwealth of England. He was selected to take command of the English campaign in Ireland during 1649–50. -
Louis XIV starts building the Palace of Versalles
The gardens of Versailles are considered as the masterpiece of André Le Notre, is the most famous garden in the world. Andre Le Notre, realized the gardens between 1661 and 1668. In 1661, Louis XIV, known as the Sun King, began to enlarge the château of Versailles. -
La Salle claim Misissippi River for Spain
In 1670 La Salle set out on another expedition. He led a group of men west across Lake Erie and ending up at the southern tip of Lake Michigan. From there he moved south and encountered the Mississippi River. He sailed down the river all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. With his discovery, he came to the conclusion that he had in fact arrived back at the Atlantic Ocean at a more southern point. -
New Netherlands becomes New York
In 1664, New Amsterdam passed to English control, and English and Dutch settlers lived together peacefully. In 1673, there was a short interruption of English rule when the Netherlands temporary regained the settlement. In 1674, New York was returned to the English, and in 1686 it became the first city in the colonies to receive a royal charter. After the American Revolution, it became the first capital of the United States. -
William and Mary make England a constitutional monarchy
The Anglican royalists could simply bide their time, confident that on James' death, Mary would assume the throne. James surprised his foes by remarrying and fathering a son. When James announced that the son would be raised as a Catholic, the members of Parliament took action. After all, sons took precedence over daughters for the purpose of succession. The prospect of another Catholic king led to the Glorious Revolution of 1688. In a virtually bloodless revolution, James and his family were fo -
William of Orange dies
In 1702, William died of pneumonia, a complication from a broken collarbone following a fall from his horse, Sorrel.[128] Because his horse had stumbled into a mole's burrow, many Jacobites toasted "the little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat."[129] Years later, Sir Winston Churchill, in his A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, stated that the fall "opened the door to a troop of lurking foes".[130] William was buried in Westminster Abbey alongside his wife.[131] His sister-in-law An -
Peter the Great orders St. Petersburg to be built
When Peter the Great stared out at the vast deserted land expanse on the Banks of the Neva River, he envisioned a marvelous city that no one else could imagine. Peter was truly a great visionary, a man who lived his dreams. The building and prosperity of St. Petersburg is, without a doubt, mainly due to the iron will and passion that Peter the Great invested in the city. The amount of resources and people he mustered for the project makes the cost of St. Petersburg immeasurable. It consisted of -
Louis XIV dies
After a week of slow agony, Louis XIV passed away in Versailles on 1 September 1715 at 8.15 in the morning, just before his 77th birthday. A reign of 72 years ended, the longest in the history of France. Another reign almost as long began: that of Louis XV (1715-1774). -
Maria Theresa inherits the throne of Austria
She started her 40-year reign when her father, Emperor Charles VI, died in October 1740. Charles VI paved the way for her accession with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and spent his entire reign securing it.[3] Upon the death of her father, Saxony, Prussia, Bavaria and France repudiated the sanction they had recognised during his lifetime. Prussia proceeded to invade the affluent Habsburg province of Silesia, sparking a nine-year conflict known as the War of the Austrian Succession. -
Seven Years' war begins
In the early 1750s, French expansion into the Ohio River valley repeatedly brought France into armed conflict with the British colonies. In 1756--the first official year of fighting in the Seven Years War--the British suffered a series of defeats against the French and their broad network of Native American alliances. However, in 1757, British Prime Minister William Pitt (the older) recognized the potential of imperial expansion that would come out of victory against the French and borrowed heav -
The Seven Years' War ends
By 1763 Frederick had Silesia under his control and had occupied parts of Austria. The British subsidies had been withdrawn by the new Prime Minister Lord Bute, and the Russian Emperor had been overthrown by his wife Catherine the Great who now switched Russian support back to Austria and launched fresh attacks on Prussia. Austria, however, had been weakened from the war and like most participants they were facing a severe financial crisis. In 1763 a peace settlement was reached at the Treaty of
