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Eyewitness Accounts
The bubonic plague is a deadly disease most known for its outbreak in Europe during the 1300's. It nearly halved Europe's population, killing 25 million people. The constant death surrounding people of that pandemic caused them to think about their principles and the afterlife. This then prompted the Renaissance, which had many things to do with the reformation of religion. -
It is unknown who discovered gunpowder, but it is a proven fact that the first gun was made in Italy. There, it was called a vaso. They cast the earliest guns from non-ferrous alloys. They were not accurate or anything like what we know today.
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Ptolomey's map was lost to the world centuries. It was rediscovered in western Europeto in 1406. It became the best existing map of the world in that time. It led Columbus to believe that Asia could be reached by sailing west from Europe.
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The Guttenberg Bible is printed. For this, the printing press uses movable type. This invention made it possible for books to be make inexpensively. As a result, knowledge began to spread more rapidly than ever before in history.
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The first auctions of black slaves take place in Portugal. Black slaves were detrimental to European economy and culture. Slaves were the main income of Africa, it exported around ten million. The wide market of slaves was abolished in the United States after the Civil War in the 19th century, but it still exists in other parts of the world.
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"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue," where he then discovered the West Indies in the New World. Columbus also learned that compasses change direction slightly with the varying longitude. After seven centuries, the last Moslems are driven from Spanish soil. And Leonardo da Vinci draws a plan for a flying machine.
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The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama finally reaches India. He uses the technique of rounding the tip of Africa. Because of this, the Portuegese chose not to fund Columbus's travels and he had to go to Spain instead. That is why the Spanish were the first to discover the new world.
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Columbus discovers the American continent. He believes that it is part of Asia. He calls the Native Americans, Indians, since he believes it is India. They are still called that by many today.
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Amerigo Vespucci explores along the coast of South America. He decides that it is a new continent. This contradicted Columbus's theory that it was part of Asia, but was accepted nonetheless. America was then named in honor of its 'founder', Amerigo.
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Vasco Nunez, a poor Spanish soldier, crosses the Isthmus of Panama. He climbs the highest peak and discovers the Pacific Ocean. He declares it and all the land it touches territory of Spain. Ponce de Leon lands in Florida.
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The Europeans were so plagued by smallpox that they began to grow immune to it. Although they were not personally affected by it, they still carried the disease in their germs. When they reached the New World, it began to spread to the Native Americans. The Natives had never encountered this disease before, and were therefore easily affected by it and had a great portion of their populations wiped out.
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The Aztec Empire falls to Spanish forces. The Spanish demolish Tenochtitlan and degrade it to ruins. The capital of New Spain is built on top of the once glorioius market city. It is now modern day Mexico City.
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Shortly after the Aztecs, the Incas experience their own downfall. Atahualpa, emperor of the Incas, was hanged by the Spanish conquistador Pizzaro. The Inca empire was already weakened by constant Civil War and the deadly smallpox epidemic, the loss of their beloved emperor caused them to be even more vulnerable. Spain easily conquered the surviving Incas.
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The astronomer Nicholas Copernicus publishes a very controversial book. Its subject is the theory that the earth and other planets revolve around the sun. People were imprisoned and killed for beliefs such as these in that time. The biologist Andreas Vesalius published the first accurate book on human anatomy.
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The discovery of Australia lagged behind the exploration era. The aborigines were just as tribal as the Native Americans, if not more so. They had no recorded contact with the outside world until the Dutch explorers discovered Australia. Today there are still aborigines in the deepest realms of the outback who refuse to give up their traditions.
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The first guns themselves are trivial, having no accuracy or efficiency, but they are detrimental in their role as the beginnings of gun-making. The Black Plague nearly halved Europe's population, which in itself is important to history, but afterwards it sparked the Renaissance and the exploration that led to the finding of many new continents and islands.
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Ptolomey's map was the most accurate of its time, and it influenced Columbus to 'sail the ocean blue' and eventually find America, although his intent was to find a new route to Asia. The use of movable type for the Guttenberg Bible made it possible for books to be published inexpensively, which made books and the knowledge they contained more accessible to the public.
