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The Ottoman Turks take Constantinople. This officially ended the Byzantine empire.
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European traders called the places where they held and traded slaves "castles." Elmina Castle in present-day Ghana was used as a base for trading slaves, gold, and imported European products.
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Bartholomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa. This area then became known as the Cape of Good Hope.
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Christopher Columbus begins his first voyage. Columbus was convinced that he had reached the Indies. However, we know now that he reached a continent unknown at the time.
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Portuguese explorer Vasco da Game rounds Africa and reaches India.
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Alfonso I becomes king of the Kongo. Alfonso was tutored by Portuguese missionaries who hoped to convert Africans to Christianity.
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The Portuguese seized the island of Goa off the coast of India. This made Goa their major military and commercial base.
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The Portuguese took the East Indies port of Malacca in 1511. The Portuguese massacred the city's Muslims.
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The survivors of Magellan's voyage became the first to circumnavigate the world. However, Magellan was killed before the voyage was finished.
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The Japenese invaded Korea. Villages were burned to the ground, famine and disease became widespread, and the population decreased.
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The Japenese invaders were driven out of Korea. The Japenese burned villages and decreased the population though.
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Dutch immigrants arrived at the southern tip of Africa. They built Cape Town, the first permanent European settlement , to supply ships sailing to or from the East Indies.
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Kangxi became ruler of the Qing. He was an able administrator and military leader. He extended Chinese power and promoted Chinese culture.
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The British established the African Association, an organization that sponsored explorers to Africa. Over the next century, European exploration of Africa would explode.
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Lord Macartney arrived in China at the head of a British diplomatic mission. He brought samples of British-made goods to show the Chinese advantages of trade with Westerners.
