Timeline Review: 1250-Present

By lihill
  • Period: 1250 to 1500

    Late Middle Ages (Europe)

  • Period: 1264 to 1294

    Height of the Mongol Empire

    Khubilai Khan extended Mongol rule into China and now controlled most of Asia
  • Period: 1271 to 1295

    Marco Polo's Travels

    He introduced paper money and other technologies from China to Europe and wrote about the Mongols
  • Period: 1289 to

    The Ottoman Empire

    The Ottomans conquer Constantinople in 1453
    Used Janissaries
    Included other religious groups that had to pay a tax
  • Period: 1300 to

    The Renaissance (Europe, 14th-17th Centuries)

  • 1324

    Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca

    Mansa Musa ruled at the height of the Mali Empire and was extremely rich. The Mali Empire controlled trans-Saharan trade of gold and traded with Islamic merchants (who used camels)
  • 1325

    Tenochtitlan is founded

    Capitol of the Aztec Empire
  • Period: 1325 to 1355

    Ibn Battuta Explores the Islamic World

  • Period: 1337 to 1453

    Hundred Years War

  • Period: 1345 to 1351

    The Black Death in Europe

    First outbreaks in China were in the 1330s. Lower supply of peasants gave them more leverage against upper classes
  • Period: 1368 to

    Ming Dynasty

    They took control from the Mongols and got rid of any Mongol influence, return to Confucianism and civil service examinations
    Forbidden City
  • Period: 1405 to 1433

    Zheng He's Voyages

    He made at least 7 voyages to show China's strength, might have sailed to the Americas. After he died his fleet was destroyed
  • Period: 1428 to 1521

    Aztec Empire

    Chinampa farming, human sacrifice
  • 1440

    Peak of Swahili City States

  • 1455

    Gutenberg's Printing Press

    First printing press in Europe (it already had been invented in China), made spreading information easier
  • 1492

    Christopher Columbus Arrives in the Americas

    Not the first time someone from the eastern hemisphere had been to the Americas but it is what got European powers interested in exploring and colonizing the new world
  • 1497

    Vasco da Gama Sails from Portugal to India

    The discovery of a route to India allowed Portuguese to influence but not fully control trade in the Indian Ocean, the beginning of European imperialism in Asia
  • 1517

    Protestant Reformation Begins

    Context: The protestant reformation was not just started by Martin Luther, many people had been upset by the Catholic Church for a while, and it was greatly helped by the invention of the printing press
    Martin Luther and others wanted to end indulgences, translate the bible, and rejected the pope's authority. England also became protestant by 1560
  • 1521

    Hernán Cortés topples the Aztec Empire

    They had a technological advantage and allied with other natives who didn't like the rule of the Mexica
  • Period: 1526 to

    Mughal Empire

    Akbar tolerated other religions and supported arts, Aurangzeb didn't which hurt the empire
    Built the Taj Mahal
  • 1533

    Francisco Pizarro topples the Inca Empire

    They killed most of the Inca elites at a conference, Inca subjects didn't resist, and they were already weakened from smallpox
  • Period: 1565 to

    The Manila Galleons

    Took Asian luxury goods to Mexico for silver, silver to China for gold, and gold for more silver and luxury goods from Japan. Luxury goods were then shipped back to Europe
  • Period: to

    The Tokugawa Shogunate

    Similar to Feudalism in Europe
  • Founding of the Dutch East India Company (VOC)

  • Jamestown is founded

    First British colony in the Americas
  • Period: to

    Thirty Year's War

    Involved much of Europe, countries joined for religious, political, or economic reasons, and was the most destructive war in Europe until the 1900s. The Peace of Westphalia recognized each other as sovereign states
  • Period: to

    Qing Dynasty

    The Manchus took over the weakening Ming Dynasty
  • The Glorious Revolution

    England deposes King James II for Mary and William of Orange and made a constitutional government. The Netherlands also got a constitutional government in 1581, but most of Europe stayed absolute monarchies, like in France and Russia
  • Period: to

    Peter the Great rules Russia

    He tries to westernize Russia
  • Period: to

    Seven Year's War

    Britain and Prussia against France, Austria, and Russia. Britain removed the French from India and took Canada, and they got Florida from Spain. This led to Britain being able to dominate world trade
  • Declaration of Independence

    Based on Enlightenment ideals and inspired later revolutions
  • Period: to

    French Revolution

    Revolutionaries wanted to replace "the old order"
    The third estate seceded from the Estates General and made the National Assembly in 1789, then stormed the Bastille
    Jacobins' reign of terror 1793-1794
    Napoleon seized power in 1799
  • Period: to

    Napoleon Rules France

    Brought back Catholicism and gave freedom of religion to Protestants and Jews
    Limited free speech and made himself emperor
    Conquered a lot of Europe but lost to "general winter" in Russia
  • Period: to

    The Latin American Revolutions

    Inspired by Enlightenment ideals and the French Revolution
    Many lead by Simon Bolivar
    New countries were ruled by Creoles
  • Period: to

    Tanzimat Reforms in the Ottoman Empire

    Taxes regardless of religion, modern banking, railroads, and steamships, educational reform, European style military
  • Period: to

    Opium Wars and Unequal Treaties

    Britain selling illegal opium, China shut down ports to stop opium trade, Britain sent steamships up the grand canal and set up unequal treaties to let them continue to sell opium and have more influence in China
    Taiping Rebellion 1850-1864
  • Tsar Alexander II Emancipates the Serfs

    He did it to avoid a revolt, it didn't really change anything and former serfs couldn't improve their status, also made more judicial systems
  • Meiji Reforms

    They overthrew the Shoguns, made a national army and navy, modern systems of banking and education, railways, more personal freedoms, and a constitutional government
    Made an alliance with Britain as equals in 1902 and beat China and Russia in war
  • Germany Unified

  • Berlin Conference

    Leaders of European powers carve up Africa
  • Boxer Rebellion

    Boxers were against foreign influence in China and opposed their Qing (Manchu) leaders
  • Period: to

    World War One

    Caused by nationalism and alliances
    Russia left in 1917 due to the revolution
    The US joined in 1917 due to the Zimmerman telegram
    After the war Turkey was founded and the League of Nations was created which was ineffective
  • Period: to

    The Great Depression

    Started in the US with the stock market crash, the world economy was very connected so it spread to most of the world. US responded with the New Deal in 1933 and other countries responded with fascism or communism
  • The India Act

    Britain gave India some autonomy but it was ineffective due to religious differences in India
  • Period: to

    World War Two

    Japan started invading Manchuria in 1931 and China in 1937 and the League of Nations couldn't do anything about it
    Hitler controlled Germany by 1933 and began re militarizing and expanding
    After the war the Marshall plan was made to rebuild European economies, the Soviet Union had COMECON for Eastern Europe
  • Truman Doctrine

    Was about the containment of communism
  • Partition of India

    Ghandi and Nehru opposed partition, the migration of people was very bloody
  • Period: to

    Cold War

    NATO founded in 1949, the Warsaw Pact in 1955