-
1346
The Black DEATH
It was a plague that killed over ⅓ to ⅔ of Europe’s population and spread rapidly into Asia.
It killed off the people with weaker immune systems and left only the Europeans with the strongest immune systems and those genes got passed on. Therefore, most modern Europeans are now immune to the bubonic plague. -
1434
The Northern Renaissance (The Arnolfini Portrait)
The Arnolfini Portrait was painted by Jan van Eyck using oil paints, around the time of the Northern Renaissance.
The Northern Renaissance spread the ideas of the Italian Renaissance beyond Italy and farther into Europe. Many more people started to believe in the potential of humans. -
1439
The Printing Press
Johannes Gutenberg created a machine that could print words using ink, so that documents didn’t have to be copied by scribes.
It made books a lot cheaper to buy, which spread the knowledge contained in them, and documents began to be produced a lot faster, so many ideas spread very rapidly. -
1498
The Italian Renaissance (La Pietà)
La Pietà was sculpted by Michelangelo out of marble in 1498 during the Renaissance art period.
The Renaissance art made many people during the time view the human body differently and it showed what amazing things humans could do, instead of all great things seeming to come from Divine beings. -
1513
Juan Ponce de León’s Expedition
Juan Ponce de León led an expedition on the coast of an island named Birmi on the coast of modern-day Florida to try to locate a fountain of youth.
Ponce de León discovered many new lands and inspired other explorers to find and colonize whichever land they could find. He helped to move the Age of Exploration along and open up people eyes to the world around them. -
1517
Luther’s 95 Theses
Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses that described how he strongly opposed the sale of indulgences and many other religious customs on the Church door.
It challenged the beliefs of many other people and it spread among people like wildfire, because of the printing press. -
1517
Counter Reformation
The Counter Reformation was a movement against Luther and his 95 Theses started by the Pope and the Church.
It helped to make more and more people question what they believed in and have a desire to be able to have a say in what rules and practices the Pope/church have. -
Macbeth - Shakespeare
Macbeth is a tragedy play written by William Shakespeare that focuses on a Scottish general named Macbeth who murders King Duncan to become the King of Scotland.
William Shakespeare’s plays changed the world of literature and inspired so many other great writers after his time. -
Galileo’s Telescope
Galileo Galilei built a telescope to prove the theory that the Earth and other planets revolved around the Sun in a solar system.
It revolutionized how many people thought that the universe worked, because it challenged all of the previous thoughts about heliocentric theory and geocentric theory. -
Isaac Newton and the Scientific Revolution
Sir Isaac Newton was a mathematician and physicist who studied calculus, light and color (especially refraction), and gravity.
He disproved a lot of Robert Hooke’s ideas about what light is and how it differs depending on the color. Because of all of his contributions to physics, he inspired a lot of people to think more scientifically and mathematically, instead of religiously.
