-
Period: Mar 4, 1394 to Nov 13, 1460
Henry the Navigator
Him and his men mapped the coast of Africa. -
Period: Apr 18, 1451 to Apr 18, 1506
Christopher Columbus
Columbus had several expeditions to the Americas. The voyages covered most of the Carribeans, northern South america, and parts of Central America. -
Period: May 9, 1460 to May 9, 1524
Vasco da Gama
A Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India. -
Period: Apr 18, 1471 to Apr 18, 1541
Fancisco Pizarro
He was a Spanish conquistador, conqueror of the Incan Empire, and founder of Lima, the modern-day capital of the Republic of Peru. -
Period: Apr 18, 1480 to Apr 18, 1521
Ferdinand Magellan
Magellan's expedition of 1519–1522 became the first expedition to sail from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean, and the first to cross the Pacific. It also completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth, although Magellan himself did not complete the entire voyage. -
Period: May 9, 1483 to May 9, 1531
Babur
A military adventurer from Central Asia who rose to power at Kabul after establishing his first kingdom in 1504. From there he built an army and conquered nearby regions until 1526, when he invaded the Lodi Afghan Empire of South Asia and laid the basis for the Mughal Empire. -
Period: Apr 18, 1485 to Apr 18, 1547
Hernan Cortes
Led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile. -
Period: May 9, 1492 to
Columbian Exchange
A dramatically widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations (including slaves), communicable diseases, and ideas between the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Christopher Columbus' first voyage to the Americas in 1492 launched the era of large-scale contact between the Old and the New Worlds that resulted in this ecological revolution, hence the name "Columbian" Exchange. -
Period: May 9, 1501 to
Safavid Empire
The legacy that they left behind was the revival of Persia as an economic stronghold between East and West, the establishment of an efficient state and bureaucracy based upon “checks and balances”, their architectural innovations and their patronage for fine arts. The Safavids have also left their mark down to the present era by spreading Shi'a Islam in major parts of the Caucasus and West Asia. -
Period: May 9, 1517 to
Protestant Reformation
The European Christian reform movement that established Protestantism as a constituent branch of contemporary Christianity. It was led by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to ("protested") the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Catholic Church, led to the creation of new national Protestant churches. -
Period: May 9, 1526 to
Mughal Empire
An imperial power in South Asia that ruled a large portion of the Indian subcontinent. The "classic period" of the Empire started in 1556 with the accession of Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar, better known as Akbar the Great. It ended with the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707 by the rising Hindu Maratha Empire. -
Period: May 9, 1552 to
Matteo Ricci
An Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission. -
Period: May 9, 1564 to
Galileo
An Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations, and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of science", and "the Father of Modern Science". -
Period: May 9, 1580 to
Triangle Trade
A historical term indicating trade among three ports or regions.
The best-known triangular trading system is the transatlantic slave trade, that operated from the late 16th to early 19th centuries, carrying slaves, cash crops, and manufactured goods between West Africa, Caribbean or American colonies and the European colonial powers, with the northern colonies of British North America, especially New England, sometimes taking over the role of Europe. -
Period: to
Scientific Revolution
A period when new ideas in physics, astronomy, biology, human anatomy, chemistry, and other sciences led to a rejection of doctrines that had prevailed starting in Ancient Greece and continuing through the Middle Ages, and laid the foundation of modern science. -
Period: to
Tokugawa Sogunate
A feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family.[2] This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo. -
Period: to
Creation of the Colonies in the New World
British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America.The main waves of settlement came in the 17th century. After 1700 most immigrants to Colonial America arrived as indentured servants--young unmarried men and women seeking a new life in a much richer environment. In addition the British shipped 50,000 convicts to its American colonies. -
Period: to
Thirty Years War
Initially, the war was fought largely as a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire, although disputes over the internal politics and balance of power within the Empire played a significant part. Gradually, the war developed into a more general conflict involving most of the European powers. -
Period: to
Qing Dynasty
Preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China. The dynasty reached its height in the 18th century, during which both territory and population were increased. However, its military power weakened thereafter and, faced with massive rebellions and defeat in wars, the Qing Dynasty declined after the mid-19th century. -
Period: to
Peter the Great
He ruled Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May 1682 until his death. He carried out a policy of modernization and expansion that transformed the Tsardom of Russia into a 3-billion acre Russian Empire, a major European power. -
Period: to
Enlightenment
The era in Western philosophy, intellectual, scientific and cultural life, centered upon the 18th century, in which reason was advocated as the primary source for legitimacy and authority. It is also known as the Age of Reason. -
Period: to
Catherine the Great
She reigned as Empress of Russia from 9 July 1762 until her death on 17 November 1796. Under her direct auspices the Russian Empire expanded, improved its administration, and continued to modernize along Western European lines. Catherine's rule re-vitalized Russia, which grew stronger than ever and became recognized as one of the great powers of Europe. -
Period: to
French-Indian War
The war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war. -
Period: to
Napoleon
He was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815. His legal reform, the Napoleonic Code, has been a major influence on many civil law jurisdictions worldwide, but he is best remembered for the wars he led against a series of coalitions, the so-called Napoleonic Wars, during which he established hegemony over much of Europe and sought to spread revolutionary ideals. -
Period: to
Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette
The purpose of the marriage was to cement the various complex alliances that Maria Theresa had entered into in the 1750s due to the Seven Years' War, which included Parma, Naples, Russia, and more importantly Austria's traditional enemy, France. Without the Seven Years' War to "unite" the two countries briefly, the marriage of Maria Antonia and the Dauphin Louis-Auguste might not have occurred. -
Period: to
American Revolution
The political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
A fundamental document of the French Revolution, defining the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. Influenced by the doctrine of natural right, the rights of man are universal: valid at all times and in every place, pertaining to human nature itself. -
Period: to
French Revolution
A period of radical social and political upheaval in French and European history. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an epic transformation as feudal, aristocratic and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from liberal political groups and the masses on the streets. Old ideas about hierarchy and tradition succumbed to new Enlightenment principles of citizenship and inalienable rights. -
Storming of the Bastille
The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution.The storming of the Bastille and the subsequent Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was the third event of this opening stage of the revolution. -
Period: to
Haitian Revolution
A period of conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic. Although hundreds of rebellions occurred in the New World during the centuries of slavery, only the St. Domingue Slave Revolt, which began in 1791, was successful in achieving permanent independence under a new nation. -
Period: to
Congress of Vienna
The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. -
Waterloo
An Imperial French army under the command of Emperor Napoleon was defeated by combined armies of the Seventh Coalition, an Anglo-Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington combined with a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard von Blücher. It was the culminating battle of the Waterloo Campaign and Napoleon's last. The defeat at Waterloo put an end to Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French and marked the end of his Hundred Days' return from exile.