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Jul 6, 1415
John Huss
John Huss was a Bohemian religious leader who advocated ideas similiar to John Wycliffe, such as the Bible is the highest religious authority. On July 6, 1415 John Huss was tried as a heretic and burned at the stake for being a dissenter of the Catholic Church. -
Jan 1, 1453
The Ottomans
Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire. In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans renamed Constantinople to Istanbul and emerged as the political and economic power of the region. -
Jan 1, 1455
Printing Press
In 1455, Gutenberg invented the printing press. The printing press is a machine that presses paper against a tray full of inked movable type. Using this invention, Gutenberg printed a complete Bible. It was the first full-size book printed with movvable type. The printing press had a revolutoinary impact on European society. -
Oct 1, 1492
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an Italian who believed he could sail west to reach Asia. He persuaded Queen Isabella of Spain to sponsor him so he could sail west and reach Asia. In October 1942, he reached the Americas. Columbus made four trips to the area he called the Indies, -
Jan 1, 1495
The Last Supper
Leonardo Da Vinci was an Italian painter who created many artworks, one of his most famous being the Last Supper. He painted the Last Supper on the wall of the dining hall of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. He started this piece in 1495 and finished it in 1498. -
Jan 1, 1498
Vasco de Gama
In 1498, Vasco De Gama and his crew sailed around Africa's Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean to the port of Calicut, located on the southwestern coast of India. Him and his crew were amazed by the spices, the rare silks, and the precious gems that filled Calicut's shops. He established trade in India and he made HUGE profits when he brought back spices. -
Oct 31, 1517
95 Thesis
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis to the church door in the Holy Roman Empire. The 95 thesis spoke out against the sale of indulgences. Martin Luther also started the Protestant Reformaton and the birth of the Protestant Church. -
Aug 13, 1521
Hernando Cortez
Hernando Cortez was a Spanish conquistador and his forces overthrew the Aztec Empire in only three years, starting in 1519 and becoming victorious on August 13, 1521. -
Jan 1, 1522
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portugese explorer who was the person to circumnavigate the world. In 1519, he had convinced the king of Spain to fund his voyage. He had about 230 men and five ships.He sailed around the souther end of South America and into the Pacific. They explored Guam and the Philippines, and got involved in a local war and Magellan was killed. In 1522 when his crew arrived home in Spain, only 18 men and one ship had arrived back. -
Jan 1, 1534
King Henrey VIII
King Henry VIII was the King of England and dismissed the authority of the Pope in Rome. In 1534, he divorced his wife Anne Boyelyn and broke from the Catholic Church. He was the head of the national church in England and appropriated lands and wealth of the Roman Catholic Church in England. -
Jan 1, 1534
Anglican Church
Queen Elizabeth I of England was head of the Anglican Church. The Anglican Church was founded in 1534 and followed a moderate Protestantism that satisfied most people in England. -
Jan 1, 1534
Jaques Cartier
Jaques Cartier was a Frenchman who explored the St. Lawrence River and Montreal leading the French Claim to Canada. He followed the St. Lawrence inward until he reached a large island dominated by a hill. He named the island Mont Royal, which later became known as Montreal. -
Jan 1, 1536
John Calvin
John Calvin was a humanist and supporter of Luther's reforms. His beliefs established the idea of predestination, which is the belief that God already knows who will be saved, and nothing can change their fate. Two ways that predestination can be revealed is living a righteous life and having a good work ethic. John Calvin also expanded the Protestant Reformation. -
Jan 1, 1540
The Jesuits
In 1540 during the Catholic Reformation, the pope made Ignatius's followers a religious order called the Society of Jesus. Members of the order were commonly called Jesuits. The Jesuits concenrated on founding superb schools throughout Europe, converted non-Christians to Catholicism, and stopped Protestantism from spreading. -
Jan 1, 1543
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish cleric and astronomer who reasoned that the stars, the earth, and the other planets revolved around the sun. This is called the heliocentric theory. He did not publish his findings until 1543 because he feared ridicule or persecution because his theory contradicted their religious views. -
Jan 1, 1545
Council of Trent
Paul III, who was pope of the Catholic Church decided to call a great council of Church leaders to meet in Trent, in northern Italy. In the years between 1545 and 1563, at the Council of Trent, Catholic bishops and cardinals agreed on several doctrines such as the church's interpretation of the Bible was final, Christians need faith and good works for salvation, the Bible and Church tradition were equally powerful authorities, and indulgences were valid expressions of faith. -
Queen Elizabeth I
In 1588, Queen Elizabeth I of England defeated the Spanish Armada. The Spanish Armada was a fleet of 130 Spanish ships under the command of the Duke of the Medina Sidonia with the intention to invade England. -
Middle Passage
The Middle Passage was a voyage that brought captured Africans to the West Indies and the Americans and was part of the Triangular Trade. It was harsh and cruel. People were crammed into ships, beaten, and given little food. About 20%of the people on these ships died. -
Galileo
In 1609, a 17-year-old Italian student named Galilio Galilei successfully created his own telescope.He used his telescope to study the heavens. In 1610, he published a series of newsletters called Starry Messenger, which described his astonishing observations. His observations proved the Heliocentric thoery to be true. -
Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years' War was a series of conflicts between 1618 and 1648 mostly in the territory of today's Germany. While the clash betwwen the Protestants and Catholics was one of the main reasons for the war, there were many other factions and conflicts during the war - including international conflicts, a German civil war for the self-preservation of the Hapsburg dynasty, and a religious war among Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists. The Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War. -
William Harvery
William Harvey was an English doctor who continued Vesalius's work in anotomy. In 1628, he published On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals, which showed that the heart acted as a pump to circulate blood throughout the body. He also described the function of blood vessels. -
Palace of Versailles
Louis XIV, also known as the "Sun King' built the Palace of Versailles in 1682 as a symbol of royal power and the image of an absolute Monarch and a powerful State. -
Louis XIV
King Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes which gave the Huguenots the right the worship as Protestants and returned many of their civil priveledges. On October 22, 1685, King Henry IV's grandson, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes making Protestantism illegal in France. -
Peter the Great
Peter the Great had traveled to Europe as a young man and admired western society. Russinas had adopted the eastern cultural characteristics of wearing long robes, growing beards and eating with their hands. When he became Czar, he began the process of forcing his people to adopt the culture of western society.
