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Jan 1, 1400
The Start of the Renaissance
The renaissance was believed to have started in Florence, Italy. The people of Italy started investing their interest in history of the Greeks and Romans. Also, it was believed to start because the increased amount of trade between the Italian city-states allowed parts of Italy to become very wealthy. The rulers invested their wealth in the arts and they admired the greek and roman architecture, art, and sculptures. Renaissance translates to the rebirth of arts, culture and ways of thinking. -
Jan 1, 1419
Prince Henry's School of Navigation Founded
He started the school in Sagres, Portugal. The main objective of it was to train people in the art of navigation, map-making, and science to prepare them to sail around the west coast of Africa. His school resulted in a breakthrough for the Portuguese navigation. Before Henry's school was established, explorers refused to sail toward Africa and were afraid of sea monsters and boiling water near the equator. After explorers went to the school, Prince Henry sent 14 expeditions to those places. -
May 29, 1453
Fall of Constantinople
It was the capture of Constantinople, which was the capital of the Byzantine Empire at that time, by the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed II. This marked the end of the Roman Empire. Constantinople now became the new Ottoman capital. Constantinople's name later changed to Istanbul -
Jan 1, 1492
Columbus Discovers America
Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492. He landed in the Bahamas. Columbus went back three more times before he died. He sailed for Spain and was the first to discover the New World. He had the Columbian Exchange named after him, which was an exhange of products and ideas between the eastern and western hemispheres. -
Jun 9, 1494
Treaty of Tordesillas
The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed at the city of Tordesillas. The treaty divided the newly discovered lands outside of Europe between Portugal and Spain. The lands to the east of the line belonged to Portugal and the lands west of the line belonged to Spain. This was created to avoid war between Spain and Portugal. Central and most of South America became owned by Spain and Brazil became a Portuguese colony. -
Nov 4, 1497
Vasco de Gama finds Water Route around the Tip of Africa
Vasco de Gama set off from Lisbon in July of 1497. On the first journey two ships were lost. He made landfall on the African coast on November 4 1497, which marked the course to be successful. He landed at Calicut, India in May of 1498. For his contributions, he was named Governor of India in 1524. The route meant that the Portuguese would not need to cross the Mediterranean nor the dangerous Arabia. -
Jan 1, 1509
Erasmus’ Praise of Folly
Erasmus wrote the Praise of Folly which greatly criticized the Catholic Church. He argued for a return to a simpler version of Christianity. He also criticized practices such as fasting and pilgrimages. Erasmus learned Italian Humanism from printed materials. Also, he was very interested in early Christian culture. All of this led him to write the Praise of Folly. -
Jan 1, 1517
Mona Lisa Finished
The Mona Lisa was painted by an Italian artist, Leonardo da Vinci. The painting was painted during the Renaissance. The woman in the painting is supposively Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. The painting is known as the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, and the most parodied work of art in the world. It has also been stolen and damaged multiple times, and the original is in France. -
Jan 1, 1517
95 Theses
Martin Luther wrote the 95 Theses, which listed the issues of the Catholic Church. He believed that the church was too complex, elaborate, and corrupt and said that people can receive salvation through simple faith alone, not indulgences. Also, he stated that the Bible is the ultimate religious authority. His beliefs were known as Lutheranism. He posted the 95 Theses on churches and later got excommunicated. He further weakened the Catholic Church by translating the Bible into German. -
Jan 1, 1518
Tobacco Introduced to Europe
The French, Spanish, and Portuguese initially reffered to the plant as the sacred herb because of its valuable medicinal properties. They believed that there were sole health benefits from pipe-smoking, but Stuart King James I wrote an argument that said the tobacco was "custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse." -
Jan 1, 1521
Cortes conquers the Aztecs
Cortes sailed to Mexico to defeat the Aztec civilization. He sailed for Spain and his goal was to claim Mexico in the name of Spain. Cortes had conquered the Aztec nation of 5 million with less than 1000 soldiers. This was very cruel to the people of the Aztec civilization, and it was a mass genecide. Cortes destroyed Tenochtitlan, the capital of Mexico, and took their leader hostage. -
Jan 1, 1522
Magellan Circumnavigates the Globe
Ferdinand Magellan commanded the first crew to circumnavigate the globe. This means that he started at one point and travelled all the way around the globe to end up at that same point. He sailed for Spain but was Portuguese himself. In 1521, before he returned to Spain, he died in a battle near Australia in the Philippines. His crew still finished the voyage and returned to Spain to be the first to circumnavigate the globe. -
Jan 1, 1526
Start of the Mughal Empire
The emperor who found the Mughal Empire was Babur in 1526, but the greatest emperor of the Mughal Empire was Akbar. During his reign, the greatest and most vast expansion of the empire occured. The empire spread throughout all of the Indian subcontinent except for Sri Lanka and the very southern tip. Akbar the Great included natives in the affaires of the empire and had many other great policies. -
Jan 1, 1527
Anglican Church Begun
King Henry VIII broke with Catholicism over the issue of divorce. Pope Clement prohibited Henry to get a divorce with his wife, so he split up with Catholicism and formed the Anglican Church. He became the leader of it and put the Act of Supremacy under Elizabeth I. This converted England to a Protestant faith. -
Jan 1, 1532
Pizarro's Conquer of the Incas
Pizarro conquered the Incan Empire in the Battle of Cajamarca. Pizarro was lured toward Peru from promises of gold, riches, and fabulous kingdoms. Pizarro established the first Spanish settlement in northern Peru, and he called it San Miguel de Piura. Pizarro stole treasures from the people and destructed and demised their culture. -
Jan 1, 1543
Copernicus’ Heliocentric Theory Published
The theory stated that all planets revolve around the sun, and that the sun is the center of the universe. He went against Ptolemy's geocentric view, in which many people believed in. This said that the Earth is the center of the universe and everything revolves around us. Many people perceived Copernicus as radical and out-of-order. -
Dec 4, 1563
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent defined official Catholic positions and reinforced doctrine and ceremonies. It was a counter-reformation effort to stop the spread of Protestantism. It addressed the issues that needed to be addressed. The council answered Protestant disputes. -
Jan 1, 1580
Peak of the Ottoman Empire
This was during the reign of Sulayman I. By 1580, the Turks had captured Constantinople, they had defeated the Mamluks in Egypt and Syria, they had defeated the Algiers, and they had triumphed over the people of Hungary. Also, by 1580, the Ottomans had claimed and conquered parts of Greece. In 1580 when Sulayman I ruled, the Turkish judicial system was reorganized and Turkish culture began to grow significantly. -
Defeat of the Spanish Armada
The Spanish Armada was once regarded as invincible, until 1588. An English naval force under command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake were the ones who finally defeated the Spanish Armada. The Spanish Armada was in control by Queen Elizabeth. The armada was defeated off the coast of Gravelines, France. -
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
This is a play written by William Shakespeare. It is a tragedy that entails the conspiracy against the Roman dictator Julius Caesar when the conspirators assassinated him, and how the conspirators got defeated at the Battle of Philippi. This is one of the few things written by Shakespeare based on true events from Roman history. -
Galileo’s First Telescope
Galileo made a telescope that had 30x magnification. The observer could see the sun spots, the rings of Saturn, Jupiter's moons, and detailed craters on the Moon. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology. He invented an improved military compass and many other instruments. -
William Harvey Discovered Circulation of Blood
William Harvey was the first to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the brain and body by the heart. He dissected organisms and many other scientists/people thought that he was insane and he received many negative comments. This helped in many surgical opperations and it gives us explanations for many diseases. This also resulted in the development of cures for certain conflicts in the body that involve blood flow/circulation. -
Descartes’ Discourse on Method
The full name of this piece is Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences. This is best known as the source of the famous quote, "I think, therefore I am." Descartes felt that everything should be questioned, and that you cannot make assumptions without proof or reason. He also said that all sciences were connected. Some say that he begun the scientific revolution by detaching himself from religion. -
30 Years War
On May 15, 1648, the Peace of Westphalia was signed ending the 30 Years War. The war was a battle between the Roman Catholics and the Protestant faiths. The Roman Catholics started to invade places like Germany that practiced Protestant faiths, and they started war. The war lasted for 30 years, and as a result, there was a substantial decline in the power and influence of the Catholic Church. -
Taj Mahal Built
The Taj Mahal is often regarded as the finest example of Mughal architecture. It combines the elements of Persian and Indian architectural styles. The Taj Mahal is Mumtaz Mahal’s shrine or memorial. The structure was ordered to be built by Shah Jahan. Mumtaz Mahal was his wife. Shah Jahan had all 20,000 workers' hands cut off so they could not recreate such architecture. -
Newton’s Laws of Gravity
He created the law of universal gravitation. This states that every point mass in the universe attracts every other point mass with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
