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Period: Jan 1, 1299 to
Ottoman Empire
Extent of the Ottoman Empire
•One of the largest and longest lasting empires in history
•Succeeded the Byzantine Empire after the conquest of Constantinople
•Controlled a large amount of land around the Mediterranean, using Constantinople as its capital
•Many systems such as the educational and judicial systems were government run, contributing to the empire’s success -
Period: Jan 1, 1340 to
Songhai Empire
Extent of the Songhai Empire
•One of the largest Islamic empires in history; ruled by an indigenous Muslim dynasty
•Was able to gain its wealth from the trans-Saharan trade
•Declined due to Moroccan invasions; trade suffered as a result
•Its successor, the Saadi dynasty, let the region break into multiple territories -
Period: Mar 4, 1394 to Nov 13, 1460
Prince Henry the Navigator
Henry the Navigator
•Largely responsible for the development of exploration and trade in Portugal
•Devoted his life to exploration and promoted the study of navigation
•Converted many Africans to Christianity and attempted to launch crusades against the Ottomans with African allies
•Gathered information on the lands beyond North Africa, particularly, Muslim ruled regions
•Utilized knowledge from Italian merchants about the trans-Saharan trade and Jewish cartographers to create accurate sea charts and maps -
Period: Jan 1, 1400 to
Beginning of Portuguese slave trade
Slaves being taken by the Portuguese
•Was the first financial return from the many voyages sent by Portugal
•Sold any Africans captured during raids on northwest coast of Africa
•Number of slaves totaled around 80 thousand
•Slave trade made it possible for many slaves to end up in the New World
•Eventually, interest declined as gold trade began to increase -
Period: Jan 1, 1444 to May 3, 1481
Reign of Mehmed the Conqueror
Mehmed II
•Turkish sultan that laid siege to the city of Constantinople
•Strengthened the Ottoman navy in preparation of the invasion of Constantinople
•Ended Byzantine rule by conquering Byzantine territories
•Conquered many regions in Europe and Asia, expanding the Ottoman Empire’s territory -
Period: Jan 1, 1464 to Dec 31, 1492
Reign of Sunni Ali
Sunni Ali
•First ruler of the Songhai empire
•Conquered many regions in which that the empire’s territory surpassed the Mali
•Built a fleet to patrol the Niger and police the areas along the river
•Control of the Niger River meant trade was easy and efficient within the empire
•Allowed Muslims and non-Muslims to coexist in his empire -
Period: Jan 1, 1466 to Jun 29, 1520
Moctezuma
Moctezuma II
•Aztec emperor who greeted Hernán Cortés and his Spanish soldiers on their arrival to the New World
•Presented himself to Cortés with expensive gifts that the Spanish readily took
•Spanish restricted him to his own palace while his gold and other belongings were taken and melted down
•Moctezuma led attacks against the Spanish
•The Spanish prisoners taken during the fighting were sacrificed and their heads were put on display to send threatening messages to the conquistadors -
Period: Nov 10, 1483 to Feb 18, 1546
Martin Luther
Martin Luther
•Initiated the Protestant Reformation and influenced future Protestant leaders
•Primarily argued against the concept of indulgences
•Church tried to silence him after Luther wrote a letter expressing his dismay
•Using the printing press, Luther began to spread his ideas (e.g. Ninety-Five Theses)
•Believed faith was the only way to achieve salvation and that beliefs should be based on the Bible, not the pope
•Was excommunicated by the pope after refusing to withdraw his writings -
Jan 1, 1488
Dias’s voyage into Indian Ocean
•Bartholomew Dias was the first man to go around the southern most point of Africa and travel into the Indian Ocean
•Allowed for future travelers such as Vasco da Gama to travel around Africa to India
•Goods were able to be moved faster and cheaper through the new sea route than over land
•He did not travel far into the Indian Ocean and returned to Portugal shortly after rounding the southern tip of Africa -
Jan 1, 1492
Columbus’s First Voyage
•Arrived at the Caribbean islands, never saw mainland
•Sparked an interest in travel to the new world; led to colonies being settled
•He refused to believe that the islands he landed on were parts of an unknown continent
•Gave natives the moniker “Indians” after Columbus believing that he had landed in India
•Paved the way for future nations establishing countries and trade routes -
Jan 1, 1492
Columbian Exchange
•Transfer of people, animals, plants and diseases between the New World and the Old World
•Introduction of America’s staple crops to Europe enriched agriculture and eventually led to population increase
•Diseases introduced to the New World devastated native populations
•Military technology allowed for greater efficiency in warfare -
Period: Jan 1, 1502 to
Safavid Empire
Extent of the Safavid Empire
•Used land grants to support its cavalry
•Land power was greater than its power on the sea
•Population was composed of mostly Shi’ite Muslims; empire founder Ismail urged his people to follow Shi’ite beliefs instead of Sunni
•Conversion of belief created tension with its neighboring countries, most of which were Sunni -
Period: Jul 10, 1509 to May 27, 1564
John Calvin
John Calvin
•French Protestant leader who was influenced by Martin Luther’s arguments against the Catholic Church
•Agreed with Luther’s belief that faith is more important than actions
•Believed salvation was predetermined at birth and the amount of faith shown by a person could not change it
•Curtailed the power of the clerical hierarchy and simplified religious rituals -
Period: Feb 1, 1519 to Aug 13, 1521
Spanish Conquest of Mexico
Hernan Cortes and Moctezuma II
•The Spanish traveled to the New World based on rumors of gold
•The native peoples, the Aztecs, thought of the incoming conquistadors, Hernan Cortez and his expedition, as gods
•The conquistadors allied with tribes that were conquered by the Aztecs
•Spanish technology (e.g. guns, armor, horses, iron, etc.) gave the conquistadors an advantage when combating the natives
•Introduced diseases such as smallpox decimated the population and contributed to the empire’s fall -
Period: Jan 1, 1520 to Sep 5, 1566
Reign of Suleyman the Magnificent
Suleyman the Magnificent
•Brought a “golden age” to Ottoman Empire by perfecting its imperial rule
•Reconstructed the legal system of the empire; known as “The Lawgiver”
•Conquered most of the Middle East as well as the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf with the Ottoman navy
•Oversaw the Ottoman cultural development (e.g. artistic, literary, architectural, etc.) -
Period: Jan 1, 1526 to
Mughal Dynasty
Extent of the Mughal Dynasty
•Muslim dynasty that ruled most of India
•Rulers thought of to be direct descendents of Genghis Khan
•Made India very prosperous in its economy, culture, and religion harmony
•Dynasty deteriorated after Aurangzeb’s death
•Many monuments were built during the dynasty’s reign such as the Taj Mahal and the Pearl Mosque -
Period: Dec 13, 1545 to Dec 4, 1563
Council of Trent
Council of Trent
•Initiated the Catholic Reformation
•Reaffirmed the supremacy of the pope throughout Europe
•Required each bishop that served under the Catholic Church to reside in his diocese
•Assigned each diocese to have a theological seminary to train priests
•Specified Catholic doctrines to calm Protestant complaints with the Church -
Period: Jan 1, 1556 to
Reign of Akbar
Akbar the Great
•Grandson of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire
•Expanded the Mughal Empire’s territory to all of India, except for the southern tip
•Granted land revenues to military officers and government officials in exchange for their service
•Economy prospered under Akbar due to the lack of outside threat, which allowed for peaceful trade routes
•Strived for social harmony and tried to create peace between Muslims and Hindus -
Period: Feb 15, 1564 to
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei
•Built a telescope for his use to look up at the night sky
•Discovered that the moon was not perfectly round; had mountains and valleys
•Discovered sunspots
•Discovered other planets had moons (e.g. the moons of Jupiter)
•Catholic Church condemned Galileo’s findings and prohibited him from publishing his discoveries -
Period: to
Tokugawa Shogunate
Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of Tokugawa Shogunate
•Changed the administrative capital of Japan to the city of Edo, nowadays known as Kyoto
•Reestablished political unity in Japan, despite the daimyo still having power
•Economy thrived as a result of sturdy roads
•Japanese steel making, pottery, and lacquer also had large amounts of progress
•Merchant families led to the modernization and industrialization of Japan -
Period: to
Thirty Years War
Battle of Stadtlohn
•Primarily between Protestants and Catholics but eventually developed as a conflict of power between the most of Europe
•Devastated many areas in Europe because of famine and disease
•Holy Roman Empire suffered from depopulation and economic decline
•Manufacture and trade also declined in many villages
•Helped end future religious wars between countries in Europe, especially between Protestants and Catholics -
Period: to
John Locke
John Locke
•Influential English political philosopher whose ideals were used in future government systems
•Disputed monarchs’ claims of divine right to rule
•Believed that rulers derived their power from the consent of the governed
•Believed that rulers were not above the law and had to follow the set laws of the land
•Said that if a ruler did not fulfill his or her obligations, the people had the duty to rebel -
Period: to
Qing Dynasty
Extent of the Qing Dynasty
•The last imperial dynasty of China
•Adopted many common Chinese institutions and policies
•The repairing of roads and waterworks, the lowering of transit taxes, and the encouragement of foreign trade helped the economy prosper
•Early vaccines, exotic goods, and political philosophies of China influenced parts of Europe -
Period: to
Manchus Empire
Manchu Invaders who contributed to the fall of the Ming
•Led to the development of the Qing dynasty
•Invasions alongside the Japanese weakened the Ming dynasty greatly
•Conquered the capital city of Beijing and completely rid China of the Ming
•Overthrew the Ming dynasty and established the Qing dynasty in its place -
Period: to
Peter the Great
Peter the Great
•Helped decrease Russia’s isolation and increase its size and power
•Made Russia become more influenced by the West rather than by Asia
•Created a small but powerful navy to blockade Ottoman ports
•Studied European systems of trade and toleration to help the empire prosper
•His military victories caused the European powers to acknowledge the power of Russia
•The westernization of Russia allowed the tsars to become more powerful -
England's Glorious Revolution
•King James II had his heir baptized as a Roman Catholic, despite Parliament’s protest
•Parliament leaders rose up and sent the king into exile
•Led to the Bill of Rights which further limited the power of the king (Parliament had to be consulted with changes of laws and raising an army in peacetime)
•Reaffirmed the status of the Church of England and religious tolerance was given to groups such as the Puritans -
Period: to
Russian Empire
Extent of the Russian Empire
•Became one of the major powers in Europe by 1750
•Muscovy princes broke free from Mongol rule and began to conquer territories to expand the empire
•Trade in furs and forest products helped Russia out of its isolation
•The Cossacks served as the army for the empire and helped expand its territory
•Peasants and slaves eventually turned into serfs after long periods of civil and foreign warfare
