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Period: Jan 1, 1096 to Jan 1, 1291
Crusades are fought
The Crusades were a series of military campaigns during the time of Medieval England against the Muslims of the Middle East. -
Jan 1, 1300
Renaissance Begins
Was a culture movement. Beginned in Italy. -
Jan 1, 1337
100 Years War Begins
Struggle between England and France. Fight between kings. -
Jan 1, 1347
Black Death begins in Europe
20 million people died. Carried by fleas. -
Period: Jan 1, 1368 to
Ming Dynasty in China
It was a period of native Chinese leadership. It was founded by Zhu Yuanzhang, who proclaimed himself emporer in Yingtian. -
Period: Jan 1, 1405 to Jan 1, 1433
Voyages of Zheng He
An admiral in the Imperial Chinese navy, Zheng He made seven voyages to Southeast Asia, India, and Africa to explore and trade. -
May 30, 1431
Joan of Arc burned at the stake
Burned her on a tall pillar. Burned her to her ashes. -
Jan 1, 1453
Ottomans Conquer Constantinople
The capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Army, under the command Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II on 29th May 1453. -
Jan 1, 1455
Johannes Gutenberg-Printing Press
Johannes Gutenberg, borrowed money to invent a technology that changed the world of printing. Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with replaceable/moveable wooden or metal letters -
Jan 1, 1492
1st voyage of Columbus
Having convinced the King and Queen of Spain to finance his voyage, Christopher Columbus departed mainland Spain on August 3, 1492. He quickly made port in the Canary Islands for a final restocking and left there on September 6. -
Jan 1, 1492
Jews, gypsies & more expelled from Spain
Valencia, Murcia, Jaén and Córdoba, had been captured and it seemed that the end of Muslim Spain was imminent.However, it was not until 1492 that the Moorish Kingdom of Granada surrendered to Ferdinand V and Isabella, and the final Muslim expulsion did not take place until over a century later, between 1609 and 1614 -
Jan 1, 1498
Da Gama lands in India
Da Gama sailed from Lisbon, Portugal, in July 1497, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and anchored at Malindi on the east coast of Africa. With the aid of an Indian merchant he met there, he then set off across the Indian Ocean. -
Period: Jan 1, 1500 to
Slave trade across Atlantic
The term 'Middle Passage' is often used to describe the period that enslaved Africans endured in the holds of slave ships as they crossed the Atlantic. -
Period: Jan 1, 1501 to
Safavid Empire
The period of the Safavids, named for the dynasty that took control of Persia at the start of the sixteenth century, marks the start of modern Persia. -
Jan 1, 1502
Naming of the "new world"
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas.The term originated in the early 16th century after Europeans made landfall in what would later be called "the Americas" in the age of discovery, expanding the geographical horizon of classical geographers, who had thought of the world as consisting of Africa, Asia, and Europe, collectively now referred to as the Old World. -
Period: Jan 1, 1503 to Jan 1, 1506
Da Viinci paints the "Mona Lisa"
Historians agree that Leonardo commenced the painting of Mona Lisa in 1503, working on it for approximately four years and keeping it himself for some years after. -
Jan 1, 1508
Michaleangelo begins panting Sistine Chapel
Pope Julius II (also known as Giulio II and "Il papa terribile"), requested that Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel's ceiling.Julius was determined that Rome should be rebuilt to its former glory, and had embarked on a vigorous campaign to get the job done. -
Jan 1, 1517
Martin Luther Posts 95 Theses
in 1517, the priest and scholar Martin Luther approaches the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nails a piece of paper to it containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation.In his theses, Luther condemned the excesses and corruption of the Roman Catholic Church, especially the papal practice of asking payment—called "indulgences"—for the forgiveness of sins. -
Jan 1, 1519
Magellan starts his "around the world" trip
The story of Ferdinand Magellan is, in the end, a sad one. He had a great idea, a great wish. He wished to lead a voyage that sailed around the world. He started off on that voyage, but he didn't live to see the end of it. -
Jan 1, 1526
Mughal Empire begins
Mughal dynasty, Mughal also spelled Mogul, Arabic Mongol, India, history of: development of Mughal Empire [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]Muslim dynasty of Turkic-Mongol origin that ruled most of northern India from the early 16th to the mid-18th century, after which it continued to exist as a considerably reduced and increasingly powerless entity until the mid-19th century. -
Jan 1, 1534
Henry VIII founds Anglican Church
The name "Anglican" means "of England", but the Anglican church exists worldwide.It began in the sixth century in England, when Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine to Britain to bring a more disciplined Apostolic succession to the Celtic Christians. -
Jan 1, 1537
Pizarro invades the Inca Empire
Atahuallpa, the 13th and last emperor of the Incas, dies by strangulation at the hands of Francisco Pizarro's Spanish conquistadors. The execution of Atahuallpa, the last free reigning emperor, marked the end of 300 years of Inca civilization. -
Jan 1, 1543
Copernicus publishes heliocentric theory
It positioned the Sun near the center of the Universe, motionless, with Earth and the other planets rotating around it in circular paths modified by epicycles and at uniform speeds. -
Period: Jan 1, 1545 to Jan 1, 1563
Council of Trent
The nineteenth ecumenical council opened at Trent on 13 December, 1545, and closed there on 4 December, 1563. Its main object was the definitive determination of the doctrines of the Church in answer to the heresies of the Protestants; a further object was the execution of a thorough reform of the inner life of the Church by removing the numerous abuses that had developed in it. -
Period: Jan 1, 1557 to
Philip II rules Spain
King Philip II of Spain, also known as Philip the Prudent, ruled one of the world's largest empires. His reign as Spain's king began the Golden Age, a period of great cultural growth in literature, music and the visual arts. He was also the King of England through his marriage to Mary Tudor for four years. The Philippines, a former Spanish colony, are named after him. -
Jan 1, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes Qween of England
Two months after the death of her half-sister, Queen Mary I of England, Elizabeth Tudor, the 25-year-old daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, is crowned Queen Elizabeth I at Westminster Abbey in London. -
Period: to
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment (or simply the Enlightenment or Age of Reason) was a cultural movement of intellectuals beginning in late 17th-century Western Europe emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It spread across Europe and to the United States, continuing to the end of the 18th century. -
Jamestown, colony in Virginia, founded
The founding of Jamestown, America’s first permanent English colony, in Virginia in 1607 – 13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in Massachusetts – sparked a series of cultural encounters that helped shape the nation and the world. The government, language, customs, beliefs and aspirations of these early Virginians are all part of the United States’ heritage today. -
Louis XIV becomes King of France
The reign of France’s Louis XIV (1638-1718), known as the Sun King, lasted for 72 years, longer than that of any other known European sovereign. In that time, he transformed the monarchy, ushered in a golden age of art and literature, presided over a dazzling royal court at Versailles, annexed key territories and established his country as the dominant European power. -
Qing Dynasty in China begins
In 1644 when peasant's uprising leader Li Zicheng ended Ming and set up a new regime in Beijing, the Qing army seduced a general named Wu Sangui to rebel against Li Zicheng. With Wu's help, the Qing army successfully captured Beijing and rooted their regime there. -
Thomas Hobbes writes Leviathan
The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) is best known for his political thought, and deservedly so. His vision of the world is strikingly original and still relevant to contemporary politics. His main concern is the problem of social and political order: how human beings can live together in peace and avoid the danger and fear of civil conflict. -
Period: to
Oliver Cromwell rules England
Oliver Cromwell remains one of our most famous characters in history. From 1649 to 1653, Parliament ran England but from Cromwell's point of view, it was not a system that worked effectively and England, as a nation was suffering. As a result, Cromwell, backed by the army, sent home MP’s and he became the effective leader of England from 1653 to 1658. -
Peter I ( The Great ) becomes Czar
One of Peter's main goals was to regain access to the Baltic Sea and Baltic trade. In 1700 he started the Northern War with Sweden, which lasted for 21 years, and resulted in a victorious Russia taking the vast lands on the Baltic coast as its spoils of war. -
Period: to
Catherine the Great rules Russia
Catherine II was empress of Russia, and led her country into the political and cultural life of Europe, carrying on the work begun by Peter the Great. -
U.S. Constitution is ratified
When a bill of rights was proposed in Congress in 1789, North Carolina ratified the Constitution. Finally, Rhode Island, which had rejected the Constitution in March 1788 by popular referendum, called a ratifying convention in 1790 as specified by the Constitutional Convention. -
French Revolution begins
Revolution begins when Third Estate (Commons) delegates swear not to disband until France has a constitution. -
Reign of Terror begins
After the death of Louis XVI in 1793, the Reign of Terror began. The first victim was Marie Antoinette. She had been imprisoned with her children after she was separated from Louis. First they took her son Louis Charles from her (often called the lost dauphin, or Louis XVII). He disappeared under suspicious circumstances. -
Napoleon becomes Emperor
In Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Napoleon I, the first Frenchman to hold the title of emperor in a thousand years. Pope Pius VII handed Napoleon the crown that the 35-year-old conqueror of Europe placed on his own head. -
Napoleon defeated at Waterloo
he Battle of Waterloo, which took place in Belgium on June 18, 1815, marked the final defeat of French military leader and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), who conquered much of continental Europe in the early 19th century. -
Tokugawa Shogunate ends
The sudden influx of foreign people, ideas and money severely disrupted Japan's lifestyle and economy in the 1850s and 1860s. As a result, the Emperor Komei came out from behind the "jeweled curtain" to issue an "Order to Expel Barbarians" in 1863; it was too late for Japan to retreat once more into isolation, however. In fact, the order did nothing to prevent foreign warships from shelling Japanese ports and ships with impunity in reaction to threats, real or imagined.
