Post-holiday break timeline

  • 1350

    The Renaissance period generally begins

  • 1419

    Prince Henry's navigation school founded

  • 1453

    Fall of Constantinople

  • 1492

    Columbus discovers America

    Columbus discovers America
  • 1497

    Vasco de Gama finds water route around the tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope)

  • 1503

    Mona Lisa finished

    Mona Lisa finished
  • 1504

    Michelangelo's David

  • 1511

    Erasmus' Praise of Folly published

    Erasmus' Praise of Folly published
  • 1517

    95 Theses nailed to door of Wittenburg Church

    95 Theses nailed to door of Wittenburg Church
  • 1519

    Magellan circumnavigates the globe

  • 1520

    Peak of Ottoman Empire

  • 1521

    Cortez conquers the Aztecs

  • 1521

    Martin Luther put on trial at the Diet of Worms

  • 1526

    Start of Mughal Empire

  • 1528

    Tobacco introduced to Europe

    Tobacco introduced to Europe
  • 1532

    Pissarro conqueror's the Incas

  • 1534

    Anglican Church started

  • 1543

    Copernicus' Heliocentric theory published

  • 1545

    Council of Trent

  • Defeat of Spanish Armada

  • Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar published

    Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar published
  • Galileo's first telescope built

  • William Harvey discovered circulation of blood

  • Taj Mahal is built

    Taj Mahal is built
  • Newton's Laws of gravity published in the Principia