renaissance

  • Jan 1, 1492

    Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas

  • Jan 1, 1503

    Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa

  • Jan 1, 1516

    Thomas More's Utopia is published

  • Jan 1, 1543

    With the Supremacy Act, Henry viii proclaims himself head of the Church of England

  • Jan 1, 1558

    Elizabeth i becomes queen of England

  • Jan 1, 1564

    William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born

  • Globe Theatre is built in london

  • Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth 1605 - 1606

  • First permanent English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia

  • Shakespeare's sonnets are published

  • King James Bible is published

  • The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock Massachusetts

  • Newspapers are first published in London

  • John Milton begins Paradise Lost

  • Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles ii