Renaissance, Global Expansion, Age of Absolutism Timeline

  • Period: 1341 to 1488

    Time spent searching for tip of Africa

    Portugal searched for the route around Africa for 147 years in hopes of finding a way to get to the Spice Islands by sea. Once the tip was finally discovered by Bartolomeu Dias, it was called the "Cape of Good Hope" to make people want to go.
  • 1436

    Printing press made

    Printing press made
    The printing press allowed fast traveling of knowledge. This allowed news like the 95 Theses to be quickly spread.
  • Feb 23, 1455

    First printed book

    First printed book
    The first printed book during the Renaissance was a Latin version of the Bible called the Gutenberg Bible. It was made in 1455 made by Johannes Gutenberg.
  • Oct 12, 1492

    The finding of America

    The finding of America
    Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer working for Spain who found America in 1492. He was very harsh towards the natives.This led to many wars, resulting in the 13 colonies, and a huge decrease in Native population.
  • Jun 7, 1494

    Treaty of Tordesillas

    The Treaty of Tordesillas was made to split the world in half to separate the two main Catholic powers, Portugal and Spain, from becoming too agressive with each other. This was made by the pope, and was later changed due to Ferdinand Magellan making it all the way around the globe.
  • Sep 3, 1494

    Charles VIII led 30,000 people into Italy

    Charles VIII led 30,000 people into Italy in 1494. This resulted in the Italian war which ultimately shifted power in Italy over to the Spanish Hapsburgs.
  • 1498

    The "Last Supper" was made

    The "Last Supper" was made
    The "Last Supper" shows the exact moment when Jesus informs his closest followers of his death that will occur the day after. This painting portrays aspects of realism and perspective with a vanishing point, which makes it a good example of Renaissance art.
  • 1509

    Rafael made “School of Athens”

    Rafael made “School of Athens”
    "School of Athens" shows most of the philosophers in the Renaissance. This allows for historians in the current era to see art styles during the Renaissance, while also seeing important figures.
  • Sep 1, 1513

    Pacific Ocean found

    Pacific Ocean found
    Vasco Núñez de Balboa found the Pacific Ocean in 1513. Since he was hired by the Spanish, he claimed the Pacific Ocean for Spain.
  • Oct 31, 1517

    Luther posts the 95 Theses on the Church

    Luther posts the 95 Theses on the Church
    Luther posts 95 complaints about the Catholic church and its hierarchy on the Castle Church in Wittenberg. He does this on Hallows Eve right before a huge crowd of people come to the church to bring attention to it. This act led to the explosion of protestantism throughout Europe.
  • Jan 1, 1521

    Luther excommunicated

    Charles V was the one who excommunicated Luther. Luther did surprisingly well in court, and humiliated King Charles while also refusing to revoke his stating of the 95 Theses forcing Charles to excommunicate Luther.
  • Jan 28, 1521

    The Diet of Worms started

    The Diet of Worms started
    This meeting was held by Charles V. It was originally intended that Luther was going to humiliate himself, but ended up the exact opposite where Luther humiliated Charles and ended up excommunicated. People did not think that their King looked very good, due to his face dysmorphia, and sided with Luther. Luther excelling in the trial led to new hope for protestantism.
  • Mar 1, 1521

    1st trip made to the Spice Islands

    1st trip made to the Spice Islands
    Completed by Ferdinand Magellan. When Magellan got to the Spice Islands, he believed that he was invincible, and got involved in a civil war in the Phillippines thinking that he couldn't die. That is where he was killed.
  • Sep 1, 1522

    1st trip made all the way around the world completed

    Ferdinand Magellan's ships were the first ones to make it all the way around the world. Even though he died on the way, his fleet made it to the Philippines.
  • Nov 16, 1532

    Pizarro conquers the Incas

    Pizarro conquers the Incas
    Pizarro captured and killed the Incan ruler Atahualpa on November 16 1532, officially taking control of the Incan empire. Pizarro was inspired by Hernán Cortés and his conquering of the Aztecs. This led to increased wealth for Spain, and the fall of the Incan empire.
  • Jun 1, 1534

    Anglicanism made in England

    Anglicanism was originally brought to England during the reign of Henry VIII. Henry VIII separated from the Catholic church because they would not divorce him and his wife, Catherine of Aragon. As a result Henry VIII hired Thomas Cranmer as one of his advisors to be the archbishop of Canterbury as long as he divorced them.
  • Aug 1, 1536

    John Calvin goes to Geneva

    The people in Geneva had already heard of John Calvin. By the time that he got there and left, they all loved his religion and converted to Calvinism.
  • Period: 1540 to

    Francis Drake's privateering of spanish ships

    Francis Drake pirated Spanish ships for England for 56 years. Queen Elizabeth employed him for that entire time to invade Spanish ships and eventually hired him to be the face of England's defense during the Spanish Armada.
  • Period: 1556 to

    King Philip II's reign

    King Philip II was the king of Spain. He was rejected by Queen Elizabeth after asking her to marry him, and England was Anglican and had been tormenting Spain for all of this time. This led to Philip sending the Spanish Armada to distract the English fleets so that the Netherlands could invade.
  • Aug 8, 1570

    Peace of St. Germain

    Peace of St. Germain
    The Peace of St. Germain was made by Charles IV of France. This peace treaty ended the third civil war in France and led to a short period of peace.
  • Aug 18, 1572

    Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Medici Wedding

    Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Medici Wedding
    Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Medici's wedding, ended in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, killing all Calvinist nobles that went to the wedding. This wedding was meant to be the tying together of the two religions, but then at some point in the night, policemen were sent into Calvinist nobles' hotels to kill them. The townspeople that witnessed this continued the massacre onto their neighbors who they suspected of being Calvinist. This massacre lasted for three whole days.
  • Spanish Armada destroyed by storms

    Spanish Armada destroyed by storms
    The Spanish Armada was made to invade England. After Francis Drake had made the ships cut their anchors, while they were sailing back around to Spain, two huge storms wiped out 3/4 of their ships. Back in this time period, since there was no knowledge of how storms formed, people thought that God created storms, and struck down the Catholics. This led to a religious crisis.
  • Period: to

    Triangular Trade

    The Triangular Trade was a very successful trading between Europe, Africa, and America. Africa would send enslaved individuals to America, America would send raw goods to Europe, and Europe would send guns to Africa and manufactured materials to Africa and America.
  • Period: to

    Dutch East India Company in commission

    The Dutch East India Company was the richest and most successful company to have ever existed. They controlled their own army and could begin wars without asking any governments. The Dutch East India Company got most of their money from selling spices from the Spice Islands.
  • Petition of Rights signed

    Petition of Rights signed
    The Petition of Right was Parliament's first attempt at stopping Charles I from making all of his own decisions like prerogative court. This attempt did not work, resulting in him ignoring his side of the agreement and dissolving Parliament.
  • Period: to

    Construction of Versailles

    Versailles was Louis XIV's castle that he spent 44 years building. This was where he kept all of the nobles. Versailles took so much money to make that it contributed in large part to the bankruptcy of France.
  • Louis XIV kicked Huguenots from France

    This was after Cardinal Richelieu had taken down the Huguenots' walls and get rid of their armies. With lack of defense, this allowed Louis XIV to kick the Huguenots out of France without any fighting back.
  • The Glorious Revolution

    The Glorious Revolution
    King William and Queen Mary were called to invade England in a "Glorious Revolution". The Netherlands were specifically called because they were strictly Calvinist, and parliament in England was also Calvinist.
  • England Toleration Act

    England signed this act to allow multiple religions. They did this because they were tired of all of the fighting over religion, and since they were from the Netherlands they had experienced enough fighting over religion.
  • Bill of Rights signed by William and Mary

    Bill of Rights signed by William and Mary
    The Bill of Rights was signed by King William and Mary on December 16, 1689. This was one of the only requirements for William and Mary to take over England stating that they must rule alongside Parliament, and that only Parliament could dissolve themselves.