Semester History Timeline

By madisynforloines
  • 1439

    Johannes Gutenberg

    Invented the movable printer press
  • 1471

    Prince Henry of Portugal

    Found the gold coast
  • 1487

    Vasco da Gama

    Discovered the southern tip of Africa and rounded the Cape of Good Hope.
  • 1492

    Christopher Columbus

    Set out from Europe to America on a voyage to the unknown.
  • 1501

    Michelangelo

    He made the Renaissance sculpture "David" in 1501
  • 1503

    Leonardo da Vinci

    Made the Mona Lisa
  • 1514

    Nicolaus Copernicus

    Theory of a heliocentric solar system
  • 1516

    Desiderius Erasmus

    Translated the New Testament into Greek in 1516
  • 1517

    Martin Luther

    Pinned the 95 Theses to the door of the Catholic Church attacking the church's practice of selling indulgences
  • 1519

    Ferdinand Magellan

    Portugese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, set out from Spain in search of fame and fortune. With a fleet of 5 ships they went to discover a western sea route to the Spice Islands.
  • 1521

    Hernan Cortez

    The Aztecs drove the Spanish from the city, but Cortes returned again to defeat them and take the city in 1521
  • 1532

    Francisco Pizarro

    In 1532, accompanied by his brothers, Pizarro overthrew the Inca leader Antahualpa and conquered Peru. 3 years later, he founded the new capital city of Lima
  • 1533

    Henry VIII

    Broke with the church and married Anne Boleyn in a secret ceremony. He was excommunicated by the church by the Pope. The English Reformation had begun.
  • 1534

    Jacques Cartier

    Set sail on April 20, 1534. He explored the west coast of Newfoundland, discovered Prince Edward Island, and sailed through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, past Anticosti Island.
  • 1534

    St. Ignatius de Loyola

    Founded the Jesuit movement
  • 1536

    John Calvin

    Published the "Institutes of the Christian Religion", an early attempt to standardize the theories of Protestism
  • 1558

    Elizabeth I

    Became Queen of England
  • Period: 1577 to

    Francis Drake

    Circumnavigated the globe

  • William Shakespeare

    Shakespeare believed by most academics to have written his very first play in 1590

  • Miguel de Cervantes

    Published first part of Don Quixote in 1605

  • Johannes Kepler

    DIscovered that the planets move around the sun in orbits shaped like eclipses

  • Galileo Galilei

    Discovered the four most massive moons of Jupiter.

  • William Harvey

    Discovered the circulation of blood within the body.

  • Charles I

    Became king of England.

  • Louis XIV

    Became King of France aged 5 on the death of his father, Louis XIII.

  • Oliver Cromwell

    Cromwell was one of the key men in the planning, training, and leading of the New Model Army.

  • Thomas Hobbes

    Best known for his political philosophy, especially as articulated in his masterpiece Leviathan

  • Isaac Newton

    Myth that he was sitting under an apple tree when a fruit fell and hit him on the head, inspiring him to suddenly come up with the theory of gravity

  • John Locke

    Wrote an Essay on Toleration in which he argued that Protestant Dissenters who objected to some aspects of Anglican worship should have full civil rights

  • Charles II

    Signed a treaty with King Louis XIV in which he agreed to convert to Catholicism and support France's war against the Dutch in return for subsidies.

  • WIlliam and Mary

    Signed the charter for a "perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and other good Arts and Sciences" to be founded in the Virginia Colony.

  • Peter the Great

    Established the city of St. Petersburg on the Neva River and moved the capital there from its former location in Moscow.

  • Baron de Montesquieu

    Published what is considered his most important work, The Spirit of Laws

  • Frederick the Great

    Invaded Saxony and started the Seven Years War with his ally, Great Britain.

  • Voltaire

    Published Candide simultaneously in five countries no later then January 1759

  • Jean Jacques Rousseau

    Wrote the Social Contract. The Social Contract argued against the idea that monarchs were divinely empowered to legislate

  • Louis XVI

    On May 10, 1774, Louis Auguste became Louis XVI, with the death of his grandfather Louis XV

  • Napoleon Bonaparte

    After seizing political power in France in a 1799 coup d'etat, he crowned himself emperor in 1804

  • Eugene Delacroix

    Painted Liberty Leading the People which commemorates the July Revolution of 1830