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Ming Dynasty was the last imperial dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han Chinese
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Born Ma He, Zheng commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433
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Songhay Empire, at its peak, it was one of the largest states in African history
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Henry the Navigator, 15th century Portuguese prince, helped usher in both the Age of Discovery and the Atlantic slave trade
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Johannes Gutenberg developed a method of movable type and used it to create one of the Western world's first major printed books, the “Forty-Two-Line” Bible
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Copernicus was instrumental in establishing the concept of a heliocentric solar system, in which the sun, rather than the earth, is the center of the solar system
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Portugal was one of the largest empires in history and at the peak of its power, was the first to reach global dimensions through a long network of numerous territories and smaller possessions
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The Aztec Empire, or the Triple Alliance, began as an alliance of three Nahua city-states: Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Mexico-Texcoco, and Mexico-Tlacopan.
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Mehmed II, best known as Mehmed the Conqueror, was an Ottoman sultan who ruled first for a short time from August 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to May 1481
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Inca Empire was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America
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Became the first European mariner to round the southern tip of Africa
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The Triangle Trade carried slaves, cash crops, and manufactured goods between West Africa, Caribbean or American colonies and the European colonial powers, with the northern colonies of Britain
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Christopher Columbus discovered the "New World" (not really) of the Americas on an expedition sponsored by King Ferdinand.
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The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by an invading army of the Ottoman Empire
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First explorer to reach India by sea
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Sunni Ali was the first king of the Songhai Empire
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Italian diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli is best known for writing The Prince, a handbook for unscrupulous politicians that inspired the term "Machiavellian"
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The Spanish Inquisition was The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition
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Vasco Núñez de Balboa was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.
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Pizarro helped Vasco Núñez de Balboa discover the Pacific Ocean, and after conquering Peru, founded its capital city, Lima
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Ferdinand Magellan led the first European voyage of discovery to circumnavigate the globe
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Martin Luther forever changed Christianity when he began the Protestant Reformation in 16th-century Europe
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Cortes was a Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire and won Mexico for the crown of Spain
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Ismail was the founder of the Safavid dynasty which survived until 1736
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Loyola was a Spanish priest and theologian, who founded the religious order called the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and became its first Superior General
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The Columbian Exchange refers to a period of cultural and biological exchanges between the New and Old Worlds. Exchanges of plants, animals, diseases and technology transformed European and Native American ways of life
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Suleyman in his realm, was the tenth and longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to his death in 1566
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The Treaty of Tordesillas divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and the Crown of Castile
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Atahualpa was the last Inca ruler, executed by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1533, marking the end of the Inca empire
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Montezuma II was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520
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Safavid Empire was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran, often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history
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Calvin was Martin Luther's successor as the preeminent Protestant theologian, made a powerful impact on the fundamental doctrines of Protestantism
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The Battle of Chaldiran took place on 23 August 1514 and ended with a decisive victory for the Ottoman Empire over the Safavid Empire
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Spain reached the peak of its military, political and economic power under the Spanish Habsburgs
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The Protestant Reformation was a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church
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Akbar was a Muslim emperor of India, established a sprawling kingdom through military conquests, but is known for his policy of religious tolerance
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The Council of Trent, held between 1545 and 1563 in Trento (Trent) and Bologna, northern Italy, was one of the Roman Catholic Church's most important ecumenical councils. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation
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Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which effectively ruled Japan from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.
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Ricci was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions
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Galileo made pioneering observations that laid the foundation for modern physics and astronomy
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Hobbes was an English philosopher in the 17th century, was best known for his book Leviathan (1651) and his political views on society
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Tokugawa Shogunate was the last feudal Japanese military government, which existed between 1603 and 1867. The head of government was the shogun, and each was a member of the Tokugawa clan
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A joint-stock company is a business entity in which different stocks can be bought and owned by shareholders
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The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas
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Locke was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism"
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King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes and is known for his aggressive foreign policy
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The Qing Dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China
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Kangxi was the fourth emperor of the Qing dynasty
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Enlightenment was an intellectual movement which dominated the world of ideas in Europe in the 18th century
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Voltaire was an author of the satirical novella 'Candide,' Voltaire is widely considered one of France's greatest Enlightenment writers
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Qianlong was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper.
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Rousseau was a philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment in France and across Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the overall development of modern political and educational thought
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Catherine the Great was the most renowned and the longest-ruling female leader of Russia- Peter the Great: Best known for his extensive reforms in an attempt to establish Russia as a great nation
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The Seven Years' War was a war fought between 1754 and 1763, the main conflict occurring in the seven-year period from 1756 to 1763. It involved every European great power of the time except the Ottoman Empire and spanned five continents.
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The modern province of Quebec occupies much of the land where French settlers founded the colony of Canada
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Mughal Empire was an empire in the Indian subcontinent, established and ruled by a Muslim dynasty of Chagatai Turco-Mongol origin from Central Asia.