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1300 BCE
The Renaissance began in the Italian city-states and spread to Northern Europe.
The movement first expanded to other Italian city-states, such as Venice, Milan, Bologna, Ferrara and Rome -
800 BCE
The Songhai Empire was established in Africa.
Though the Songhai people are said to have established themselves in the city of Gao about 800 ce, they did not regard it as their capital until the beginning of the 11th century -
570 BCE
Mohammad founded the Islamic religion.
Muhammad is the prophet and founder of Islam. Born in Mecca in 570, most of his early life was spent as a merchant. At age 40, he began to have revelations from Allah that became the basis for the Koran and the foundation of Islam. -
207 BCE
Silk routes emerged connecting trade between the Mediterranean Basin and Asia.
Silk Road, ancient trade route, linking China with the West, that carried goods and ideas between the two great civilizations of Rome and China -
30 BCE
Jesus was the founder of the Christian religion.
also referred to as Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus Christ, was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the central figure of Christianity. -
105
Paper was invented by the Chinese.
paper was invented around 100 BC in China. In 105 AD, under the Han Dynasty emperor Ho-Ti, a government official in China named Ts'ai Lun was the first to start a paper-making industry -
1184
The Inquisition was used to reinforce Catholic doctrine.
The Inquisition was the special court used by the Catholic church to reinforce Catholic Doctrines. -
1384
John Wycliffe argued the Bible was the highest religious authority
John Wycliffe, English theologian, philosopher, church reformer, and promoter of the first complete translation of the Bible into English. -
1415
Jan Huss was burned at the stake for being a heretic.
Today in history: Jan Hus burned at the stake 600 years ago. On this date in 1415, the Czech religious reformer Jan Hus -
1439
Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press.
Gutenberg's movable type printing press initiated nothing less than a revolution in print technology -
1453
The Ottoman Empire spread to Africa, the Middle East and Southern Europe.
the state grew into a mighty empire, expanding deeply into Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East. ... The empire came to an end in the aftermath of its defeat by the Allies in World War I. -
1495
Leonardo da Vinci painted the Last Supper.
The Last Supper is a late 15th-century mural painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci housed by the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. It is one of the Western world's most recognizable paintings. -
1498
Michelangelo sculpted the Pieta.
is a work of Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti, housed in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City -
1501
Michelangelo sculpted the statue of David.
David, marble sculpture executed from 1501 to 1504 by the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo. The statue was commissioned for one of the buttresses -
1503
Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa, oil painting on a poplar wood panel by Leonardo da Vinci, probably the world’s most famous painting -
1512
Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
The Sistine Chapel ceiling painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art -
Oct 31, 1517
Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses to a church door.
the small-town monk Martin Luther marched up to the castle church in Wittenberg and nailed his 95 Theses to the door, thus lighting the flame of the Reformation -
1521
Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther.
Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther. Three months later, Luther was called to defend his beliefs before Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms, where he was famously defiant. For his refusal to recant his writings, the emperor declared him an outlaw and a heretic -
1526
The Mughal Empire began in Northern India.
by Babur, a warrior chieftain from what today is Uzbekistan, who employed aid from the neighboring Safavid and Ottoman empires to defeat the Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodhi, in the First Battle of Panipat, and to sweep down the plains of Upper India. -
1533
Henry VIII broke from the Church in Rome and divorced his wife.
Henry VIII broke from the church and married the now pregnant Anne Boleyn in a secret ceremony. -
1534
Henry VIII became the head of the Anglican Church.
On 3 November 1534 King Henry VIII became the Head of the newly founded Church of England. -
1534
The Jesuits were spread the Catholic faith.
They also were committed to spreading Catholicism to the Muslims in the Holy Land, but were prevented from making that journey by warfare in the region. -
1536
John Calvin developed the idea of predestination.
Predestination is a central tenet of Calvinism, the views taught by Calvin. The doctrine of predestination is controversial and is widely disagreed upon by Christians. -
1545
Catholic leaders met at the Council of Trent.
Council of Trent, 19th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, held in three parts from 1545 to 1563. -
1577
Elizabeth I sponsored Sir Francis Drake’s exploration to the New World.
After leading two successful expeditions to the West Indies, Drake came to the attention of Queen Elizabeth -
Queen Elizabeth I defeated Philip II’s Spanish Armada.
In 1589, Queen Elizabeth launched a failed “English Armada” against Spain. King Philip II, meanwhile, later rebuilt his fleet and dispatched two more Spanish Armadas in the 1590s, both of which were scattered by storms -
Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes.
signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France -
Cardinal Richelieu got France involved in the Thirty Years’ War.
Richelieu's time in office is dominated by his campaign against the Huguenots, the modernisation of the military in France, especially the navy, and involvement in the Thirty Years Wars.Mar 17, 2015 -
The Hapsburg family was the most powerful family in Europe.
Habsburg dynastic power reached its height in the 16th and 17th centuries. As the Spanish and Austrian lines of the House of Habsburg dominated Europe, they married one another and kept bloodlines pure. Cousins married cousins and uncles married nieces; keeping track of who was related to who in the complex matrix of the House of Habsburg inbreeding - not to mention how they were related - is mind-boggling to the modern observer. -
Erasmus spread the idea of “humanism.”
Erasmus, Dutch humanist who was the greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance, the first editor of the New Testament
