European Evolution

Gunpowder

1450

By around 1450 gunpowder had made its way from China all the way over to Europe. Gunpowder forever changed warfare in Europe. The warfare changed from knights and horseback combat to armies almost completely armed with guns.

Ottomans

1453

While the Ottomans are normally just an afterthought in most history texts they were actually a very strong force in both military and trade. One of their largest achievements was conquering the Byzantine Empire in 1453. The leader of the Ottomans then regrew the city of Constantinople to its former glory with it reaching a population of 700,000.

The Peace of Lodi

1454

The Peace of Lodi is a treaty signed by the powerful city-states of Italy. This treaty allowed Italy to flourish while the rest of Europe was in constant conflict. This allowed the Renaissance to begin in Italy

Printing Press

1455

The printing press was invented in the 1440s by a German goldsmith named Johannes Gutenberg and became available to purchase in 1455. The printing press helped to spread information across Europe, it made it much cheaper for books to be created and gave people more of a reason to learn to read. Previously books were outrageously expensive so most people just didn't learn to read. The printing press helped to improve education all across Europe.

The New World

1492

While in search of a new trade route to Asia an explorer named Christopher Columbus found the New World. This new world had many new materials that Europe hadn't seen before. The Europeans had diseases that the natives had not seen before which caused a devastating spread of disease across the new world. The Europeans later exploited the natives and their land.

The End of the Renaissance

1494

The Renaissance had three major factors for its downfall. The first was pressure from the Turks, they had begun to seize control of parts of Italy all the way back in 1453. The second factor was the rest of Europe catching up to Italy's manufacturing and production this pulled a lot of wealth out of Italy. The third major factor was the breaking of the Peace of Lodi treaty. Without this treaty, it became much harder for Italian cities to just feel safe around each other.

European Exploration

1497

Through time Europe wanted to get better deals on their trades. They wanted to cut out the middle man in the trades and go straight to the source. One of the Voyages by the Portuguese did this. They sailed around Africa and got a monopoly on the gold and spice trade there.

Venice

1500

Venice was one of the most prosperous cities throughout the Renaissance. While it was already very prosperous before the Renaissance, 40% of all merchant ships sailed there in 1300, it became even more prosperous, 60% of all merchant ships sailed there by 1500. This allowed for the rich families of Venice to have extra money to fund artists, helping to build the Renaissance.

Luther's Reformation

1517

In 1517 Luther wrote his 95 Theses, which were grievances with the church at the time. Luther was one of the leaders during the reformation he showed the world the corrupt practices of the church and created the protestant branch of the church which separated from the Catholics.

English Reformation

1531

King Henrey VIII was the king in charge of England when the English Reformation occurred. He was also the main reason it occurred. In 1531 he requested to divorce his wife and the Pope refused this created a rift between the two leading to the King just creating a separate branch of Christianity that England would then follow. A branch that he would have full control over.