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Jan 1, 1102
Crusades are fought
Religious and Political wars fought over who would receive the holy land -
Oct 1, 1347
Black Death Begins in Europe
Killed 1/3 of Europe. Began in Asia in 1347 then spread to Italy and Europe through Trade ships. Spread through blood, spit, and fleas. -
Jan 1, 1350
Renaissance Begins
After the Black Plague, nearly half of the population was dead. Though tragic, this allowed for a more sufficient distribution of foods and other goods. It was like the rebirth of Europe that brought on the Renaissance age. -
May 30, 1431
Joan of Arc burned at the stake
Had visions from multiple religious figures telling her to fight for France and release it from English domain -
Jan 1, 1439
Johannes Gutenberg - Printing Press
His introduction of mechanical movable type printing to Europe started the Printing Revolution and is widely regarded as the most important invention of the second millennium, the seminal event which ushered in the modern period of human history. It played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific revolution and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses. -
Jan 1, 1492
Naming of the "New World"
Like most, I've known that the Americas were named after Amerigo Vespucci since my early education. However, the story behind why this is the case is somewhat more interesting and quite a bit less well known. Vespucci was a navigator that traveled to “the new world” in 1499 and 1502 -
Aug 3, 1493
1st Voyage of Comlumbus
Columbus sets sail for spain however ends up on the shores of America instead -
Jan 1, 1503
Da Vinci paints the Mona LIsa
Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503 or 1504 in Florence, Italy. Although the Louvre states that it was "doubtless painted between 1503 and 1506", the art historian Martin Kemp says there are some difficulties in confirming the actual dates with certainty. -
Jun 11, 1509
Henry VIII founds Anglican Church
King Henry VIII had in fact, requested that the Pope permit him to divorce his wife and marry his mistress. The Pope refused. King Henry responded by thumbing his nose at the Pope by renouncing Roman Catholicism, taking England out from under Rome’s religious control, and declaring himself as the reigning head of State to also be the new head of the Church. This new branch of the Christian Church became known as the Anglican Church or the Church of England -
Nov 2, 1512
MichaelAngelo Paints Sistine Chapel
MichaelAngelo began painting in 1508 on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel then finished 1512. He was hired by Pope julius who wanted more than blue paint and stars on the ceiling. Is now incredibly famous for how high the ceiling is an the difficulty and skill required to paint the Sistine Chapel's Ceiling. -
Oct 13, 1517
Martin Luther posts 95 Theses
in 1517 Luther penned a document attacking the Catholic Church’s corrupt practice of selling “indulgences” to absolve sin. His “95 Theses,” which propounded two central beliefs—that the Bible is the central religious authority and that humans may reach salvation only by their faith and not by their deeds—was to spark the Protestant Reformation. -
Jan 1, 1521
Magellan starts his "Around the World" Trip
Magellan became a skilled sailor and naval officer and was eventually selected by King Charles I of Spain to search for a westward route to the Maluku Islands. Commanding a fleet of five vessels, he headed south through the Atlantic Ocean to Patagonia, passing through the Strait of Magellan into a body of water he named the "peaceful sea" . the expedition reached the Spice Islands in 1521 and returned home via the Indian Ocean to complete the first circuit of the globe. -
Jan 1, 1531
Pizarro Invades the Inca Empire
On November 16, 1532, Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish explorer, and conquistador, springs a trap on the Incan emperor, Atahualpa. With fewer than 200 men against several thousand, Pizarro lures Atahualpa to a feast in the emperor’s honor and then opens fire on the unarmed Incans. Pizarro’s men massacre the Incans and capture Atahualpa, forcing him to convert to Christianity before eventually killing him. -
Dec 13, 1545
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent (Latin: Concilium Tridentinum), 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. -
Jan 15, 1559
Elizabeth I Becomes Queen of England
referred to as the Elizabethan era or the Golden Age of Elizabeth - was one of the more constructive periods in English history: literature bloomed; Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh were instrumental in expanding English influence in the New World; Elizabeth's religious compromise laid many fears to rest and defused a potential powder keg; and fashion and education came to the fore because of Elizabeth's penchant for knowledge, courtly behaviour, and extravagant dress. -
Jamestown, colony in Virginia, founded
On May 14, 1607, a group of roughly 100 members of a joint venture called the Virginia Company founded the first permanent English settlement in North America on the banks of the James River. -
Slave Trade Across Atlantic
The transatlantic slave trade was responsible for the forced migration of between 12 - 15 million people from Africa to the Western Hemisphere from the middle of the 15th century to the end of the 19th century. The trafficking of Africans by the major European countries during this period is sometimes referred to by African scholars as the Maafa ('great disaster' in Swahili). It's now considered a crime against humanity.
