• 1500  Ferdinand of Aragon suppresses Moorish revolt
     in Granada
     Aldus of Venice invents italics
     University of Valencia founded
     end of Early and beginning of High Renaissance
     Michelangelo creates "Madonna and Child"
     Pedro Alvarez Cabral discovers Brazil
     for Portugal
     Juan de la Cosa draws map of New World
     first commercial colleges founded in Venice
     first black lead pencils used in England
     first recorded caesarean section performed on a
     living woman by Swiss pig gelder Jakob Nufer
  • 1501  Moors resist Spanish Army in Granada
     Michelangelo begins the sculpture "David"
  • 1502  Columbus leaves on his fourth (and last)
     voyage
     Vespucci concludes S.America independent
     continent
     Montezuma II becomes chief of Aztecs
  • 1503  da Vinci paints the "Mona Lisa"
     Nostradamus born, French astrologer
     handguns help Spanish defeat French in Italy
     pocket handkerchief comes into use
  • 1504  Columbus returns from last voyage
     Venice proposes building of Suez Canal to Sultan
     of Turkey
  • 1505  Michelangelo goes to Rome
     Scipione del Ferro solves a form of cubic equation
     Portuguese start factories on African eastern
     coast
  • 1506  Christopher Columbus dies
  • 1507  Martin Luther ordained
     New World called "America" after Amerigo
     Vespucci
  • 1509  England crowns Henry VIII
     John Calvin, Swiss reformer born
     medical license first granted
     earthquake destroys Constantinople
     first sugar cane mill in America
  • 1510  Botticelli dies
     Raphael creates "Triumph of Galatea"
     Titian creates "The Gypsy Madonna"
     American coast discovered down to Charleston
     da Vinci designs horizontal water wheel
  • 1512  Selim I, Sultan of Turkey
     war between Russia & Poland
     first use of "masque" as poetic drama
     Shi'ism state religion in Persia
     Michelangelo finishes work in Sistine Chapel
     Copernicus states the earth & planets revolve
     around the sun
     Amerigo Vespucci dies
  • 1513  Christian II, King of Sweden & Norway
     Pope Leo X creates sculpture gallery at Vatican
     Raphael designs excavation of ancient Rome
     Balboa crosses Panama & discovers Pacific Ocean
     Juan Ponce de Leon discovers Florida
  • 1514  pineapples introduced to Europe
  • 1515  Francis I, crowned King of France
     1st nationalized factories in France
  • 1516  Emperor Charles V of Spain crowned
     future Queen Mary of England born
     Sir Thomas More write "Utopia"
     da Vinci goes to France
     Michelangelo completes "Moses"
     Raphael paints "The Sistine Madonna"
     Titian paints "The Assumption"
  • 1517  Turkish army captures Cairo
     Portuguese reach Canton by sea
     coffee introduced to Europe
  • 1518  Eastern Asian porcelain brought to Europe
  • 1519  Leonardo da Vinci dies
     Domenico de Pineda explores Gulf of Mexico
     Cortez brings Arabian horses to N.America
     chocolate introduced to Spain as beverage
     Panama City is founded by Spanish
     Cortez meets Aztec leader Montezuma
  • 1520  Suleiman I, Sultan of Turkey
     Royal Library of France founded
     Michelangelo begins Medici Chapel, Florence
     Raphael died
     Portuguese traders settled in China
     Magellan discovered Strait of Magellan
     Henry VIII ordered bowling lanes built in
     Whitehall
  • 1521  Hernando Cortez assumed control of Mexico
     Magellan killed in Phillipines by natives
     silk manufacturing introduced to France
  • 1522  Durer designs a flying machine to be used
     in war
  • 1523  Portuguese thrown out of Chinese settlements
     town of Jamaica founded
     first marine insurance policies sold in Florence
  • 1524  Vasco da Gama dies
     Hudson Bay & New York River discovered
     S.American turkeys first eaten in England
  • 1525  peace between England & France
  • 1526  Mogul dynasty begun in Delhi by Babar
     persecution of Jews in Hungary
     piquet, a card game, first played
  • 1527  Imperial troops sack Rome
  • 1528  Severe outbreak of the plague in England
     Chateau de Fountainbleau is begun in France
  • 1529  Turks sack Austria
  • 1530  Portuguese colonize Brazil
     criminal code drawn up for Holy Roman Empire
     spinning wheel became prevelant in England
     workman's bench came into use
  • 1531  Henry VIII, head of Church of England
     Halley's Comet appeared
  • 1532  sugar cane first cultivated from Brazil
  • 1533  Henry VIII secretly married Anne Boleyn
     Elizabeth I born
     Pizarro executed the Incas of Peru
     first lunatic asylums appear
  • 1534  Rome & England sever ties
     Jesuit Order founded by Ignatius Loyola
     erection of St.Basil's, Moscow
     English farmers can't own more than 2000 sheep
  • 1535  order of the Ursuline's founded by Angela Merici
     first diving bells
     beginning of the London Exchange
     Pizarro founded Lima, Peru
  • 1536  Anne Boleyn sent to Tower of London
     and executed
     Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour
     English Parliment declares Pope's authority void
     Michelangelo painted "Last Judgement" at Sistine
     Chapel
     Buenos Aires founded
     rubber first mentioned
  • 1537  Jane Seymour died giving birth
     first Catholic hymnal
  • 1538  John Calvin expelled from Geneva
     Bogata founded
     word "America" used for first time
  • 1539  Spain annexed Cuba
     de Soto explored Florida
     Olaus Magnus drew map of world
     first Christmas trees
  • 1540  Henry VIII married Anne of Cleves; marriage
     annulled
     Henry VIII married Catherine Howard
     Thomas Cromwell executed
     Grand Canyon discovered
     ether produced
     pulmonary circulation discovered by Michael
    Servetus
     DeSoto defeated Choctaw Indians
  • 1541  Coronado explores New Mexico, Texas
     and Oklahoma
     de Soto discovers Mississippi River
  • 1542  Catherine Howard, Queen of England, executed
     Mary, Queen of Scots, crowned
     Antonio de Mota entered Japan as first European
  • 1543  Henry VIII married Catherine Parr (last wife)
     1st Protestants burned at stake by Inquisition
     Portuguese land in Japan, brought first firearms
     Blasco da Garay designed first steamboat
  • 1544  Silver mines in Peru found
  • 1546  English Navy Board founded
     Martin Luther died
     Michelangelo tried to complete St.Peter's, Rome
  • 1547  Ivan IV, Czar of Russia
     Henry VIII died
     first predictions of Nostradamus
     Moscow destroyed by fire
  • 1549  Jesuit missionaries to S.America
  • 1550  billiards first played in Italy
     virtually all of Italy came under Emperor
     Charles V's rule
     sealing wax first used
     first mention of game "cricket"
     Spanish introduced beef cattle to N.American
  • 1553  Mary I of England crowned
     Hans Sachs wrote "Tristan and Isolde"
  • 1554  Princess Elizabeth sent to Tower of London
     Catholic restoration in England
     Sir Walter Raleigh born
  • 1555  Japanese pirates attacked Nanking
     Aztec dictionary published
     Nostradamus published "The Centuries", a book
     of predictions
     300 English Protestants burned at the stake
     Michelangelo begins the "Pieta"
     tobacco brought from America to Spain
  • 1556  Akbar, Mogul Emperor of India
     Suleiman's Mosque was finished
     Chinese earthquake worst in history, 830,000 die
  • 1557  influenza epidemic in Europe
  • 1558  Queen Mary I of England dies
     Portuguese introduce snuff to Europe
     The Trinh & Nguyen divide kingdom of Vietnam
  • 1559  Elizabeth I of England crowned
  • 1560  Charles IX of France crowned
     Church of Scotland founded
     beginnings of Puritanism
     Madrid becomes capital of Spain
  • 1561  Basilica of St.Basil's finished, Moscow
     hand grenades first made
     tulips come to Europe from Near East
  • 1562  plague in Paris
  • 1563  plague spreads throughout Europe
     Vientiane becomes capital of Lao (Laos)
  • 1564  Spanish build Manila, Phillipines
     Michelangelo dies
     Galileo Galilei born
     William Shakespeare born
  • 1565  sweet potatoes & tobacco introduced
     to England
     first European settlement in N.America,
     St.Augustine founded
  • 1566  Nostradamus died
  • 1567  Rio de Janeiro founded
     2 million Indians died in S.America of
     typhoid fever
  • 1568  first studies of the brain
     Nobunaga begins reunification of Japan
  • 1570  Robert Henryson compiled "The Moral Fables
    of Aesop"
  • 1571  Johann Kepler born, astronomer
  • 1572  Dutch war of independence began
     Francis Drake attacked Spanish harbor in
    America
     first official mention of carrier pigeons
  • 1573  Wan-Li, 13th Emperor of Ming Dynasty, China
     Francis Drake saw Pacific Ocean for first time
  • 1574  Henry III, King of Poland crowned King of
    France
  • 1575  Indian leader Hiawatha allegedly founds
    Iroquois League
  • 1576  Titian dies
     beginnings of modern botany
  • 1577  Francis Drake began round the world voyage
  • 1578  catacombs of Rome discovered
  • 1580  first mention of the song "Greensleeves"
     Francis Drake returned from circumventing
    the globe
     Venice imported coffee from Turkey
     earthquake in London
  • 1581  Russia conquers Siberia
  • 1582  first waterworks founded in London
     Gregorian calendar introduced into
    Catholic countries
     water wheels installed on London Bridge
  • 1583  first known life insurance issued
  • 1585  Roanoke Island, NC founded as first English
    settlement in N.America
  • 1586  Mary, Queen of Scots convicted of treason
    against England
     Kabuki theaters began, Japan
  • 1587  Mary, Queen of Scots executed
     Osaka Castle completed, Japan
  • 1588  English navy defeated Spanish Armada
  • 1589  forks used for 1st time in France
     Reverend William Lee invented first knitting
     frame
  • 1590  Shakespeare wrote "Henry VI" Parts 2 & 3
     Roanoke colonists disappeared
     coal mining began in Ruhr Valley
     first English paper mill opened
  • 1591  Shakespeare wrote "Henry VI" Part 1
  • 1592  Shakespeare wrote "Richard III"
     ruins of Pompeii found
     plague in London
  • 1593  theaters in London closed because of the plague
     Shakespeare wrote "Titus Andronicus"
     Shakespeare wrote "The Taming of the Shrew"
  • 1594  Henry IV crowned King of France
     Thoman Nashe (political cartoonist) became
    popular in London papers
     Shakespeare wrote "The Two Gentlemen of
    Verona"
     Shakespeare wrote "Love's Labour's Lost
     Shakespeare wrote "Romeo and Juliet"
     Galileo's Golden Rule
  • 1595  Henry IV (France) declared war on Spain
     Dutch colonized East Indies
     Mohammed III, Sultan of Turkey
     Shakespeare wrote "Richard II"
     Shakespeare wrote "A Midsummer Night's
    Dream"
     English army abandoned bow as weapon
     shoes with heels appeared
     Warsaw became capital of Poland
  • 1596  Spain took Calais
     Shakespeare wrote "King John"
     Shakespeare wrote "The Merchant of Venice"
     Sir Francis Drake died
     tomatoes introduced to England
     Galileo invented thermometer
  • 1597  Shakespeare wrote "Henry IV" Parts 1 and 2
     Shakespeare bought New Place, Stratford
     on Avon
     Dutch found Java
     Parliment decreed use of colonies for convicted
    criminals
  • 1598  Philip III crowned, Spain
     Ieyasu Tokugawa restored shogunates
     Shakespeare wrote "Much Ado About Nothing"
     Admiral Visunsin, Korea, invented iron-clad
    warship
  • 1599  Oliver Cromwell born
     outbreak of the plague in Spain
     Globe Theatre, London construction began
  • The printing press brings the world the written word.



    Great ships with great explorers discover the "New World".



    Michelangelo's "David", a masterpiece of sculpture.



    Amerigo Vespucci was the first to describe the Western Hemisphere as a previously unknown continent.



    Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa"




    Albrecht Durer was the most important German artist in the period of transition from the late Gothic to the Renaissance




    Martin Luther was a German theologian and a major leader of the Protestant reformation.




    Hernan Cortes set out to conquer Mexico from the Indians.




    Suleiman the Magnificent conquered Hungary and Mesopotamia and was a preeminent patron of the arts.




    Henry VIII, king of England, instigated the reformation of the English church in order to secure a divorce from the first of his six wives.




    Hernando de Soto is the Spanish explorer in America credited with discovery of the Mississippi River





    Sir Walter Raleigh organized an early and unsuccessful attempt to found a settlement in North America--the so-called lost colony of Roanoke.




    The first Russian ruler to be crowned tsar and to hold that official title was Ivan IV, known as the Terrible.




    Mary Tudor ruled England as Queen Mary I and earned the epithet Bloody Mary for the executions of Protestants that occurred during her reign.




    Elizabeth I is famous for the glamour of her court, the success of her policies, and her long-preserved virginity.




    William Shakespeare was the author of the most widely admired and influential body of literature by any individual in the history of Western civilization





    Sir Francis Drake is best known for his exploits against the Spanish and his circumnavigation of the world.




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