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World
History
1492
Moors
conquered in Spain by troops of Ferdinand and Isabella. Columbus
becomes first European to encounter Caribbean islands, returns to Spain (1493).
Second voyage to Dominica, Jamaica, Puerto Rico (1493–1496).
Third voyage to Orinoco (1498). Fourth voyage
to Honduras and Panama (1502–1504).
1497
Vasco
da Gama sails around Africa and discovers sea route to India (1498).
Establishes Portuguese colony in India (1502).
John Cabot, employed by England, reaches and explores Canadian coast. Michelangelo's
Bacchus sculpture.
1501
First
black slaves in America brought to Spanish colony of Santo Domingo.
c.
1503
Leonardo
da Vinci paints the
Mona Lisa. Michelangelo sculpts the David
(1504).
1506
St.
Peter's Church started in Rome; designed and decorated by such artists
and architects as Bramante, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Raphael, and Bernini
before its completion in 1626.
1509
Henry
VIII ascends English throne. Michelangelo paints the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel.
1513
Balboa
becomes the first European to encounter the Pacific Ocean. Machiavelli's
The Prince.
1517
Turks
conquer Egypt, control Arabia. Martin
Luther posts his 95 theses denouncing church abuses on church door
in Wittenberg—start of the Reformation
in Germany.
1519
Ulrich
Zwingli begins Reformation in Switzerland. Hernando Cortes conquers
Mexico for Spain. Charles I of Spain is chosen Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V. Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sets out to
circumnavigate the globe.
1520
Luther
excommunicated by Pope Leo X. Suleiman
I (“the Magnificent”) becomes Sultan of Turkey, invades Hungary (1521),
Rhodes (1522), attacks Austria (1529),
annexes Hungary (1541), Tripoli (1551),
makes peace with Persia (1553), destroys
Spanish fleet (1560), dies (1566).
Magellan reaches the Pacific, is killed by Philippine natives (1521).
One of his ships under Juan Sebastián del Cano continues around the
world, reaches Spain (1522).
1524
Verrazano,
sailing under the French flag, explores the New England coast and New
York Bay.
1527
Troops
of the Holy Roman Empire attack Rome, imprison Pope Clement VII—the
end of the Italian Renaissance. Castiglione writes The Courtier.
The Medici family expelled from Florence.
1532
Pizarro
marches from Panama to Peru, kills the Inca chieftain, Atahualpa, of
Peru (1533). Machiavelli's The Prince
published posthumously.
1535
Reformation
begins as Henry VIII makes himself head of English Church after being
excommunicated by Pope. Sir
Thomas More executed as traitor for refusal to acknowledge king's
religious authority. Jacques Cartier sails up the St. Lawrence River,
basis of French claims to Canada.
1536
Henry
VIII executes second wife, Anne Boleyn. John Calvin establishes Reformed
and Presbyterian form of Protestantism in Switzerland, writes Institutes
of the Christian Religion. Danish and Norwegian Reformations.
Michelangelo's Last Judgment.
1541
John
Knox leads Reformation in Scotland, establishes Presbyterian church
there (1560).
1543
Publication
of On the Revolution of Heavenly Bodies by Polish scholar
Nicolaus Copernicus—giving his theory that the earth revolves around
the sun.
1545
Council
of Trent to meet intermittently until 1563 to
define Catholic dogma and doctrine, reiterate papal authority.
1547
Ivan
IV (“the Terrible”) crowned as czar of Russia, begins conquest
of Astrakhan and Kazan (1552), battles nobles
(boyars) for power (1564), kills his son (1580),
dies, and is succeeded by his weak and feeble-minded son, Fyodor I.
1553
Roman
Catholicism restored in England by Queen Mary I.
1556
Akbar
the Great becomes Mogul
emperor of India, conquers Afghanistan (1581),
continues wars of conquest (until 1605).
1558
Queen Elizabeth
I ascends the throne (rules to 1603).
Restores Protestantism, establishes state Church of England
(Anglicanism). Renaissance will reach height in England—Shakespeare,
Marlowe, Spenser.
1561
Persecution
of Huguenots
in France stopped by Edict of Orleans. French religious wars begin again
with massacre of Huguenots at Vassy. St. Bartholomew's Day
Massacre—thousands of Huguenots murdered (1572).
Amnesty granted (1573). Persecution continues
periodically until Edict of Nantes (1598)
gives Huguenots religious freedom (until 1685).
1568
Protestant
Netherlands revolts against Catholic Spain; independence will be
acknowledged by Spain in 1648. High point of
Dutch Renaissance—painters Rubens, Van Dyck, Hals, and Rembrandt.
1570
Japan
permits visits of foreign ships. Queen Elizabeth I excommunicated by
Pope. Turks attack Cyprus and war on Venice. Turkish fleet defeated at
Battle of Lepanto by Spanish and Italian fleets (1571).
Peace of Constantinople (1572) ends Turkish
attacks on Europe.
1580
Francis
Drake returns to England after circumnavigating the globe; knighted by
Queen Elizabeth I (1581). Montaigne's Essays
published.
1582
Pope
Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar.
1583
William
of Orange rules the Netherlands; assassinated on orders of Philip II of
Spain (1584).
1587
Mary,
Queen of Scots, executed for treason by order of Queen Elizabeth I.
Monteverdi's First Book of Madrigals.
1588
Defeat
of the Spanish Armada by English. Henry, King of Navarre and Protestant
leader, recognized as Henry IV, first Bourbon king of France. Converts
to Roman Catholicism in 1593 in attempt to
end religious wars.
1590
Henry
IV enters Paris, wars on Spain (1595),
marries Marie de Medici (1600), assassinated (1610).
Spenser's The Faerie Queen. El Greco's St. Jerome.
Galileo's experiments with falling objects.
1598
Boris
Godunov becomes Russian czar. Tycho Brahe describes his astronomical
experiments.
1600
Giordano
Bruno burned as a heretic. English East India Company established.
1603
Ieyasu
rules Japan, moves capital to Edo (Tokyo). Shakespeare's Hamlet.
1605
Cervantes's
Don Quixote de la Mancha, the first modern novel.
1607
Jamestown,
Virginia, established—first permanent English colony on American
mainland. Pocahontas,
daughter of Chief Powhatan, saves life of John Smith.
1609
Samuel
de Champlain establishes French colony of Quebec. The Relation,
the first newspaper, debuts in Germany.
1610
Galileo
sees the moons of Jupiter through his telescope.
1611
Gustavus
Adolphus elected King of Sweden. King James Version of the Bible
published in England. Rubens paints his Descent from the Cross.
1614
John
Napier discovers logarithms.
1618
Start
of the Thirty
Years' War—Protestants revolt against Catholic oppression;
Denmark, Sweden, and France will invade Germany in later phases of war.
Kepler proposes last of three laws of planetary motion.
1619
A
Dutch ship brings the first African slaves to British North America.
1620
Pilgrims,
after three-month voyage in Mayflower, land at Plymouth Rock.
Francis Bacon's Novum Organum.
1623
New
Netherland founded by Dutch West India Company.
1630
Massachusetts
Bay Colony.
1632
Maryland
founded by Lord Baltimore.
1633
Inquisition
forces Galileo (astronomer) to recant his belief in Copernican theory.
1642
English
Civil War. Cavaliers, supporters of Charles I, against Roundheads,
parliamentary forces. Oliver Cromwell defeats Royalists (1646).
Parliament demands reforms. Charles I offers concessions, brought to
trial (1648), beheaded (1649).
Cromwell becomes Lord Protector (1653).
Rembrandt paints his Night Watch.
1643
Taj
Mahal completed.
1644
End of
Ming Dynasty in China—Manchus come to power. Descartes's
Principles of Philosophy.
1648
End of
the Thirty Years' War. German population about half of what it was in 1618
because of war and pestilence.
1658
Cromwell
dies; son Richard resigns and Puritan government collapses.
1660
English
Parliament calls for the restoration of the monarchy; invites Charles II
to return from France.
1661
Charles
II is crowned King of England. Louis XIV begins personal rule as
absolute monarch; starts to build Versailles.
1664
British
take New Amsterdam from the Dutch. English limit “Nonconformity”
with reestablished Anglican Church. Isaac Newton's experiments with
gravity.
1665
Great
Plague in London kills 75,000.
1666
Great
Fire of London. Molière's Misanthrope.
1667
Milton's
Paradise Lost, widely considered the greatest epic poem in
English.
1682
Pennsylvania
founded by William
Penn.
1683
War of
European powers against the Turks (to 1699).
Vienna withstands three-month Turkish siege; high point of Turkish
advance in Europe.
1684
Gottfried
Wilhelm Leibniz's calculus published.
1685
James
II succeeds Charles II in England, calls for freedom of conscience (1687).
Protestants fear restoration of Catholicism and demand “Glorious
Revolution.” William of Orange invited to England and James II escapes
to France (1688). William III and his wife,
Mary, crowned. In France, Edict of Nantes of 1598,
granting freedom of worship to Huguenots, is revoked by Louis XIV;
thousands of Protestants flee.
1689
Peter
the Great becomes Czar of Russia—attempts to westernize nation and
build Russia as a military power. Defeats Charles XII of Sweden at
Poltava (1709). Beginning of the French
and Indian Wars (to 1763), campaigns in
America linked to a series of wars between France and England for
domination of Europe.
1690
William
III of England defeats former king James II and Irish rebels at Battle
of the Boyne in Ireland.
John Locke's Human Understanding.
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1701
War
of the Spanish Succession begins—the last of Louis XIV's wars for
domination of the continent. The Peace of Utrecht (1714)
will end the conflict and mark the rise of the British Empire. Called
Queen Anne's War in America, it ends with the British taking New
Foundland, Acadia, and Hudson's Bay Territory from France, and Gibraltar
and Minorca from Spain.
1704
Deerfield
(Mass.) Massacre of English colonists by French and Indians. Bach's
first cantata. Jonathan
Swift's Tale of a Tub. Boston News Letter—first
newspaper in America.
1707
United
Kingdom of Great Britain formed—England, Wales, and Scotland joined by
parliamentary Act of Union.
1729
Bach's
St. Matthew Passion. Isaac
Newton's Principia translated from Latin into English.
1732
Benjamin
Franklin begins publishing
Poor Richard's Almanack. James
Oglethorpe and others found Georgia.
1735
John
Peter Zenger, New York editor, acquitted of libel in New York,
establishing press
freedom.
1740
Capt.
Vitus Bering, Dane employed by Russia, discovers Alaska. Frederick II
“the Great” crowned king of Prussia.
1746
British
defeat Scots under Stuart Pretender Prince Charles at Culloden Moor.
Last battle fought on British soil.
1751
Publication
of the Encyclopédie begins in France, the “bible” of the Enlightenment.
1755
Samuel
Johnson's Dictionary first published. Great earthquake in
Lisbon, Portugal—over 60,000 die. U.S. postal service established.
1756
Seven
Years' War (French and Indian Wars in America) (to
1763), in which Britain and Prussia defeat France, Spain,
Austria, and Russia. France loses North American colonies; Spain cedes
Florida to Britain in exchange for Cuba. In India, over 100 British
prisoners die in “Black Hole of Calcutta.”
1757
Beginning
of British
Empire in India as Robert Clive, British commander, defeats Nawab of
Bengal at Plassey.
1759
British
capture Quebec from French. Voltaire's
Candide. Haydn's
Symphony No. 1.
1762
Catherine
II (“the Great”) becomes czarina of Russia. Jean
Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract. Mozart
tours Europe as six-year-old prodigy.
1765
James
Watt invents the steam engine. Britain imposes the Stamp Act on the
American colonists.
1769
Sir
William Arkwright patents a spinning machine—an early step in the Industrial
Revolution.
1770
The
Boston Massacre.
1772
Joseph
Priestley and Daniel Rutherford independently discover nitrogen.
Partition of Poland—in 1772, 1793, and 1795,
Austria, Prussia, and Russia divide land and people of Poland, end its
independence.
1773
The
Boston Tea Party.
1774
First Continental
Congress drafts “Declaration of Rights and Grievances.”
1775
The American
Revolution begins with battle of Lexington and Concord. Second
Continental Congress. Priestley discovers hydrochloric and sulfuric
acids.
1776
Declaration
of Independence. Gen. George Washington
crosses the Delaware Christmas night. Adam
Smith's Wealth of Nations. Edward Gibbon's Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire. Thomas
Paine's Common Sense. Fragonard's Washerwoman.
Mozart's Haffner Serenade.
1778
Capt. James
Cook discovers Hawaii. Franz Mesmer uses hypnotism.
1781
Immanuel
Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Herschel discovers Uranus.
1783
Revolutionary
War ends with Treaty of Paris. William Blake's poems. Beethoven's
first printed works.
1784
Crimea
annexed by Russia. John
Wesley's Deed of Declaration, the basic work of Methodism.
1785
Russians
settle Aleutian Islands.
1787
The Constitution
of the United States signed. Lavoisier's work on chemical
nomenclature. Mozart's Don Giovanni.
1788
French
Parlement presents grievances to Louis XVI who agrees to
convening of Estates-General in 1789—not
called since 1613. Goethe's
Egmont. Laplace's Laws of the Planetary System.
1789
French
Revolution begins with the storming of the Bastille. (For detailed
chronology, see French
Revolution (1789–1799).) In U.S., Washington elected president
with all 69 votes of the Electoral College, takes oath of office in New
York City. Vice President: John Adams. Secretary of State: Thomas
Jefferson. Secretary of Treasury: Alexander Hamilton.
1790
H.M.S.
Bounty mutineers settle on Pitcairn Island. Aloisio Galvani
experiments on electrical stimulation of the muscles. Philadelphia
temporary capital of U.S. as Congress votes to establish new capital on
Potomac. U.S. population about 3,929,000, including 698,000 slaves.
Lavoisier formulates Table of 31 chemical elements.
1791
U.S.
Bill of Rights ratified. Boswell's Life of Johnson.
1792
Mary
Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
1793
Louis
XVI and Marie
Antoinette executed. Reign of Terror begins in France. Eli Whitney
invents the cotton gin, spurring the growth of the cotton industry and
helping to institutionalize slavery in the U.S. South.
1794
Kosciusko's
uprising in Poland quelled by the Russians. In U.S., Whiskey Rebellion
in Pennsylvania as farmers object to liquor taxes. Reign of Terror ends
with execution of Robespierre.
1796
Napoléon
Bonaparte, French general, defeats Austrians. In the U.S.,
Washington's Farewell Address (Sept. 17); John
Adams elected president; Thomas Jefferson, vice president. Edward
Jenner introduces smallpox vaccination.
1798
Napoleon
extends French conquests to Rome and Egypt. U.S. Navy Department
established.
1799
Rosetta
Stone discovered in Egypt. Napoleon leads coup that overthrows
Directory, establishes the Consulate, becomes First Consul—one of
three who rule France together.
Conflicts increase between colonists and Britain on western frontier
because of royal edict limiting western expansion (1763)
and regulation of colonial trade and increased taxation of colonies
(Writs of Assistance allow search for illegal shipments, 1761;
Sugar Act, 1764; Currency Act, 1764;
Stamp Act, 1765; Quartering Act, 1765;
Duty Act, 1767). Boston Massacre (1770).
Lord North attempts conciliation (1770).
Boston Tea Party (1773), followed by punitive
measures passed by Parliament—the “Intolerable Acts.”
First
Continental Congress (1774) sends
“Declaration of Rights and Grievances” to King George III, urges
colonies to form Continental Association. Paul Revere's ride and
Lexington and Concord battle between Massachusetts Minutemen and British
(1775).
Second
Continental Congress (1775), while sending
“olive branch” to the king, begins to raise army, appoints
Washington commander-in-chief, and seeks alliance with France. Some
colonial legislatures urge their delegates to vote for independence.
Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776).
Major
Battles of the Revolutionary War: Long Island: Howe defeats
Putnam's division of Washington's Army in Brooklyn Heights, but
Americans escape across East River (1776). Trenton
and Princeton: Washington defeats Hessians at Trenton, British at
Princeton. Winters at Morristown (1776–1777).
Howe winters in Philadelphia; Washington at Valley Forge (1777–1778).
Burgoyne surrenders British army to General Gates at Saratoga (1777).
France
recognizes American independence (1778). The
War moves south: Savannah captured by British (1778);
Charleston occupied (1780); Americans fight
successful guerrilla actions under Marion, Pickens, and Sumter. In the
West, George Rogers Clark attacks Forts Kaskaskia and Vincennes (1778–1779),
defeating British in the region. Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown,
Virginia (Oct. 19, 1781). By 1782,
Britain is eager for peace because of conflicts with European nations. Peace
of Paris (1783): Britain recognizes
American independence.
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Revolution begins when Third Estate (Commons) delegates swear not to
disband until France has a constitution. Paris mob storms Bastille,
symbol of royal power (July 14, 1789). National Assembly votes
for Constitution, Declaration of the Rights of Man, a limited monarchy,
and other reforms (1789–1790). Legislative
Assembly elected, Revolutionary Commune formed, and French Republic
proclaimed (1792). War of the First
Coalition—Austria, Prussia, Britain, Netherlands, and Spain fight to
restore French nobility (1792–1797). Start
of series of wars between France and European powers that will last,
almost without interruption, for 23 years. Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette executed. Committee of Public Safety begins Reign of Terror
as political control measure. Interfactional rivalry leads to mass
killings. Danton and Robespierre executed. Third French Constitution
sets up Directory government (1795). Napoleon
abolishes the Directory, establishes the Consulate, becomes the First
Consul of France (1799).
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War fires stoked by “jingo journalism” as American people support
Cuban rebels against Spain. American business sees economic gain in
Cuban trade and resources and American power zones in Latin America.
Outstanding events: Submarine mine sinks U.S. battleship Maine in
Havana Harbor (Feb. 15); 260 killed; responsibility never fixed.
Congress declares independence of Cuba (April 19). Spain declares
war on U.S. (April 24); Congress (April 25) formally
declares nation has been at war with Spain since April 21.
Commodore George Dewey wins seven-hour battle of Manila Bay (May 1).
Spanish fleet destroyed off Santiago, Cuba (July 3); city
surrenders (July 17). Treaty of Paris (ratified by Senate 1899)
ends war. U.S. given Guam and Puerto Rico and agrees to pay Spain $20
million for Philippines. Cuba independent of Spain; under U.S. military
control for three years until May 20, 1902. Yellow fever is
eradicated and political reforms achieved.
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