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Period: Feb 11, 1299 to
Ottoman Dynasty
The Ottoman dynasty is known in modern Turkish as Osmanlı Hanedanı, meaning "House of Osman"; in Ottoman Turkish it was known as Hanedan-ı Âl-i Osman. -
Period: Feb 11, 1375 to
Songhay Empire
From the early 15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history.[4] This empire bore the same name as its leading ethnic group, the Songhai. Its capital was the city of Gao, where a Songhai state had existed since the 11th century. Its base of power was on the bend of the Niger River in present day Niger and Burkina Faso. -
Period: Feb 11, 1394 to Feb 11, 1460
Price Henry the Navigator
Prince Henry the Navigator, the third son of the King of Portugal, was pivotal to early Portuguese exploration, navigation and science, inspiring an "Age of Discovery". He helped finance and organise many expeditions across the Atlantic, such as the one in 1415 to the North and West coasts of Africa, from which he learnt about trade in spices, gold and silver. The first slaves were brought to Portugal in 1441 for Prince Henry, this became the norm. -
Period: Feb 11, 1432 to Feb 11, 1481
Reign of Mehmed the Conqueror
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire twice, first for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to 1481. At the age of 21, he conquered Constantinople and brought an end to the Byzantine Empire, transforming the Ottoman state into an empire. Mehmed continued his conquests in Asia, with the Anatolian reunification, and in Europe, as far as Bosnia and Croatia. Mehmed II is regarded as a national hero in Turkey, and Istanbul's Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge is named after him. -
Period: Feb 11, 1450 to Feb 11, 1500
Beggining of Portugese Slave Trade
Prince Henry established a slave market & fort in Arguin Bay in 1440 and they were brought back to Portugal. When a large slave auction was held in Lagos in that same year it was described by one witness as a "terrible scene of misery and disorder". By 1455 800 Africans were transported to Portugal annually. -
Period: Feb 11, 1464 to Feb 11, 1492
Reign of Sunni Ali
When Sunni Ali Ber came to power, Songhay was a small kingdom in the western Sudan. But during his twenty-eight year reign, it grew into the largest, most powerful empire in West Africa. Sunni Ali ruled from horseback, leading his country while leading his army. He built a remarkable army-not farmers hastily pressed into service, but full time, professional soldiers, including a horse and camel cavalry with men in armor. -
Period: Feb 11, 1483 to Feb 11, 1546
Martain Luther
German monk, priest, professor of theology and seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation.[1] He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation. -
Period: Feb 11, 1487 to Feb 11, 1488
Dias' Voyage into Indian Ocean
The expedition sailed south along the West coast of Africa. Extra provisions were picked up on the way at the Portuguese fortress of São Jorge de Mina on the Gold Coast. After having sailed past Angola, Dias reached the Golfo da Conceicão (Walvis Bay) by December. Having rounded the Cape of Good Hope at a considerable distance, Dias continued east and entered what he named Aguada de São Brás (Bay of Saint Blaise)—later renamed Mossel Bay—on 3 February 1488. Dias's expedition reached its furthest -
Feb 11, 1492
Columbus' First Voyage
Having convinced the King and Queen of Spain to finance his voyage, Christopher Columbus departed mainland Spain on August 3, 1492. He quickly made port in the Canary Islands for a final restocking and left there on September 6. He was in command of three ships: the Pinta, the Niña, and the Santa María. Although Columbus was in overall command, the Pinta was captained by Martín Alonso Pinzón and the Niña by Vicente Yañez Pinzón. -
Feb 11, 1494
Treaty of Tordisillas
The lands to the east would belong to Portugal and the lands to the west to Spain. The treaty was ratified by Spain (at the time, the Crowns of Castile and Aragon), 2 July 1494 and by Portugal, 5 September 1494. The other side of the world would be divided a few decades later by the Treaty of Zaragoza or Saragossa, signed on 22 April 1529, which specified the antimeridian to the line of demarcation specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas. Originals of both treaties are kept at the Archivo General -
Period: Feb 11, 1502 to
Safavid Dynasty
one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Persian empires after the Muslim conquest of Persiaand established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning points in Muslim history. The Safavids ruled from 1501 to 1722 (experiencing a brief restoration from 1729 to 1736) and at their height, they controlled all of modern Iran, Azerbaijan and Armenia, most of Iraq -
Period: Feb 11, 1509 to Feb 11, 1564
John Calvin
influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530. After religious tensions provoked a violent uprising against Protestants in France, Calvin fled to Basel, Switzerland, where he published the first edition of his seminal work The Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536. -
Period: Feb 11, 1519 to Feb 11, 1521
Spanish Conquest of Mexico
Hernando Cortez, acting essentially on his own, with an army of only about 500 men overthrew the wealthiest, most sophisticated, and most powerful empire on the American continent. The Aztecs were not a passive, peace-loving people. They had enormous armies of experienced warriors and dominated the tribes and territories for hundreds of miles around. Their cities were large, complex and strongly fortified, and their civilization was prosperous and sophisticated. The Spaniards won a victory over -
Period: Feb 11, 1520 to Feb 11, 1566
Reign of Suleyman the Magnificent
the tenth and longest-reigning Emperor, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent[4] and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" (Turkish: Kanuni; Arabic: القانونى, al‐Qānūnī), for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system. Suleiman became a prominent monarch of 16th century Europe, presiding over the apex of the Ottoman Empire's military, political and economic power. -
Period: Feb 11, 1526 to
Mughal Dynasty
imperial power in the Indian subcontinent from about 1526 to 1757 (though it lingered for another century). The Mughal emperors were Muslims and direct descendants of Genghis Khan through Chagatai Khan and Timur. At the height of their power in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, they controlled most of the subcontinent—extending from Bengal in the east to Balochistan in the west, Kashmir in the north to the Kaveri basin in the south. -
Period: Feb 11, 1539 to Feb 11, 1540
Foundation of Society of Jesus
Christian male religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits and are also known colloquially as "God's Marines",[2] these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and members' willingness to accept orders anywhere in the world and live in extreme conditions. The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents. -
Period: Feb 11, 1545 to Feb 11, 1563
Council of Trent
an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils.[1] It convened in Trento, Italy, then the capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Trent of the Holy Roman Empire. -
Period: Feb 11, 1556 to
Reign of Akbar
Akbar was only 14 years of age in 1556 when he succeeded his father Humayun. That year, a formidable anti-Mughal coalition, consisting mainly of Afghanis, tried to recapture northern India but lost its battle against the Mughals at Panipat. Mughal control over northern India was finally established. -
Period: Feb 11, 1564 to
Galileo Galilei
Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism. -
Period: Feb 11, 1572 to
Reign of Emperor Wanli
emperor of China (Ming dynasty) between 1572 and 1620. His era name means "Ten thousand calendars". Born Zhu Yijun, he was the Longqing Emperor's third son. His rule of forty-eight years was the longest in the Ming dynasty and it witnessed the steady decline of the dynasty. -
Spanish Armada
Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England and putting an end to her involvement in the Spanish Netherlands and in privateering in the Atlantic and Pacific. The Armada reached and anchored outside Gravelines, but, while awaiting communications from Parma's army, it was driven out by an English fire ship attack. In the ensuing battle, the Spanish fleet was forced to abandon its rende -
Period: to
Tokugawa Shogunate
Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated the daimyos who were loyal to the late Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his young son Hideyori at the Battle of Sekigahara in October of 1600. Fifteen years later, he would besiege the young Toyotomi heir at Osaka Castle; Hideyori's defenses failed and the young man committed seppuku, confirming the Tokugawa hold on power once and for all. -
Period: to
Thirty Years War
series of wars principally fought in Central Europe, involving most of the countries of Europe.[10] It was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, and one of the longest continuous wars in modern history.
The origins of the conflict and goals of the participants were complex and no single cause can accurately be described as the main reason for the fighting. Initially, it was fought largely as a religious war between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empi -
Period: to
John Locke
Father of Classical Liberalism,[2][3][4] was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work had a great impact upon the development of epistemology and philosophy. -
Period: to
Qing Dynasty
Vast imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China. -
Peace of Westphalia
series of peace treaties signed between May and October 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the independence of the Dutch Republic. -
Period: to
Seven Years War
It involved most of the great powers of the time and affected Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines. In the historiography of some countries, the war is alternatively named after combatants in the respective theaters: the French and Indian War (North America, 1754–63), Pomeranian War (Sweden and Prussia, 1757–62), Third Carnatic War (Indian subcontinent, 1757–63), and Third Silesian War (Prussia and Austria, 1756–63). -
Period: to
Establisment of First Colony in Australia
Captain Arthur Phillip, a tough but fair career naval officer, was charged with setting up the first penal colony in Australia. The convicts were chained beneath the deck during the entire hellish six-month voyage. The first voyage claimed the lives of nearly 10 percent of the prisoners, which remarkably proved to be a rather good rate. On later trips, up to a third of the unwilling passengers died on the way. These were not hardened criminals by any measure; only a small minority. -
Period: to
Haitian Revolution
slave revolt in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic. The Haitian Revolution was the only slave revolt which led to the founding of a state. The revolution was one of the two successful attempts, along with the American Revolution, to achieve permanent independence from a European colonial power for an American state before the 19th century. -
End of British Slave Trade
An Act of Parliament made in the United Kingdom passed on 25 March 1807, with the long title "An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade". The original act is in the Parliamentary Archives. The act abolished the slave trade in the British Empire, but not slavery itself. Many of the Bill's supporters thought the Act would lead to the death of slavery. It was not until much later that slavery itself was actually abolished.
