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Early Modern

1450 AD–1800 AD · 194 events

Politics

Aztec Triple Alliance Dominates (1450 AD)
Songhai Empire Rises (1464 AD)
Askia Muhammad Rules Songhai (1493 AD)
Treaty of Tordesillas (1493 AD)
Pedro Cabral Claims Brazil (1500 AD)
Spanish Establish First Permanent Colony (1510 AD)
Suleiman the Magnificent Rules (1520 AD)
Mughal Empire Founded (1526 AD)
Cartier Claims Canada for France (1534 AD)
New Laws of the Indies (1542 AD)
Brazil's Colonial Capital Established (1549 AD)
Akbar the Great Rules India (1556 AD)
Spain Establishes Philippines Colony (1565 AD)
Kanem-Bornu Empire at Peak (1570 AD)
English Try to Colonize Roanoke (1585 AD)
Isfahan Becomes Safavid Capital (1598 AD)
Oyo Empire Rises (1600 AD)
British East India Company Founded (1600 AD)
VOC Controls Spice Islands (1600 AD)
Tokugawa Shogunate Begins (1603 AD)
Akbar Dies (1605 AD)
Quebec City Founded (1608 AD)
Batavia (Jakarta) Founded (1619 AD)
Nzinga Queen of Ndongo (1625 AD)
Dutch Buy Manhattan (1626 AD)
Qing Dynasty Conquers China (1644 AD)
Peace of Westphalia (1648 AD)
Dutch Found Cape Colony (1652 AD)
Aurangzeb Rules Mughal Empire (1658 AD)
Maratha Empire Founded (1674 AD)
La Salle Claims Louisiana (1682 AD)
Glorious Revolution in England (1688 AD)
Haiti Becomes French Colony (1697 AD)
Ashanti Empire Founded (1700 AD)
Mughal Empire Begins Decline (1707 AD)
Viceroyalty of New Granada Created (1717 AD)
Treaty of Madrid (1750 AD)
Treaty of Paris Ends Seven Years War (1763 AD)
Cook Claims Eastern Australia (1770 AD)
American Independence (1776 AD)
First Fleet Arrives in Australia (1788 AD)
French Revolution (1789 AD)

Economy

Medici Bank Dominates Europe (1450 AD)
Swahili Coast Trading Cities Flourish (1500 AD)
Manila Galleon Trade Begins (1571 AD)
Dutch East India Company Founded (1602 AD)
Amsterdam Exchange Bank Opens (1609 AD)
Tulip Mania Crashes (1637 AD)
Hudson's Bay Company Founded (1670 AD)
Brazilian Gold Rush (1690 AD)
Bank of England Founded (1694 AD)
South Sea Bubble Bursts (1720 AD)
Canton System Imposed (1757 AD)
Wealth of Nations Published (1776 AD)
New York Stock Exchange Founded (1792 AD)

War

Fall of Constantinople (1453 AD)
Sunni Ali Captures Timbuktu (1464 AD)
Granada Falls to Spain (1492 AD)
Portuguese Attack Swahili Coast (1505 AD)
Portuguese Capture Goa (1510 AD)
Portuguese Capture Malacca (1511 AD)
Battle of Chaldiran (1514 AD)
Ottomans Conquer Egypt (1516 AD)
Cortés Invades Mexico (1519 AD)
Fall of Tenochtitlan (1521 AD)
First Battle of Panipat (1526 AD)
Ottoman Siege of Vienna (1529 AD)
Pizarro Conquers Inca Empire (1532 AD)
Akbar Defeats Hemu at Panipat (1556 AD)
Battle of Lepanto (1571 AD)
Tupac Amaru I Executed (1572 AD)
Morocco Defeats Songhai (1591 AD)
Battle of Sekigahara (1600 AD)
Dutch Capture Northeast Brazil (1630 AD)
Portuguese Recapture Brazil (1654 AD)
Pueblo Revolt (1680 AD)
Quilombo dos Palmares Destroyed (1680 AD)
Second Siege of Vienna (1683 AD)
Great Northern War Begins (1700 AD)
Battle of Poltava (1709 AD)
Seven Years War Begins (1756 AD)
Battle of Plassey (1757 AD)
Burmese Destroy Ayutthaya (1767 AD)
Tupac Amaru II Revolt (1780 AD)
Haitian Revolution Begins (1791 AD)
Napoleon Invades Egypt (1798 AD)
Tipu Sultan Killed (1799 AD)

Culture

Gutenberg Bible Printed (1455 AD)
Portuguese Reach Cape Verde Islands (1456 AD)
Portuguese Cross the Equator (1473 AD)
Bartolomeu Dias Rounds Cape of Good Hope (1487 AD)
Columbus's First Voyage (1492 AD)
Vasco da Gama Rounds Africa (1497 AD)
John Cabot Reaches North America (1497 AD)
Vasco da Gama Reaches India (1498 AD)
Amerigo Vespucci Explores South America (1499 AD)
First Enslaved Africans to Americas (1501 AD)
America Named on Map (1507 AD)
Atlantic Slave Trade Begins (1510 AD)
Balboa Sees Pacific Ocean (1513 AD)
Spanish Reach Mexico (1517 AD)
Magellan Begins Circumnavigation (1519 AD)
First Circumnavigation Completed (1522 AD)
Verrazzano Explores North America (1524 AD)
Coronado Explores American Southwest (1540 AD)
De Soto Reaches Mississippi River (1541 AD)
Portuguese Reach Japan (1542 AD)
Potosí Silver Mine Opened (1545 AD)
Suleymaniye Mosque Completed (1557 AD)
Drake Circumnavigates Globe (1577 AD)
Dutch Begin Asian Exploration (1595 AD)
Shakespeare's Globe (1599 AD)
Kabuki Founded (1603 AD)
Dutch Reach Australia (1606 AD)
Hudson Explores New York Area (1609 AD)
Dutch Round Cape Horn (1616 AD)
First Africans in English America (1619 AD)
Mayflower Lands at Plymouth (1620 AD)
Taj Mahal Construction Begins (1631 AD)
Tasman Discovers New Zealand (1642 AD)
Bering Explores Alaska (1728 AD)
First Ottoman Turkish Printing Press (1729 AD)
Atlantic Slave Trade at Peak (1750 AD)

Religion

Guru Nanak Born (1469 AD)
Aztec Great Temple Consecrated (1487 AD)
Jews Expelled from Spain (1492 AD)
Protestant Reformation (1517 AD)
Our Lady of Guadalupe Apparition (1531 AD)
Act of Supremacy (1534 AD)
Papal Bull Sublimis Deus (1537 AD)
Council of Trent (1545 AD)
Francis Xavier Arrives in Japan (1549 AD)
Fall of Timbuktu's Scholars (1591 AD)
Matteo Ricci Enters Beijing (1601 AD)
Adi Granth Compiled (1604 AD)
Jesuit Missions of Paraguay Founded (1609 AD)
Mayflower Compact (1620 AD)
Maryland Toleration Act (1649 AD)
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685 AD)
Founding of the Khalsa (1699 AD)
First Great Awakening Peaks (1739 AD)
Jesuits Expelled from Brazil (1759 AD)
Shakers Arrive in America (1774 AD)

Science

Timbuktu Manuscripts Multiply (1500 AD)
Copernican Revolution (1543 AD)
Vesalius Publishes Human Anatomy (1543 AD)
Mercator Map Published (1569 AD)
Gregorian Calendar Adopted (1582 AD)
Microscope Invented (1590 AD)
Telescope Invented (1608 AD)
Logarithms Invented (1614 AD)
Harvey Describes Blood Circulation (1628 AD)
Barometer Invented (1643 AD)
Royal Society Founded in London (1660 AD)
Newton Invents Calculus (1665 AD)
Hooke Publishes Micrographia (1665 AD)
Phosphorus Discovered (1669 AD)
Newton's Principia (1687 AD)
Steam Pump Invented (1698 AD)
Newcomen Steam Engine (1712 AD)
Fahrenheit Invents Thermometer (1716 AD)
Flying Shuttle Invented (1733 AD)
Linnaeus Classifies Life (1735 AD)
Lind Cures Scurvy with Citrus (1747 AD)
Franklin Proves Lightning is Electricity (1752 AD)
Spinning Jenny Invented (1764 AD)
Watt's Steam Engine Patented (1769 AD)
Watt's Rotary Steam Engine (1781 AD)
First Hot Air Balloon Flight (1783 AD)
Cotton Gin Invented (1793 AD)
Smallpox Vaccine Invented (1796 AD)
Volta Invents Electric Battery (1800 AD)

Sports

Calcio Storico Under Siege (1530 AD)

Exploration

Orellana Travels the Amazon (1541 AD)
English Voyage Reaches Russia by the White Sea (1553 AD)
Yermak Crosses the Urals into Siberia (1582 AD)
Willem Barentsz Explores the Arctic (1594 AD)
Russians Reach the Pacific Ocean (1639 AD)
Dezhnev Sails Around the Tip of Asia (1648 AD)
Danish Arabia Expedition (1761 AD)
Bougainville Circumnavigates Globe (1766 AD)
Cook First Pacific Voyage (1768 AD)
First Ascent of Mont Blanc (1786 AD)
Mungo Park Follows the Niger (1795 AD)

Disaster

Further reading

1491 by Charles C. Mann
1493 by Charles C. Mann
The Anarchy by William Dalrymple

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Other eras

Ancient World (3200 BCE – 500 BCE)
Classical Era (500 BCE – 500 AD)
Medieval (500 AD – 1450 AD)
Industrial Age (1800 AD – 1945 AD)
Modern (1945 AD – 2025 AD)

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