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1347
Black Death hits Europe
The plague arrived in Europe in October 1347, when 12 ships from the Black Sea docked at the Sicilian port of Messina. The Black Death would kill more than 20 million people in Europe. Feudalism falls because there are less serfs to do the work and they demand more money. Also, people start moving away from the church because their prayers weren’t answered, some move closer because they think they need to pray more and harder. -
1439
Printing Press
Johannes Gutenberg created it in Strasbourg, Germany. A long handle was used to turn a heavy wooden screw, putting pressure down against the paper, which was laid over the type mounted on a wooden platen. The printing press helped Luther spread his 95 theses easier and faster. The printing press also made making books and spreading knowledge easier. -
1492
Christopher Columbus discovers America
Columbus brought three ships, the Pinta, Nina, and Santa Maria, out of Palos, Spain on August 3rd, 1492. His destination was Asia, and his first stop was the Canary Islands. He ended up getting off course, leading him to the New World (America). This is important because he found America and was able to colonize it. -
1495
The Last Supper
The Last Supper is a mural painting made by Leonardo da Vinci. It is one of the most recognizable paintings in the world. The painting depicts the Last Supper of Jesus with his apostles. In the Last Supper Leonardo has depicted the consternation that occurred among the Twelve Disciples when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him. -
1503
Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa is an oil painting on a wood panel made by the Italian Renaissance man, Leonardo da Vinci. It’s probably the world’s most famous painting. The Mona Lisa set the standard for future portraits, and the lady who is being depicted still hasn’t been certainly identified. -
1510
The School of Athens
The School of Athens is a fresco that was painted by the Renaissance artist Raphael. The painting isn’t depicting an actual school in Athens, it has several great thinkers of the Classical era, all gathered in one area. This was painted on the walls of Vatican Palace. -
Oct 31, 1517
Luther’s 95 theses
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. The 95 Theses, a list of questions and propositions for debate. They were nailed to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church. This started an era of people standing up to those who had power over them. -
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedic play written by Shakespeare. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. This play is one of Shakespeare’s most popular, and it is performed all around the world. -
Galileo’s telescope
Galileo’s telescope was similar to how a pair of opera glasses work, a simple arrangement of glass lenses to magnify objects. His first versions only improved the view to the eighth power, but Galileo’s telescope improved. Galileo saw that the moon wasn’t actually a perfect sphere with no blemishes. He also noticed that Jupiter had its own moons that revolved around it, proving that not everything revolved around the Earth. -
Three Laws of Motion
The Three Laws of Motion were discovered by Isaac Newton. The law is, “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” The second law states, “The acceleration of an object is dependent upon two variables - the net force acting upon the object and the mass of the object.” Lastly, the third law states, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
