Tenochtitlan under attack (painted in the 1600s) Ships and sailing improve Beginning about 1450 AD, Europeans took advantage of new advances in sail technolog. They invaded and took over most of the [...]
Mexican history: Tenochtitlan under attack (painted in the 1600s) The Aztecs in Mexico In 1500 AD, the Aztec controlled most of what is now Mexico. People also called them the Mexica. More [...]
South American history: Aztec doctor treating people with smallpox (1500s AD, Codex Mendoza) The Inca, Brazil, and Chile In 1500 AD, the Inca Empire dominated the east coast of South America. Further north, [...]
Venetian trade bead from the 1400s AD Just about 1500 AD, many, many people in North America began to die from mysterious diseases like smallpox and measles that nobody in North America had ever seen [...]
King Louis XIV of France Louis XIV becomes king of France When Anne of Austria decided to retire, in 1661 AD, her son Louis XIV took over ruling France. Anne of Austria All [...]
Vasco da Gama and Columbus used ships like these During the 1500s AD, the people of Europe got much richer than they had been in the Middle Ages. With the collapse of [...]
British colonialist in a litter carried by local men After Napoleon Napoleon's empire in Europe ended a lot of the old powers. But when Napoleon lost power in 1815 AD, rich men [...]
Early modern economy: Members of the painters' guild in Haarlem (1670s) Guild system develops In the Renaissance, as cities grew all over Europe and more people began to buy things in stores instead [...]
A British merchant ship in the Caribbean, in the 1860s By 1800 AD, France, Britain, and Spain were all getting rich. They used their strong armies and navies to take wood, food, and cotton from other [...]
By 1500 AD, many people in Africa had converted to Islam, and so they had learned at least some Arabic, so they could recite parts of the Koran and say their prayers. [...]
