History · Ch 4 — The Three Orders
Timeline III
Timeline III
The third timeline in the chapter runs from roughly 1300 to 1700, and it widens the story of the three orders into a genuinely global frame. Europe is no longer the only stage. Africa, the Atlantic, and the Americas enter the picture, and the events listed here — plague, exploration, conquest, printing, scientific discovery — are the forces that will eventually redraw the map of the medieval world. The timeline is organised in three parallel columns: Africa, Europe, and a shared set of dates running down the middle. Reading across a row shows what was happening in different parts of the world at the same moment.
The period under consideration witnessed several major developments in Europe, including changes in agriculture and the lives of peasants. It was also marked by a range of cultural developments. This timeline draws attention to contacts between continents, stimulated in many instances by the growth of trade. The impact of these contacts was varied – while ideas, inventions and goods were shared across continents, there was also constant warfare between kingdoms to control land, resources and access to trade routes. As a result, men and women were often displaced and enslaved, if not exterminated. In many ways, the lives of people were transformed beyond recognition.
Africa and Europe
| Dates | Africa | Europe |
|---|---|---|
| 1300–25 | Alhambra and Granada emerge as important cultural centres in Spain | |
| 1325–50 | Plague* in Egypt (1348–55) | Hundred Years War between England and France (1337–1453); Black Death (a form of plague) spreads throughout Europe (1348) |
| 1350–75 | Ibn Batuta explores the Sahara | French peasants protest against high taxes (1358) |
| 1375–1400 | Peasant revolt in Britain (1381); Geoffrey Chaucer writes The Canterbury Tales, one of the earliest compositions in English (1388) | |
| 1400–25 | ||
| 1425–50 | Portuguese begin slave trading (1442) | |
| 1450–75 | Songhai empire in West Africa established based on trading networks across the Sahara; Portuguese expeditions and settlements along the west coast of Africa (1471 onwards) | First printed book appears in Europe; Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), painter, architect, inventor in Italy |
| 1475–1500 | Portuguese convert the king of Bokongo to Christianity | Establishment of the Tudor dynasty in England (1485) |
| 1500–25 | African slaves taken to work on sugar plantations in America (1510); Ottoman Turks conquer Egypt (1517) | Coffee from South America is drunk in Europe for the first time (1517) and tobacco, chocolate, tomatoes and turkey are also introduced; Martin Luther attempts to reform the Catholic Church (1517) |
| 1525–50 | Copernicus propounds theory about solar system (1543) | |
| 1550–75 | William Shakespeare (1564–1616), dramatist in England | |
| 1575–1600 | Zacharias Janssen invents the microscope (1590s) | |
| 1600–25 | Oyo kingdom of Nigeria at the height of its power, centres for metal-working* | One of the first novels, Don Quixote, written in Spanish (1605) |
| 1625–50 | William Harvey demonstrates that blood is pumped through the body by the heart (1628) | |
| 1650–75 | Portuguese destroy the Kongo kingdom (1662) | Louis XIV, king of France (1638–1715) |
| 1675–1700 | Peter the Great (1682–1725) attempts to modernise Russia |
Asia and South Asia
| Dates | Asia | South Asia |
|---|---|---|
| 1300–25 | ||
| 1325–50 | Establishment of the Vijayanagara empire* (1336) | |
| 1350–75 | Ming dynasty* in China (1368 onwards) | |
| 1375–1400 | ||
| 1400–25 | Emergence of regional sultanates | |
| 1425–50 | ||
| 1450–75 | Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople (1453) | |
| 1475–1500 | Vasco da Gama reaches India (1498) | |
| 1500–25 | Portuguese entry into China opposed, driven out to Macao (1522) | |
| 1525–50 | Babur establishes Mughal control over north India, first battle of Panipat (1526) | |
| 1550–75 | Akbar (1556–1605) consolidates Mughal rule | |
| 1575–1600 | First Kabuki play staged in Japan (1586); Shah Abbas (1587–1629) of Persia introduces European methods of military training | |
| 1600–25 | Tokugawa Shogunate established in Japan (1603) | Establishment of the British East India Company (1600) |
| 1625–50 | All European traders with the exception of the Dutch forbidden to trade with Japan (1637); Manchu rule in China (1644 onwards) which lasts for nearly 300 years; growing demand in Europe for Chinese tea and silk | Construction of the Taj Mahal (1632–53) |
| 1650–75 | ||
| 1675–1700 |
Americas and Australia/Pacific Islands
| Dates | Americas | Australia/Pacific Islands |
|---|---|---|
| 1300–25 | Aztec capital at Tenochtitlan, Mexico (1325), building temples, development of irrigation systems and accounting system (quipu)* | |
| 1325–50 | ||
| 1350–75 | ||
| 1375–1400 | ||
| 1400–25 | ||
| 1425–50 | ||
| 1450–75 | Incas establish control over Peru (1465) | |
| 1475–1500 | Columbus reaches the West Indies (1492) | |
| 1500–25 | Spanish conquest of Mexico (1521) | Magellan, a Spanish navigator, reaches the Pacific Ocean (1519) |
| 1525–50 | French explorers reach Canada (1534) | |
| 1550–75 | Spanish conquest of Peru (1572) | |
| 1575–1600 | Dutch sailors reach Australia by accident |
Africa
The century opens with plague. Egypt suffered an outbreak between 1348 and 1355, part of the same pandemic that devastated Europe. Around the same period, the great Moroccan traveller Ibn Batuta explored the Sahara, one of the few people of his age to cross it and write about what he saw.
The Portuguese changed the course of African history. They began slave trading in 1442, and from 1471 onwards they mounted expeditions along the west coast of Africa and established settlements there. Their reach extended inland through the trading networks that crossed the Sahara. The Songhai empire, which rose in West Africa, was built on exactly those trans-Saharan trading connections.
The Portuguese also carried their religion with them. They converted the king of Bokongo to Christianity, drawing that kingdom into the European orbit. In 1510, African slaves were taken across the Atlantic to work on sugar plantations in America — the beginning of a brutal traffic that would define the next three centuries. In 1517, the Ottoman Turks conquered Egypt, shifting the balance of power in the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.
Later in the period, the Oyo kingdom of Nigeria reached the height of its power, and its cities became centres for metal-working. The story of the Kongo kingdom ended in destruction: the Portuguese destroyed it in 1662.
Europe
The European column is dense with turning points. In Spain, Alhambra and Granada emerged as important cultural centres, the last flowering of Islamic civilisation on the peninsula. The Hundred Years War between England and France ran from 1337 to 1453, and in 1348 the Black Death — a form of plague — spread throughout Europe, killing a third or more of the population.
The social strain of war and taxation produced revolt. French peasants protested against high taxes in 1358, and a peasant revolt broke out in Britain in 1381. In 1388, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, one of the earliest compositions in English, marking the rise of vernacular literature.
The fifteenth century brought the first printed book to Europe. Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) — painter, architect, and inventor — worked in Italy, embodying the Renaissance ideal of the universal man. The Tudor dynasty was established in England in 1485.
The sixteenth century accelerated change. In 1517, coffee from South America was drunk in Europe for the first time, and tobacco, chocolate, tomatoes, and turkey were also introduced from the New World — a quiet revolution in diet and habit. In the same year, Martin Luther attempted to reform the Catholic Church, an act that would split Western Christendom. In 1543, Copernicus propounded his theory about the solar system, placing the Sun, not the Earth, at the centre. …