The Black Plague arrives in Europe
1347
Prince Henry the Navigator founds a school of exploration on the southwest coast of Portugal
1419
Lorenzo Valla writes On the Donation of Constantine
1440
Gutenberg invents printing press
1450
Columbus's voyage to the New World; the defeat of Muslim-controlled Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella
1492
Treaty of Tordesillas
1494
Erasmus writes In Praise of Folly
1509
Martin Luther sparks the Protestant Reformation
1517
Peace Treaty of Augsburg
1555
The English defeat the Spanish Armada
1588
The English East India Company is founded
1600
The Dutch East India Company is founded
1602