Venice was one of the wealthiest and most powerful maritime republics of Medieval and Renaissance periods. The republic’s merchant ships dominated the Black Sea and Mediterranean where they established numerous trading ports. The Venetians also established trading ports in Morea (Peloponnese) when they participated in the Fourth Crusade. They would lose these Greek colonies three […]
Kat Cendana
St. John Defend Rhodes, Knights of
The Knights of St. John defended the garrison of Rhodes from the Ottomans between May 23 and August 17, 1480. The garrison endured months of intense bombardment, but the Turks were repelled again and again. On the 28th of July, 1480, the Turks finally breached the city. Although they were outnumbered, the Knights of St. […]
Turkey Flourished Under Sultan Suleiman I
Turkey flourished under Suleiman I, the Ottoman sultan who reigned from 1520 until his death in 1566. His reign was the Empire’s golden age, and it was marked by rapid expansion in the European and Asian fronts. Suleiman carried out reforms in the Ottoman government and justice system. His reign was also ushered in the […]
Henry VIII Born
Henry VIII was born on the 28th of June, 1491 in the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich. He was the second son of the first Tudor king, Henry VII, by his wife, Elizabeth of York. His older brother, Arthur, was expected to succeed his father but died before he came of age. The younger Henry […]
Inca City of Machu Picchu Built in Peru
The Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru was built during the reign of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (1438-1472). The royal city was built more than 2,400 meters above sea level between the Amazon Basin and the Andes mountains. Machu Picchu remains as one of the Incan masterpieces in engineering with its successful integration of urban […]
Cyprus Ceded to the Venetians
The House of Lusignan ruled Cyprus for 270 years before it was ceded to the Venetians in 1489. The first Lusignan king of Cyprus, Aimery, came to the Holy Land during the late 1170s. He rose to prominence during his time in the Holy Land and later inherited Cyprus from his brother, Guy. Aimery’s successors […]
Songhai Empire, Fall of the
During the latter half of the 14th century, the Songhai state slowly eclipsed the Mali Empire. One by one, the Songhai seized neighboring territories until it, too, became an empire. It dominated a portion of northwestern Africa for the next 200 years. The Songhai Empire fell in 1591 after years of ineffective rule and the […]
Mali Empire, Decline of the
The Mali Empire rose as a powerful force in northwest Africa in the middle of the 13th-century. Its first king was the fierce warrior-prince Sundiata Keita (1235-1255). The empire reached its peak during the 13th-century and the early years of the 14th-century. However, the Mali Empire declined during the last years of the 14th-century when […]
Swahili Cities Rise
The Swahili cities of East Africa rose between the 9th and 10th centuries. Some of the most important Swahili cities included Kilwa, Pemba, Zanzibar, and Mafia. The most prominent of these was the city of Kilwa, the capital of the kingdom of Zanj. The Shirazi Dynasty from Persia ruled the city of Kilwa during its […]
The Arrival of Jesuits and the Resurgence of Christianity in China 1720
Christianity first appeared in China in AD 635, but imperial hostility to the religion forced it to disappear around the tenth century. Christianity only experienced a resurgence after the arrival of the Jesuits in the middle of the 15th century and their efforts to reintroduce the religion to the Chinese. These events are recorded on […]