His invention of mechanical movable type printing started the Printing Revolution and is widely regarded as the most important event of the modern period. 

Because he essentially invented mass communication, his invention played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, and the Scientific Revolution. 

It is safe to say that all great men/women to history in the past 600 years have been heavily influenced by his contribution.

An Italian merchant and traveler whose travels to India and China were published around the year 1300. 

He was not the first European to go Asia, but he was the first to leave a detailed chronicle of his experience. 

His book inspired countless travelers to try and reach India/China and partake of their riches, including Christopher Columbus.

Italian sculptor, painter, poet and engineer who had an unparalleled influence on art. 

He is remembered as one of the greatest artists of all time, especially for his work on the Pieta and David (both sculptures) and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Men risked life and everything to explore the world during the Age of Exploration for those three things.

Grew up in Italy, went to school in Portugal, and later sailed under the flag of Spain. 

Is given credit for discovering America in 1492, although he thought he had discovered a water route to China/India. 

His initial landing in America was on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea. 

His findings proved to the world that the Earth was indeed round.

The largest empire in pre-Columbian America; they were spread around South America. 

They were centered in the Andes Mountains in what we now call Peru. They were the last of the great civilizations on the American continent to be conquered by the Spanish (1572). 

They are remembered for their unbelievable architecture and expansive road system, all created (as far we can tell) without the use of the wheel or large beasts of burden.

A Renaissance painter, sculptor, inventor, musician, architect, and scientist. He is considered perhaps the most diversely talented person to have ever lived.

His genius, perhaps more than any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance. 

Primarily he is known as a painter (with the Mona Lisa, the Vitruvian Man, and the Last Supper among his works). 

He conceptualized flying machines, tanks, and solar power and made important discoveries in anatomy among other things.

A great native American civilization based in Southern Mexico and Guatemala (the Yucatan Pennisula). 

They were the first to understand the concept of “zero” in mathematics (around the year 36 BC) and had a very complex writing system, although unfortunately the Spanish destroyed many of their records. 

The disappearance of their civilization is a mystery that historians cannot agree upon a answer for, and people love to visit their temples/pyramids near Cancun, Mexico.

An English poet and playwright who did most of his work in the late 1500’s and early 1600’s. 

He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and world’s best dramatist with his plays being performed more than any other playwright. 

Among his works are Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth, and Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Prince of Portugal who started a school for explorers/sailors in the 1400’s. 

He was responsible for the early development of European exploration and trade with other continents. 

Many of the explorers directly benefitted from the education and advancement of technology he promoted, including Christopher Columbus.

Time period that came after the Middle Ages. 

This cultural movement lasted from the 1300’s to the 1500’s and literally means “rebirth.” 

Emphasis on art and science, which had suffered during the Dark Ages, was born again and their was an explosion of ideas and advancement. 

The period also emphasized the idea that men could do great things in life (rather than just suffer through life and hopefully go to heaven). 

This began in Italy and spread throughout Europe aided by the invention of the printing press.

It happened around the year 1515 AD. when Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others began starting other churches in protest to what they saw as corruption in the Catholic Church. 

Before this, the only Christian church was the Roman Catholic church. 

This refers to the time in the 1500’s when the church fractured and several new Christian churches (called Protestant churches because they were protesting) were formed. 

This event caused a lot of wars and blood shed in Europe and led to many people moving to America in order to gain religious freedom.

This one of many great ancient American civilizations. It was based in what is now modern day central Mexico. 

They had big cities and large temples (the largest called Tenochitlan near modern day Mexico City which reports say was bigger and grander than all the European countries of the same time period). 

Many of the tribes they had conquered teamed up with European explorers and destroyed this people in the 1500’s. Their conqueror was the especially brutal and cruel Hernan Cortez. 

Their calendar was extremely accurate and their knowledge of space was as good/better than any other civilization of the time period.

He nailed 95 questions about the Catholic Church to a church door. 

He was excommunicated from the Catholic Church, but he started another Christian church (Lutheran). 

All Christian religions besides the Catholics, owe at least part of the their existence to his initial breakaway from the Catholics.

The questions he had about the church were about issues such as the sale of indulgences. 

Most would point to his work as laying the foundation for the Protestant Reformation. In the 1300’s, he led a rebellious movement that encouraged people to follow the Bible rather than priests. 

He is most famous for his translation of the Bible into English. Before him, the Bible was only in Latin and the masses could not access it. 

The Church declared him a heretic and banned his writings (burning as much as they could) and even exhumed his corpse and burned his bones.

An Italian philosopher and writer that lived around year 1500 and is called the founder of modern political science. 

He is best known for his masterpiece, The Prince. In his book, he teaches that the ends justify the means (it’s okay to do evil things and be morally corrupt in order to obtain stability and security).

Signed in 1494, this divided the newly discovered lands outside of Europe between Portugal and Spain. 

Spain took the land to the west (where Columbus had been) and Portugal would continue have the land they had already been exploring/conquering in Africa. 

The line of demarcation dividing the two ran through the Atlantic Ocean, cutting through Brazil (which hadn’t been discovered yet), giving it to the Portuguese which is why they speak Portuguese today.

A French reformer who also broke away from the Catholic Church, building on the ideas of other reformers. 

His ideas are evident in the Presbyterian Church and he preached that men were predestined to go to heaven or hell.

A major Italian poet of the late Middle Ages who some call the Father of the Italian Language. 

His Divine Comedy is widely considered to be one of the most greatest works of literature in world history. The Divine Comedy describes his journey through hell (inferno), purgatory, and paradise and his descriptions of the three places has almost become scriptural for many people.

The King of England in the early 1500’s. He is well known for his six marriages where is continued to divorce or execute his wives with the original intent of finally getting one who would give him a son. 

Because the Pope would not allow him to get a divorce (the Catholic Church strongly opposes divorce), he broke away from the Church and formed his own, which he called the Church of England and placed himself at the head.

Famous Spanish conquistador who conquered the Incan Empire around the year 1530. 

He was welcomed by the Incan people as a God but quickly revealed the true cruel and evil nature of his visit to their kingdom. He captured their King Atahaulpa and asked for a ransom of a room filled with gold to spare his life (after getting the gold, he still killed the king).

Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire. He is remembered for his cruelty and his destruction of Aztec records and history.

He allied with other native people who were mad at the Aztecs and was accepted into the royal courts of Moctezuma as the return of their God, Quezacoatl (who Aztec legend taught to be a bearded white God who had visited them and taught them and would someday return from the east). 

These Europeans conquered much of what we now consider the United States, which is why we now speak their language. They also conquered much of the Pacific Islands, South Africa, India, and Australia. 

They wanted land in order to colonize and have people move there with their families.

These Europeans conquered much of what we now call South and Central America, which is why they now speak their language. 

They wanted to conquer more and more land in order to take their riches home.

These Europeans conquered much of what we now call Canada, which is why they now speak their language. 

They wanted to preach the gospel to the natives (even more than the other countries did) and trade with the native peoples (which is why they got along better with Indians than anyone else – they traded rather than killed/stole).