Historical Timeline

Calendar Months

   In some places multiple entries occur for a particular year, but not necessarily in chronological order [by month]. Also, a good majority of entries on this page [and earlier pages especially] were derived from Asimov's Chronology of the World. Indications for which entries were derived from that source must happen by retrogressive effort; as I [still] need to go back and check each entry against the book. [E.M.]

1390-1799 A.D.

1391 - Astronomic Configuration - "Uranus-Neptune [Scorpio/Taurus] opposition [1391-1395]."

1391 - Astronomic Configuration - "[1391-1399] Neptune conjunct Pluto [Gemini], opposed by Uranus [Sagittarius]: the birth-point of the European Renaissance and the age of exploration."

1394 - Astronomic Configuration - Uranus-Pluto [Scorpio/Taurus Sagittarius/Gemini] opposition [1394-1396]. Uranus-Pluto conjunctions and oppositions might bring sudden and radical changes, like a cathartic diarrhoea, yet their full integration takes ages."

1398 - Configuration - "Neptune-Pluto [2-3 Gemini] conjunction [1398-1399]. Neptune-Pluto cycles last about 495 years - half a millennium. They characterise an underlying driving-force behind history, an undertow of reality which marries the inevitable ram-force of Pluto with the imaginal, ideational power of Neptune. This combined force helps us define our underlying historical reality on a collective-unconscious level - this world-view and body of collective experience being a combination of actualities and perceptions." [Link: 1]

1400 -  St. George / England - "In the 14th century St. George became the Catholic patron saint of England by decree of King Edward III Plantagenet."

15th Century A.D.

1400 - Little Ice Age? - "Every 11 years, on average, the sun reverses its overall magnetic polarity: Its north magnetic pole becomes a south pole, and vice versa. So a complete magnetic solar cycle  - returning the sun to its initial orientation - actually lasts an average of 22 years. No one completely understands the entire process, just as no one understands why the Earth's field also reverses itself at seemingly random intervals, most recently about 780,000 years ago. That's unfortunate, because there's evidence that sunspot cycles have direct consequences for human life. Witness the sobering case of the Maunder Minimum, the eerie stretch from 1645 to 1715 in which records show that practically no sunspots appeared on the solar face. It was named after British astronomer E. Walter Maunder, who in the 1890s tried in vain to stir up interest in this aberration. In the 1970s American solar physicist Jack Eddy revisited Maunder's work, noting that the Minimum offered 'a good test case for solar influence on climate. [....]' Eddy's investigation also drew attention to another sunspot dearth from 1460 to 1550. Putting that episode next to the Maunder dates, scientists realized that these extended minimums coincided with the core of a famously frigid period in Europe and elsewhere known as the Little Ice Age (1400-1850), during which the Thames River in London and the lagoon of Venice regularly froze." [N.G.M., July 2004, pp. 21 & 28]

*Trivia: "The forgoing 'Little Ice Age' (1400-1850) runs closely parallel with the Neptune-Pluto Cycle (1398-1891) spanning roughly the same 500-year period." [E.M.]

1400 - Map of Europe - "Map of Europe, 1400 AD."

1400 - English Vowel Shift -  "The great Vowel Shift begins." [Link: 1, 2]

1400 - Mongol Invasion / Syria - "Tamerlane invaded Syria in 1400 and there he met the Mamluks of Egypt who, nearly a century and a half earlier, had inflicted the first defeat on the Mongols. This time, though, that did not happen. Tamerlane destroyed them and took Damascus." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 196]

1402 - Scottish Defeat / Homildon Hill - September 14th, 1402: "The reign of Henry IV was constantly troubled with revolts and border warfare. The Scots invaded and were defeated at the battle of Homildon Hill in northern England on September 14, 1402, through the use of the English longbow." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 188]

1403 - Interest Payments Legalised / Italy - "Despite the traditional Christian prohibition of usury, Italian banks such as the Lombards, who have agents in the main economic centres of Europe, have been making charges for loans. The lawyer and theologian Lorenzo di Antonio Ridolfi wins a case which legalises interest payments by the Florentine government."

1405 - Chinese Naval Expeditions - "In 1405, Cheng Ho set forth with 300 ships and 12,000 men and visited Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and Ceylon." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 197]

1407 - Birth / Lorenzo Valla - "Italian humanist scholar Lorenzo Valla [d. 1457], exposer of the medieval forgery of the Donation of Constantine, is born." [Link: 1]

1409 - Bible Translation Ban / England - "Bible translation is forbidden in England."

1409 - Three Popes / Europe - "In 1409, a Council was held at Pisa that was attended by 500 churchmen, together with delegates from the various western European nations. After careful deliberation, they decided to depose both Gregory XII of Rome (1325-1417), who had been Pope since 1406, and Benedict XIII of Avignon, who had long held his post there, and to start afresh with Alexander V (1339-1410) as their own nominee. Since neither of the two older Popes would resign, Europe was now treated to the spectacle of three Popes, all shouting insults at eachother. The next year Alexander V was succeeded by John XXIII (d. 1419), and there were still three Popes." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, pp. 192-193]

1410 - Emperor Sigismund / Holy Roman Empire - "In 1410, Sigismund, a half brother of drunken King Wenceslas, became the ruler of the Empire, though Wenceslas lived on until 1419 and insisted on keeping the title. Sigismund labored to put an end to the Great Schism. This he succeeded in doing, thanks to the council of Constance, which he had called into existence against Papal wishes." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 194]

1410 - 1st Translation / Ptolemy's Geography - "The first translation of Ptolemy's Geography appears in Toledo, and revives the notion that the earth is round."

1411 - Chinese Naval Expedition / Persian Gulf - "A third voyage, in 1411, took him [admiral Cheng Ho] as far as the Persian Gulf. On his fourth voyage, he returned to the Persian Gulf, then moved on to the Red Sea, visiting Mecca and Egypt. On his last three voyages, he revisited many of these places." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 197]

1413 - Mehmed I / Ottoman Empire - "The Ottoman Empire was all but shattered by Tamerlane [the Mongol]. Tamerlane had divided Asia Minor among three of Bayezid's sons, to keep the Turks fighting amongst themselves. One of them, Mehmed (d. 1421), won out over the others, restored the Empire to unity, and by 1413 was reigning as Mehmed I the restorer." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 197]

1415 - War / England & France "Henry V [ England] declared war on France in April 1415, and sailed for Normandy on August 10, 1415, with an army of 12,000 men. [....] Henry left for England, and then returned to France in 1417, spending two careful years subduing Normandy; while the French, lost in shock over Agincourt [Battle of Agincourt], did virtually nothing to interfere." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 189]

*Trivia: "Philip the Bold [of Burgandy] died in 1404 and was succeeded by his son, John the Fearless (1371-1418), who was a survivor of  the Battle of Nicopolis. He was first cousin to Charles VI [of France], and he found himself opposing Louis, Duke of Orleans (1372-1407), who was a younger brother of Charles VI. John the Fearless arranged to have Louis of Orleans assassinated in 1407 and, after that, the two factions were at war with eachother. Louis's son, Charles of Orleans (1394-1465), led the pro-war, anti-English party, while John of Burgandy led the anti-war, pro-English party. The result was that when Henry V invaded France, he had the help of the Burgundians, so that he was not merely fighting France, but was allied with half of France to fight the other half. [....] The Battle of Agincourt might have changed things. Charles of Orleans was taken prisoner at Agincourt and was kept in England for 25 years. That put him out of action. As for John of Burgandy, the English triumph was so great as to make him nervous, and he might have changed his policy and ended the civil war but, in 1419, he was assassinated at the direction of the Dauphin [of France]. This was foolish, for John was succeeded by his son, Phillip the Good (1396-1467), who, in view of the assassination, could not turn toward the Orleanist faction, but now had no choice but to stick with the English alliance." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, pp. 190-191]

1415 - Burned at the Stake / Jan Hus - July 6, 1415: "Sigismund invited Jan Hus to attend the council [Council of Constance, 1414] where he might discuss his views. Hus felt that would be suicidal behavior, so Sigismund gave him a safe conduct. Therefore, Hus attended the Council, was questioned and cross-questioned repeatedly, was placed in prison and, finally, on July 6, 1415, despite his safe conduct, was burned at the stake. It was a mistake. Hus dead, was more powerful than Hus, alive. The Hussites of Bohemia, those that followed his teachings, were outraged and, by 1419, they had risen in rebellion, and there followed the 'Hussite Wars.' " [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 195]

*Trivia: "Outstanding on the Hussite side was John Zizka (1376-1424), who developed the use of wagons with armored sides, and holes through which small cannon could be aimed. When Zizka found a good position for battle, he placed his wagons in a circle and, when the enemy attacked, he fired his canon. He had invented a kind of primitive system of tanks." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 195]

1416 - Trivia / Argonese Empire - "Aragon continued to turn its face eastward, something it had done since the Sicilian Vespers, a century and a half before. Alfonso V the Magnanimous (1396-1458) became King of Aragon in 1416. He already controlled the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, and Sicily. He managed to seize the kingdom of Naples, too, so that under him the Aragonese Empire was at its peak." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 193]

1417 - Pope Martin V - "Another Council was held at Constance in southwestern Germany in 1414. After three years of deliberation, all three Popes were deposed and Martin V (1368-1431) became Pope in 1417. [....] Martin V managed to resume control over the Papal States and began the process of fighting against the Counciliar movement - that is, against the notion that Councils were more authoritative than the Pope. He was succeeded by Eugene IV (1383-1447), who became Pope in 1431, and who continued the fight against Councils." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 193]

1420 - Treaty / England & France - "In 1420, Henry V forced the helpless French government to sign a treaty in which mad King Charles VI named Henry as his heir, disinheriting his son, the Dauphin Charles (1403-1461) in the process, and implying his illegitimacy. He also gave Henry his daughter, Catherine (1401-1437), as wife. Now it was only a matter of waiting for the mad king to die, and henry would be king of England and France." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 189]

1420 - Center for Navigation / Portugal - "Henry [of Portugal] founded a center for navigation at Sagres, at the extreme southwestern tip of Portugal." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 192]

1422 - Charles VII & Henry VI / France - "When Charles VI [of France] died in 1422, the Dauphin called himself Charles VII, but he was not crowned in the Cathedral of Rheims. This had been the traditional site of crowning since the time of Clovis, nine centuries before, but it was in English hands. As long as the Dauphin was not crowned in Rheims, he had to remain the Dauphin, and nothing more. The English child-king, Henry VI, was crowned King of France to forestall Charles, but Henry was crowned in Paris and that, too, didn't count." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 191]

1424 - English Victory / Normandy, France - August 17th, 1424: "Henry V's younger brother, John, Duke of Bedford (1389-1435), was an uncle of Henry VI and was a skilled soldier. He won another battle at Verneuil in southern Normandy on August 17, 1424, using longbowmen against heavy calvary. Verneuil, however, was fated to be the last great longbow victory the English were to win over the French, who after that, began to learn their lesson." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 190]

1424 - King James I / Scotland - "Robert III of Scotland was succeeded in 1406 by his son, James I (1394-1437). He had been captured by the English in that same year, when he was 12 years old, and was kept prisoner by Henry IV. Henry V released him in 1423, and he was finally crowned in 1424. In 1437, however, he was assassinated and succeeded by his 7-year-old son, who reigned as James II (1430-1460). By a strange fatality, there were to be six Jameses who ruled over Scotland, and every one of them became king as a minor. This helped to keep Scotland in constant turmoil." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 190]

1424 - Mongol Astronomy - "A grandson of Tamerlane, Ulugh Beg (1394-1449), ruled at Samarkand, in what is now Uzbekistan, and which had been Tamerlane's capital. He succeeded to the throne in 1447. His real fame was in astronomy, however. He founded a university in Samarkand in 1420 and built an astronomical observatory in 1424 that was the best in the world at the time. His work, however, was completely unknown in western Europe and did not influence scientific development there [not even Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa?]. He was assassinated by his son in 1449, and Mongol astronomy died with him." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 196]

1425 - Emperor John VIII / Byzantium - "The Emperor, John VIII (1390-1448), who had gained the throne in 1425, traveled to Italy and attended the Council of Florence in 1439. Once again, he offered to heal the schism between eastern and western Christianity and to accept Papal primacy. Again, it was no use. The Byzantine people simply wouldn't accept the Pope. They would rather have the Turks. In 1450, the Turks were advancing on Constantinople again, and it didn't look as though a second miracle would take place." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 196]

1429 - Joan of Arc / France - "In 1428, the Duke of Bedford had sent an army to lay seige to Orleans at the northernmost point of the Loire River. If that fell, it might have meant that the south of France would surrender, and all the land would be conquered. [....] Then, in 1429, a strange thing happened. A young woman from eastern France appeared before the Dauphin and said that God had sent her to save France. Her name was Jeanne Darc (usually mistranslated as Joan of Arc). The Dauphin, after some consideration, decided he had nothing to lose, so he sent her to Orleans with an armed escort. It turned out that she was just the psychological lift the French needed. The French soldiers, feeling that God might be on their side now, fought with new vigor. The English soldiers, fearful that Joan was some sort of witch, were a little readier to back off than they had been before. Thus, the French attacked and the English retreated from Orleans. That was the turning point of the Hundred Years War. Joan led the Dauphin to Rheims, where he was crowned and became Charles VII officially. Joan was soon captured by the English, however, and, in 1431, was burned as a witch in Rouen, the capital of Normandy, while Charles VII made no attempt to save her." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 191]

1431 - Fatality / Joan of Arc -  "On May 30th, 1431, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. It was the charge of witchcraft that enabled the Inquisition to try and condemn Jean d'Arc in 1431. In 1457, Jean's sentence of heresy was revoked, and she is the only victim of the Inquisition to have been granted this admission. It was done so that, in response to popular French demand, she could be canonised."

1433 - Partial Lunar Eclipse - "July 2nd [Two eclipses in 15 days]"

1435 - Peace / Burgandy & France - "By 1435, Phillip of Burgandy could see that the wind had shifted, and he made his peace with France. After that, England had no chance at all. In 1436, the French had retaken Paris, and after that they began the fight to retake Normandy." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 192]

1437 - Emperor Albert II [of Hapsburg] / Holy Roman Empire - "Sigismund died in 1437, leaving only a daughter. That daughter was married to Albert of Hapsburg (1397-1439), the great-great-great-grandson of Rudolph of Hapsburg, who had been Emperor a century and a half earlier. Albert became Emperor Albert II, and was the fourth Hapsburg to serve as Emperor. There was never, after this, an Emperor who was not a Hapsburg." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 194]

1439 - Status of "Reincarnation" / Council of Florence - "In the Council of Lyons, in 1274, it was stated that; 'after death the soul goes promptly either to heaven or to hell. On the day of judgment, all will stand before the tribunal of Christ with their bodies to render account of what they have done.' The Council of Florence of 1439 uses almost the same wording to describe the swift passage of the soul either to heaven or hell. Implicit in both of these councils is the assumption that the soul does not again venture into physical bodies."  

1440 - Birth / Kabir - "KABIR (1440-1518 A.D.)—A great Indian Saint and contemporary of Guru Nanak. The modern age of Sant Mat wherein the Science of Surat Shabd Yoga is openly taught and first-hand experience given may be said to have begun with Kabir Sahib." [Based on: http://www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/gloss.htm]

1441 - Post-Classic Maya - "The Postclassic Maya divided into tribute-collecting states. The overarching mythic concept which connected these states was the Plumed Serpent, Quetzalcoatl. The divine king Plumed Serpent represented a deity figure. However, Quetzalcoatl was also a man who lived amongst the Maya during the end of the tenth century AD. During the Postclassic period, the Mayan culture fused with the Mexicans whose native language was Nahua. The Mayapan dissolved due to internal warfare in 1441 AD. At this point the Mayan Civilization had become quite fragmented, and by the time the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century AD, the memory of the Classic Maya had all but vanished without a trace. All that remained of the Classic Maya were the silent stone carvings and pyramids.  

1448 - Cardinal Science - "Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) was a German scholar and ecclesiastic with astonishingly modern ideas. He held that the earth turned on its axis and moved around the sun; that space was infinite, and that the stars were other suns with planets circulating them; that plants drew sustenence from the air; that the behavior of the pulse was a valuabvle diagnostic device. Until then, spectacles were used only with convex lenses to correct for far-sightedness. Nicholas of Cusa was the first to make them with concave lenses for near-sighted people. Far from getting into trouble for his unusual views, Nicholas of Cusa was made a cardinal in 1448." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 195]

1450 - English Defeat / Normandy, France - April 15th, 1450: "In 1450, the British sent an expeditionary force larger than any they had yet sent to France, and it did them no good. At the Battle of Formigny in Normandy on April 15, 1450, it was the English longbows against the new French artillery - the French won. By the end of the year, the English were cleared out of Normandy and out of all northern France except Calais, and they held on to only small parts of the southwest." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 192]

1453 - Partial Lunar Eclipse - "May 22nd"

1453 - Fall of Constantinople - "The seige began on April 6, 1453 and, by May 29, the walls had been battered down. The Turks entered and Constantine XI died, fighting to the last. Just as the end of the West Roman Empire nearly a thousand years earlier is taken as the end of ancient times and the beginning of the Middle Ages, so the end of the last remnant of the East Roman Empire is often taken as the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times. Mehmed II made Constantinople the capital of the Ottoman Empire (its name eventually coming to be 'Istanbul'), and then proceeded to clean up the Balkans." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 198]

*Trivia: "When Constantinople fell in 1453 and Pius II was unable to initiate a further campaign before his death in 1464, the crusading movement came to an end." [The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions, Keith Crim]

1455 - Configuration - "Uranus-Pluto [Leo] conjunction [1455-1456]."

1455 - Gutenberg Bible - "The Gutenberg Bible is printed."

1456 - Trivia / Dracula - "Vladislav Basarab of Transylvania gains the crown of Wallacia for the first time [until 1462, and again briefly in 1468]. From his father he earned the nickname 'Dracula', son of the Dragon, but he earned for himself the name Vlad the Impaler, for his favourite method of execution. Despite a large amount of slander by his political opponents, many of the tales of his cruelty were true [he is said to have killed over 40,000 people in his reign]. He was also a staunch defender of Christendom from the Turkish threat."

1456 - Perihelion / Halley's Comet - June 9th, 1456 A.D.: "1P/1456 K1 (9 June 1456)"

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley%27s_Comet] - [T.D. - 06/12/07] 

*Trivia: "1456: The comet passed very close to the Earth; its tail extended over 60° of the heavens and took the form of a sabre. According to one story, first appearing in a posthumous biography in 1475 and later embellished and popularized by Pierre-Simon Laplace, Pope Callixtus III excommunicated the 1456 apparition of the comet, believing it to be an ill omen for the Christian defenders of Belgrade, who were at that time being besieged by the armies of the Ottoman Empire. However, no known primary source supports the authenticity of this account. this comet is 5 years old "

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley%27s_Comet] - [T.D. - 06/12/07]

1457 - Trivia / Lorenzo Valla - "The outcome of Lorenzo Valla's investigation into the Donation of Constantine was that he discovered it to be an outright forgery compiled some four centuries after Emperor Constantine's death." [Laurence Gardner, Realm Of The Ring Lords, p. 22]

1460 - Sunspot Dearth - "Eddy's investigation also drew attention to another sunspot dearth from 1460 to 1550. Putting that episode next to the Maunder dates [1645-1715], scientists realized that these extended minimums coincided with the core of a famously frigid period in Europe and elsewhere known as the Little Ice Age (1400-1850), during which the Thames River in London and the lagoon of Venice regularly froze." [N.G.M., July 2004, p. 28]

1460 - Ottoman Turks / Southern Greece - "Southern Greece, including Athens, was gathered up by Mehmed by 1460, and the Empire of Trebizond, the very last diluted remnant of the Roman Empire, was taken in 1461. Mehmed then took various Greek islands that the Venetians had ruled for two and a half centuries, including Euboea." [Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Chronology Of The World, p. 198]

1463 - Corpus Hermeticum - "In 1460 a Greek manuscript consisting of an almost complete copy of the Corpus Hermeticum, the standard text book on Hermiticism, had come into the hands of a monk hired to locate rare manuscripts. The manuscript was translated, and then published in 1463. Its publication marked the great occult revival of the period which was to culminate in  the flowering of the Renaissance."

1464 - End / Crusading Movement - "When Constantinople fell in 1453 and Pius II was unable to initiate a further campaign before his death in 1464, the crusading movement came to an end." [Based on: Keith Crim, The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions]

1469 - Birth / Nanak - November 5th, 1469: "NANAK (1469-1539)—The founder of Sikhism, born in the village of Talwandi, near Lahore in the Pumjab. A scion of a Khatri family, he had close associations with Kabir and like his great contemporary, he preached monotheistic faith, compounded out of Hindu and Muslim elements and as such, was equally acclaimed and admired by both."

[Based on: http://www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/gloss.htm] 

1469 - Founded / Sikhism - 1469:

Sikhism is the youngest of the World Religions, barely 500 years old. It was founded by Siri Guru Nanak Dev Ji in 1469 who laid the basic principles of Sikhism. It offered the people a simple Sikh religion teaching "Oneness of God", whose name is TRUTH. Nine Gurus followed him who all reinforced and added to what was taught by the first Guru. After which in 1708, the holy book of the Sikhs, The Siri GURU GRANTH SAHIB JI was Proclaimed to be the only Guru by the last Guru, Siri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. This holy book embodies the philosophy and fundamentals of Sikhism. It is the only holy book of a major religion which was written and authenticated by its founders.

[Based on: http://www.sikh.net/SIKHISM/Sikhism.htm]

1473 - Birth / Nicolaus Copernicus - February 19th, 1473: "Nicolaus Copernicus (February 19, 1473 – May 24, 1543) was the first astronomer to formulate a scientifically-based heliocentric cosmology that displaced the Earth from the center of the universe. His epochal book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the Scientific Revolution. [NP] Although Greek, Indian and Muslim savants had published heliocentric hypotheses centuries before Copernicus, his publication of a scientific theory of heliocentrism, demonstrating that the motions of celestial objects can be explained without putting the Earth at rest in the center of the universe, stimulated further scientific investigations and became a landmark in the history of modern science that is known as the Copernican Revolution. [....]"

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus] - T.D. 11/22/08]

1475 - Age of Knowledge - "In 1475, the Supreme Maya Council revealed the long-held vision of an ancient Solar Grandmother named X'Nuuk'K'in - that a sacred calendar cycle of twice the Kal'Tun [260 years] must go by before the Solar Culture would flourish again."

1478 - Astronomic Configuration - "Uranus-Neptune [Scorpio] conjunction [1478-1479]."

1478 - Spanish Inquisition - "Queen Isabella received permission from Sixtus IV to operate an Inquisition amongst the Jews and Muslims of her kingdom who were suspected as having accepted Christianity at face whilst continuing their old practices in secret. Her husband Ferdinand of Aragon received permission to Inquire in his adjacent realm, and inevitably in 1483 the two were placed under the Consejo de la Suprema y General Inquisicion, under the jurisdiction of the Dominican friar Torquemada.
   "The extreme reputation of the Spanish Inquisition derives from a number of factors. It was the first time since Gregory that an Inquisition occurred without the jurisdiction of the Pope; Sixtus gave his permission, but the entire operation was controlled by the Spanish crown. With the complete support it thus possessed, it was probably the most efficient Inquisition in history. It spread throughout all Spanish provinces and colonies, as Mexico and South America was settled, all the while retaining it's centralised control. In fact, it was the only institution of the Spanish government to be recognised throughout its entire empire."

1484 - Hammer of Witches - "The medieval witch hunt, which lasted from the end of the fifteenth century to the beginning of the eighteenth century, claimed nearly a million innocent lives and was instigated by the publication in 1484 of the Malleus Malefiracum [Hammer of Witches]. This evil book was written by two Dominican monks, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, who were members of the Inquisition set up in 1215 to root out and kill heretics."

1486 - Witches Condemned - "Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull condemning witches, which plunged Christian Europe into an orgy of bloody persecution which lasted nearly 250 years."

1490 - Pluto/ Scorpio - October 29th, 1490: Pluto at 0 degrees Scorpio. ...

*Link: http://www.astro.com/swisseph/ae/1400/ae_1490.pdf

1491 - Pluto/ Scorpio - May 8th, 1491: Pluto at 0 degrees Scorpio, R.; August 22nd, D. ...

*Link: http://www.astro.com/swisseph/ae/1400/ae_1491.pdf

1492 - Christian Granada - January 2nd, 1492: "The armies of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the Catholic monarchs whose marriage had recently united the old Iberian kingdoms of Aragon and Castile, conquered the city-state of Granada. With deep emotion, the crowd watched the Christian banner raised ceremonially upon the city walls and, as the news broke, bells pealed triumphantly all over Europe, for Granada was the last Muslim stronghold in Christendom." [Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God, p. 3]

1492 - Edict of Expulsion / Spain - March 31st, 1492: "Ferdinand and Isabella signed the Edict of Expulsion, designed to rid Spain of its Jews, who were given the choice of baptism or deportation. Many Jews were so attached to 'al-Andalus' (as the old Muslim kingdom had been called) that they converted to Christianity and remained in Spain, but about 80,000 Jews crossed the border into Portugal, while 50,000 fled to the new Muslim Ottoman empire, where they were given a warm welcome." [Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God, p. 3]

1492 - Columbus Discovers America - "In August, Christopher Columbus, a protege of Ferdinand and Isabella, sailed from Spain to find a new trade route to India but discovered the Americas instead." [Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God, p. 3-4]

1499 - Muslim Deportation / Spain - "In 1499, the Muslim inhabitants of Spain were given the option of conversion to Christianity or deportation, after which, for a few centuries, Europe would become Muslim-free." [Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God, p. 3]

16th Century A.D.

1500 - Map of Europe - "Map of Europe, 1500 AD."

1500 - Jewish Ghettos - "Spanish and Portuguese Jews immigrate [1500-1600] to Italy, the Turkish Empire [particularly Palestine], North Africa, and the New World. Beginning in the 16th century, most Jews in Europe were forced to live in walled enclosures, where they were locked in at night, and had to wear badges identifying themselves as Jews when they were outside the walls. The Jewish quarter of Venice became known as the Ghetto, and eventually all these communities were called ghettos. During the 16th century, many Jews settled in the Netherlands, where they were able to formally practice their religion again. Members of this group later founded successful Jewish communities in England as well. Jews live peacefully in Poland [1400-1648] where they work primarily as merchants artisans, and innkeepers. There, they are governed by the Jewish Council of Four Lands. The Marranos move to Holland and France, where they are permitted to practice their religion freely [1500-1700]. Jews also begin to return to England."

1500 - Modern English Period  - "The period of Early Modern English [1500-1800 A.D.] begins."

1500s - Trivia / Scientific Revolution - "The Enlightenment was a sprawling intellectual, philosophical, cultural, and social movement that spread through England, France, Germany, and other parts of Europe during the 1700s. Enabled by the Scientific Revolution, which had begun as early as 1500, the Enlightenment represented about as big of a departure as possible from the Middle Ages—the period in European history lasting from roughly the fifth century to the fifteenth. [....]"

[Based on: http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/enlightenment/context.html] - [T.D. - 11/22/08]

1502 - Pluto/ Sagittarius - January 24th, 1502: Pluto at 0 degrees Sagittarius; November 11th. ...

*Link: http://www.astro.com/swisseph/ae/1500/ae_1502.pdf

1504 - Total Lunar Eclipse - "March 1st"

1506 - St. Peter's Basilica - April 18th, 1506: "[....] Pope Julius II laid the first stone of St. Peter's on April 18th, 1506, erecting the new church over one built in the fourth century by Constantine, the Roman emperor who was a strong supporter of Christianity." [Based on: News Services article (Exibit marks basilica's 500th anniversary), p. A11, S.L.P.D., 04/21/06]

1514 - Heliocentrism - "In 1514 Copernicus made available to friends his Commentariolus (Little Commentary), a six page hand-written text describing his ideas about the heliocentric hypothesis. It contained seven basic assumptions. Thereafter he continued gathering data for a more detailed work. [....]" [Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus] - [T.D. - 11/22/08]

*Trivia: "Early traces of a heliocentric model are found in several anonymous Vedic Sanskrit texts composed in ancient India before the 7th century BCE. Additionally, in the sixth century the Indian astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata anticipated elements of Copernicus's work, although he did not maintain heliocentrism. [....]" [Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus] - [T.D. - 11/22/08]

*Trivia: "The prevailing theory in Europe as Copernicus was writing was that created by Ptolemy in his Almagest, dating from about A.D. 150. The Ptolemaic system drew on many previous theories that viewed Earth as a stationary center of the universe. Stars were embedded in a large outer sphere which rotated relatively rapidly, while the planets dwelt in smaller spheres between — a separate one for each planet. [....]"

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus] - [T.D. - 11/22/08]

1515 - Pluto/ Capricorn - December 25th, 1515: Pluto at 0 degrees Capricorn [apparently, Pluto was in Capricorn from about 1515-1532].

[Based on: http://www.astro.com/swisseph/ae/1500/ae_1515.pdf] & [..._1532.pdf]

*Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1515
              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_century

1516 - Birth / Mary I - "February 18th, 1516: Queen Mary I "Bloody Mary" (1516 - 1558) born in Greenwich.

[Based on: http://wwp.greenwichpast.com/history/time-line/c16th.htm] - [T.D. - 11/22/08]

*Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_I_of_England

1516 - Ottoman Palestine - "During Ottoman rule [1516-1917], the inhabitants of Palestine experienced some prosperity and modernization, but they also suffered at the hands of corrupt and negligent local officials."

1516 - Charles V / King of Spain - "Charles V (b. 1500, Ghent, d. 1558, San Jerónimo de Yuste, Spain), Holy Roman emperor (1519-56), king of Spain (as Charles I, 1516-56), and archduke of Austria (as Charles I, 1519-21), who inherited a Spanish and Habsburg empire extending across Europe from Spain and the Netherlands to Austria and the Kingdom of Naples and reaching overseas to Spanish America. He struggled to hold his empire together against the growing forces of Protestantism, increasing Turkish and French pressure, and even hostility from the Pope. At last he yielded, abdicating his claims to the Netherlands and Spain in favour of his son Philip II and the title of emperor to his brother Ferdinand I and retiring to a monastery.  [....]" [Based on: http://www.wga.hu/tours/spain/charles5.html] - [T.D. 11/22/08]

1516 - Alternate Translation / Latin New Testament - "In 1516, Erasmus issued his own Latin translation of the Greek New Testament, thereby exposing the Vulgate as a cleverly mistranslated document, which he called a 'second-hand' account." [Laurence Gardner, Realm Of The Ring Lords, p.22]

1517 - "Protest" / Martin Luther - "In 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 'protest' to the door of the Whittenburg Cathedral, and the Empire of the Church began to crumble." [Links:  1, 2]

1519 - Charles V / Holy Roman Emperor - "Charles V (b. 1500, Ghent, d. 1558, San Jerónimo de Yuste, Spain), Holy Roman emperor (1519-56) [....]" [Based on: http://www.wga.hu/tours/spain/charles5.html] - [T.D. 11/22/08]

1519 - Beginning / "Nine Hells Period," South America - "843 AD marks the beginning of another prophetic cycle called the thirteen heavens and the nine hells. Each of these heaven and hell cycles is a period of fifty-two years, the length of a Calendar Round. Thus, the thirteen heavens lasted from 843 – 1519 AD, ending right before the Spanish invasion. The nine hells lasted from 1519 – 1987 AD."

1519 - Conquistadores / Mexico - February 1519: "Spanish Conquistadores arrive in the Valley of Mexico."

*Trivia: "Despite the many records carved in stone throughout Mayan cities, much of this culture remains a profound mystery. The main reason for this is the Spanish. Not only did they come to the Yucatan some 700 years after the Classic Maya, thus never aware of the previous stage of advanced civilization, but they made it their personal mission to destroy all that remained of the once great culture of the terrestrial Maya. Throughout the period known as the New Empire, the Maya had created many hieroglyphic texts on folding sheets of paper. Of these only four survive. They are known as the Dresden, Madrid, Grolier, and Paris codices. All the rest were burned by Spanish conquistadors and Christian missionaries. In addition to these codices, a few texts that were written after the Spanish conquest have survived. These are the Popul Vu, and the Books of the Chilam Balam."  

1520 - Jewish Christian Converts? / Spain - "[....] By 1520, 80 percent of the 150,000 to 200,000 Jews who lived in Spain in 1390 were still there, but they were now Christians. [....]" [Based on: E. Michael Jones, editor of Culture Wars]

1522 - Trivia / Japji - "[....] Going back even further, I came to the founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak, whom Paul [Paul Twitchell] has written about many times. Guru Nanak's most famous piece is known as the Japji. Written around 1522, it was chosen by Guru Arjan to begin the first edition of the Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred Bible of the Sikhs. The Japji opens with these words from the first stanza:

    Ek onkar satnam karta purakhu

   Obviously, as others have pointed out, it is likely that Paul's name for ECKANKAR came from this poem of Nanak's. A translation of the whole opening stanza goes like this:

     The One Reality, the True Name, the Eternal and Creative Source of all,

     Without fear, without hatred,

     Timeless, unborn and self-existent,

     The Enlightener through grace,

     Present in the beginning before all the ages began,

     He is present even now, O Nanak,

     As He will always be. 

[....]"   [Based on: Dialogue in the Age of Criticism, Chap. 12]  

*Trivia: The Concept of Ek-Onkar by Prof. Harmindar Singh

Guru Nanak's concept and vision of the Supreme Being is embodied in terse terms in the Sikh Fundamental Creed, Mool Mantra, literally meaning the Root Formula. Because of its importance as a basic theological declaration around which revolves the whole Sikh philosophical thought, it is most appropriately placed in the very beginning of the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. It affirms in unequivocal terms Guru Nanak's uncompromising belief in monotheism. In the original the text read as:

"Ek Onkar Satnam Karta Purush Nirbhau Virvair Akal Murat, Ajuni Saibhang Gurprasad(i)"

The English rendering would approximate to:

There is One and only One God who is transcendent as well as immanent. True and Eternal Name. Creator and Person. Without Fear and without Enmity. Timeless Form, Unborn, Self-existent. Realized by Divine Grace.

[....]

[Based on: http://www.sikhs.org/art1.htm]

*Trivia: "The Sanskrit word omkara (from which came Punjabi onkar, etc), literally "OM-maker", has two families of meanings:-

Brahma (god) in his role as creator, and thus a word for "creator".

Writers' term for the OM sign.

[Based on: http://encyclopedie-en.snyke.com/articles/_aum.html]

*Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ek_Onkar

1525 - Bible Translation / English New Testament - "It was left to the priest William Tyndale, who was born about a century after Wycliffe's death, to produce an English-language version [of the Bible] that derived directly from Hebrew and Greek, the original languages (along with a bit of Aramaic) in which the Bible was composed. Because Bible translation was still banned in England, Tyndale found it prudent to work in Germany, where he was active in the first part of the 16th century, at precisely the same time Martin Luther was preparing his German-language translation as part of his reformation. In 1525 Tyndale produced his New Testament. Over the next decade, Tyndale revised his initial English version of the New Testament and published renderings of portions of the Old. Although Tyndale remained on the continent, copies of his translation were smuggled into England almost as soon as they came off the press, to increasing popular acclaim but official condemnation. Like Wycliffe, Tyndale insisted that the message of Scripture should be directly accessible to all." [Leonard J. Greenspoon, Bible Review, December 2003, pp. 16-17]

1526 - Austrian Catholic Control / Croatia and Slovenia - 1526: "Croatia and Slovenia came under Austrian Catholic control in 1526. Many Croats and Slovenes converted to Catholicism, creating another religious distinction." [Based on: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p. A12, 06/26/05]

1531- Earthquake / Lisbon, Portugal - January 26th, 1531: "Earthquake location: Lisbon, Portugal. Earthquake magnitude: N/A. Number of recorded fatalities: 30,000."  [Based on: The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2005, p. 207]

1531 - Perihelion / Halley's Comet - August 25th, 1531 A.D.: "1P/1531 P1 (26 August 1531)"

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley%27s_Comet] - [T.D. - 06/12/07] 

1533 - Birth / Elizabeth  I - September 7th, 1533: "Queen Elizabeth I (1533 -1603) born in Greenwich."

[Based on: http://wwp.greenwichpast.com/history/time-line/c16th.htm] - [T.D. - 11/22/08]

*Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I_of_England

1533 - Czar Ivan IV / Russia - "The era of modern Russia can be traced to the year 1533 when Ivan IV became the ruler of Russia at age three. Although controlled by his mother for the early years of his life, he eventually became the first person crowned Czar, which means emperor, or king. Only seventeen at the time in 1547, he quickly unified an otherwise rocky country into a very powerful nation. He became known as Ivan the Terrible."

1533 - Anabaptists / Muenster - "[....] Medieval millennialist messianic politics would reach its culmination in Muenster in 1533, when the Anabaptists under Johan Bookelzoon would establish their communist dictatorship there. When the Anabaptists were driven out of Muenster by the Bishop of Cologne and his army, they drifted toward the Spanish Netherlands to places like Antwerp, where they linked up with Puritans from England and Jews from Spain to form the seed from which the modern revolutionary movement would grow following the Iconoclast Rebellion of 1566. [....]" [Based on: E. Michael Jones, editor of Culture Wars]

1535 - Fatality / William Tyndale - "In 1535, before Tyndale could complete his Old Testament, he was imprisoned in Brussels for 16 months, tried by the Cathloic Church and strangled and burned at the stake as a heretic. Tyndale's work, we are glad to say, did not die with him, as other translators borrowed extensively from his text." [Leonard J. Greenspoon, Bible Review, December 2003, p. 17]

1535 - Coverdale Bible - "In 1535 (likely in Cologne), Miles Coverdale produced the first complete English Bible, called the Coverdale Bible, which used Tyndale's translation wherever it was available." [Leonard J. Greenspoon, Bible Review, December 2003, p. 17]

1536 - Union / England & Wales -  "The first Act of Union unites England and Wales."

1537 - Matthew's Bible - "In 1537, Matthew's Bible, a revision of the Tyndale and Coverdale Bibles, appeared in England. The translation was named for one Thomas Matthew, which was actually a pseudonym for John Rogers, a Tyndale disciple who, despite this subterfuge, nevertheless suffered the same harsh fate as his master's: He was burned at the stake two decades later during the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I." [Leonard J. Greenspoon, Bible Review, December 2003, p. 17]

1538 - Astronomic Configuration - Uranus-Pluto [Leo/Aquarius] opposition [1538-1540]. Uranus-Pluto conjunctions and oppositions might bring sudden and radical changes, like a cathartic diarrhoea, yet their full integration takes ages."

1538 - Guru Angad - "Angad, Guru (Ministry 1538-53)—Second in succession to Nanak, original name being Bhai Lehna. Nanak recognised in him his worthy successor, with a claim to his spiritual riches (Lehna), in preference to his own sons. Nanak styled him 'Angad,' i.e., one cast in his own mould and filled by his own light, as a veritable part of his own being."

[Based on: http://www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/gloss.htm]

1538 - End / English Bible Translation Ban - "The publication of the Coverdale Bible in 1535 marked a shift in the political situation in England. The current king, Henry VIII, had already made England independent from the Roman Catholic Church - so that he could divorce Catherine of Aragone and remarry. Henry embraced Protestantism and was made head of the Church of England. His second wife, Anne Boleyn, was a patron of Coverdale, and when Coverdale shipped copies of his Bible to England, he included a dedication to the king. Henry apparently approved. In 1538, King Henry VIII commanded that every English church keep a copy of the Bible in English. The 129-year ban on translation was lifted." [Leonard J. Greenspoon, Bible Review, December 2003, p. 17]

1540 - Founded / Society of Jesus - 1540: "[....] Founded in 1540, the Society of Jesus is the largest religious order in the Roman Catholic Church, with 20,170 Jesuits around the world as of 2004. [....]" [Based on: A.P. article (Pope Benedict XVI reminds Jesuits [April 2006] of pledge of obedience to papacy), p. A14, S.L.P.D., 04/23/06]

1542 - Roman Inquisition - "In 1542, originally to fight Protestantism and witchcraft, but becoming of sheer circumstance a purely internal feature of the Catholic church."

1543 - On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres - "In 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus published his treatise De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) where a new view of the world, the heliocentric model, is presented. However, the Copernican Revolution took a long time to come into its own."

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernican_Revolution] - [T.D. - 11/22/08]

1545 - Council of Trent - "Spaniards would become leaders of the Counter-Reformation initiated by the Council of Trent (1545-63), which was a modernizing movement that brought the old Catholicism into line with the streamlined efficiency of of the new Europe. The Church, like the modern state, became a more centralized body. The council reinforced the power of the Pope and the bishops; for the first time a catechism was issued to all the faithful, to insure doctrinal conformity." [Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God, p. 5]

1545 - New Testament - "The New Testament was subjected to any number of edits and amendments, until the version with which we are now familar was approved by the extended Council of Trento, in Northern Italy, as late as 1545-63."

1545 - Interest Charges / England - "Henry VIII legalises interest charges on loans. An upper limit of 10% per annum is set." [Link: 1]

1546 - Latin Vulgate Bible - "The Latin Vulgate  was declared to be the official text of the Roman Catholic Church by the Council of Trent in 1546." [Link: 1]

1553 - Guru Amar Das - "Amar Das, Guru (Ministry 1553-74)—Third in succession to Nanak."

[Based on: http://www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/gloss.htm]

1556 - Earthquake / China - January 23rd, 1556: "Earthquake location: Shensi, China. Earthquake magnitude: 8. Number of recorded fatalities: 830,000."  

*Trivia: "Date: January 24th, 1556. Earthquake location: Shaanxi, China. Earthquake magnitude: N/A. Number of recorded fatalities: 830,000."  [Based on: The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2005, p. 207]

1557 - Index Librorum Prohibitorum - 1557 "[....] In 1557, when Pope Paul IV created the Index [Index Librorum Prohibitorum], the church was in a defensive mood, said Jonathan Canning, a curator for the exibit [@ Loyola University Museum of Art - 2007]. Martin Luther's criticism of Catholic practices was splitting Western Christendom in two. The church had its hands full answering Protestant arguments and wasn't happy about having to fight a second front with science - which was just then emerging from centuries of stagnation. [NP] Church doctrine had been built in accordance with Aristotle and other ancient Greek philosophers whose findings were under challenge by Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo and others. Rather than argue with those new theories, the church tried to put them beyond the pale. [NP] Virtually all the giants of early modern science wound up on the Index, as is represented in the Loyola exibit. The show includes several volumes of the works of Copernicus, the Polish astronomer who held that the Earth revolves around the sun. The church taught that the reverse was true, a theory seemingly backed by the biblical account. [....] Catholics were forbidden to even peek into books of philosophers like Rene Descartes and novelists like Emile Zola and Daniel Defoe. Local bishops made their own supplements to the papal Index. [....] The last edition of the Index was published in 1948, and the practice was abolished by Vatican II in the 1960s [1966], Canning noted. [NP] The new exibit, titled 'Science and Faith Between Observance and Censorship,' features 138 books lent by a consortium of libraries in Campania, in southern Italy." [Based on: Chicago Tribune article (Once-banned books on display / Exibit at Catholic university [Loyola University Museum of Art] includes volumes by Copernicus, Descartes.) by Ron Grossman, p A4, S.L.P.D., 05/02/07]

1558 - Queen Elizabeth / Britain - "Queen Mary dies, Elizabeth [25] succeeds."

*Links: http://wwp.greenwichpast.com/history/time-line/c16th.htm

1561 - Birth / Francis Bacon - January 22nd, 1561: "Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, KC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman and essayist but is best known for leading the scientific revolution with his new 'observation and experimentation' theory which is the way science has been conducted ever since. He was knighted in 1603, created Baron Verulam in 1618, and created Viscount St Alban in 1621; both peerage titles became extinct upon his death. [....]"

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Council]

1562 - King James of Scotland - "A member of the royal Stuart family, James served as king of Scotland from 1562 until he died in 1625. With Queen Elizabeth's death in 1603, James ascended to the throne of England as well. A year later, he commissioned a new translation of the Bible." [Leonard J. Greenspoon, Bible Review, December 2003, p. 16]

1563 - Astronomic Configuration - "Uranus-Neptune [Sagittarius/Gemini] opposition [1563-1566], squared by Pluto [Pisces]."

1564 - Birth / Shakespeare  - "Shakespeare is born."

1564 - Birth / Galileo Galilei - February 15th, 1564: "On February 15, 1564, Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy. If he were alive today he would be 442 years old. Galileo is an important person in the history of space weather. Contrary to popular belief, he didn't discover sunspots, but he was one of the first to observe them using a telescope.  [....]"

[Based on: http://spaceweather.com/] - [02/16/06]

1565 - Astronomic Configuration - "Grand Cross. These are rare, requiring a fortuitous constellation of four planets in four squares [and two oppositions] to each other. It symbolises a crunch period, where times can be hard and ruthless for some and a breakthrough and great achievement for others. Most of the instances [not including those involving the inner planets] involve two of the outermost planets being squared up with Jupiter and Saturn. In 1565-1568 there was a major grand cross, involving Uranus opposing Neptune, squared by Saturn opposing Pluto. In Europe, these were times of religious wars and persecution, overseas expansion and accelerating prosperity and social change. Note also the grand cross of 22-26 CE, the configuration which preceded Jesus' Ministry."

1565 - Volcanic Eruption / Guatemala - "Pacaya is a complex volcano constructed on the S rim of the 14 x 16 km Pleistocene Amatitlan Caldera. In 1565, the first recorded historical eruption from Pacaya caused ashfall for three days in Guatemala City. Following explosions in July and October 1965, Strombolian activity was generally continuous until March 1989 when explosive activity removed ~75 m of the MacKenney cone summit and enlarged the crater. Strombolian activity began again in January 1990 and has continued intermittently since then. This latest episode of activity, although smaller in terms of area impacted by tephra, is similar to the activity during July-August 1991, which again destroyed part of the cone and damaged towns W of the volcano. [....]

[Based on: http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcanoes/region14/guatemal/pacaya/var_02.htm]

1568 - 1st Native American Missionary School - "Jesuits organized a school in Havana for Indian children brought from Florida, which was the first missionary school for North American Indians." [Link: 1]

1572 - Pope Gregory XIII - "Gregory XIII [1502-1585], who became Pope in 1572, continued the policy of reform and hard-nosed antiheresy. He was the Pope who celebrated the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre jubilantly. He is best known for his reform of the calendar."

1574 - Guru Ram Das - "RAM DAS, Guru (Ministry 1574-81)—Fourth Guru in the line of succession to Nanak."

[Based on: http://www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/gloss.htm]

1577 - Treatise on Naval Defence - "In 1577 Dr John Dee [1527-1608] wrote his Treatise on Naval Defence which provided a blueprint for an imperial fleet which would rule the waves and form the bodyguard of a future British Empire."

1581 - Guru Arjan - "ARJAN or ARJAN DEV, Guru (Ministry 1581-1606)—Fifth in the line of succession to Nanak, compiled the Adi Granth (Guru Granth Sahib), the Bible of the Sikhs containing hymns of praise to God from the writings of all the Saints whether Hindus or Muslims, that he could lay his hands upon, besides his own compositions."

[Based on: http://www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/gloss.htm]

1584 - Czar Boris Godunov / Russia - "After the death of Ivan IV, Boris Godunov ruled [1584-1603] in Russia."

1586 - Volcanic Eruption / Kelut, Java, Indonesia - "Volcanic eruption date(s): 1586. Number of recorded deaths: 10,000." [Based on: The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2005, p. 491]

1596 - Birth / Rene Descartes - March 31st, 1596: "René Descartes (March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), also known as Cartesius, was a noted French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. Dubbed the "Founder of Modern Philosophy" and the "Father of Modern Mathematics," he ranks as one of the most important and influential thinkers of modern times. [....]"

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rene_Descartes]

1597 - Astronomic Configuration - "Uranus-Pluto [Aries] conjunction [1597-1598]. Uranus-Pluto conjunctions and oppositions might bring sudden and radical changes, like a cathartic diarrhoea, yet their full integration takes ages."

*Link: http://www.astro.com/swisseph/ae/1500/ae_1597.pdf

Earthquake Trivia / 16th Century - "Number of notable earthquakes this century: at least 2. Number of earthquake deaths this century: 860,000." [E.M.]

17th Century A.D.

1600 - Map of Europe - "Map of Europe 1600 AD."

1600 - London East India Co. - "The London East India Company is founded. Imports from India subsequently cause a drain of precious metals from England to India."

1600 - Giant Magnet? / Earth's Core - "William Gilbert claims that the core of the Earth is a giant magnet." [Based on: Ultimate Visual Dictionary of Science, Timeline of Discoveries, p. 15, 2005 Barnes & Noble Books]

1602 - Dutch East India Co. - "Dutch East India Company founded. This company provides the financial backing for Dutch competition with England in the Far East for control of the pepper market."

1603 - Pope-Ruled Russia - "From 1603-1613, the Russian Orthodox Church, which had broken from the Roman Catholic Church 1,000 years before, began to search for a successor to Boris Godunov. Since it was believed that the Czar was sent by God to rule, the people had no problems being leaderless for a decade. Although inconsistent in approach, the Russian Pope ruled effectively, sighting 'God' as justification for his power. By 1613, however, Russian peasants and landowners alike wanted a new Czar."

1603 - Fatality / Queen Elizabeth - "With Queen Elizabeth's death in 1603, King James of Scotland ascended to the English throne."

1603 - Knighted / Sir Francis Bacon - "[....] He [Francis Bacon] was knighted in 1603, created Baron Verulam in 1618, and created Viscount St Alban in 1621; both peerage titles became extinct upon his death. [....]"

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Council]

1603 - United Kingdom / England & Scotland -  March, 1603: "Union of the English and Scottish crowns under King James I [VI of Scotland]. The Monarchy is the oldest institution of government in the United Kingdom. Until 1603 the English and Scottish Crowns were separate; after this date a single Monarch reigned in the United Kingdom."

1604 - First English Dictionary -  "Robert Cawdrey publishes the first English dictionary [Table Alphabeticall]."

1604 - Witchcraft Act / England - "England passes a Witchcraft Act." [Link: 1]

1604 - Trivia / Guru Granth Sahib - "The same spark of the Mahanta jumped out at me when I began reading the Sukhmani, a famous section of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs. This section was written by Guru Arjan, the fifth Sikh guru, who first compiled the Guru Granth Sahib around 1604. Here is a short excerpt:

No praises can describe the one in whom God sends His Name to reside.
Devotees are yearning for Your one glance.
O God, keep me in the society of such lovers.
God's Name is the ambrosia and the Bestower of happiness.
God's Name resides in the hearts of the True saints.
By remembering God, Soul no longer goes through the cycles of birth and rebirth.
By remembering God, the Lords of Death retreat.
The gift of the remembrance of God is obtained in the society of true devotees.
All treasures of wealth are obtained by sincere devotion and love for God.
By remembering God, our thirst is quenched.
By remembering God, the dirt of karma is washed off.
God sits on the tongues of the true saints, but only those whom He showers His grace upon become attached to His remembrance.
By remembering God, one hears the unsurpassed heavenly music.
By remembering God, even the lowly and downtrodden become famous throughout the spiritual worlds of God.
Remember, remember God.
It was for the remembrance of God that He created the whole world.
Where God is remembered, His presence is found.

[See: Dialogue in the Age of Criticism, Chap. 12]  

1604 - Conception / King James Bible - January, 1604: "In January 1604, the newly crowned King James of England assembled England's leading clerics at his palace, Hampton Court, to denounce corruption in the church. When the discussion turned to recent Bible translations, the king announced that he had never seen a Bible 'well translated in English.' He added: 'I wish some special pains were taken for an uniform translation, which should be done by the best learned men in both Universities, then reviewed by the Bishops, presented to the Privy Council, lastly ratified by the Royal authority, to be read in the whole church, and none other.' Thus was born the book hailed as the greatest work in the English language - the King James Version of the Bible." [Leonard J. Greenspoon, Bible Review, December 2003]

1605 - Order of the Rosy Cross - "Reportedly, the earliest writings about the Order of the Rosy Cross began to circulate in Europe around the year 1605. They were contained in a manuscript called The Restoration of the Decayed Temple of Pallas and provide the earliest known constituition of the order. A history of the Rosicrucians was written by an unknown author in 1610 but did not appear in print until four years later."

*Trivia: "It has been alleged that the original Order of the Rosy Cross was founded by  the Pharoah Thothmes III in the fifteenth century B.C."

1606 - Virginia Company - "King James of England set up the Virginia Company which was granted Royal authority to begin settlements in the province of Virginia, named after Elizabeth I, who had been popularly called the Virgin Queen. In 1606, two groups of Englishmen, one in London and one in Plymouth, obtained official permission to colonize the eastern coast of North America." [Isaac Asimov]

1607 - Jamestown - "On May 13th, 1607, Jamestown was founded [North America]."

1607 - Perihelion / Halley's Comet - October 27th, 1607 A.D.: "1P/1607 S1 (27 October 1607)"

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley%27s_Comet] - [T.D. - 06/12/07] 

1608 - Quebec - "On July 3rd, 1608, Samuel de Champlain  founded the city of Quebec on the St. Lawerence River."

1609 - Bank of Amsterdam - "The Bank of Amsterdam is founded. This public bank is established to provide a superior and more controlled service than that available from private bankers. Later its example inspires the establishment of the Bank of England." [Link: 1]

*Trivia: "In the Netherlands, secret societies had been able to found a central bank as early as 1609. About 40 of the world's most important central banks were established in a similar way as that of the Bank of England. In that way the Masonic bankers ruled the long-term development in the world with loan interest as a method, the central banks as middlemen, the politicians as dummies and the people as ignorant wage slaves. The Freemason-controlled banks thus can govern political life by acting without being seen. The English people strengthened the power of these invisible Freemasons through paying taxes during three centuries. Central banks were supposed to keep the economy stable." [Based on: article by By Juri Lina, The Barnes Review, September/October 2004, p. 9]

1611 - Published / King James Bible -  "The Authorized, or King James Version, of the Bible is published."

1613 - Czar Michael I / Russia - "In 1613, Mikhail Romanov, nephew of Ivan IV was crowned Michael I by the Russian Pope."

1617 - Romanov Family / Russia - "In Russia the Romanov family had come to power and were to rule the country for 300 years from the seventeenth century until they were deposed in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917."

13. Baktun 12. Baktun of the Transformation of Matter. A.D. 1618-2012. 12.0.0.0.0

Rise and triumph of  scientific materialism, European world conquest, Industrial revolution, Democratic revolutions of America, Europe; colonialism of Africa, Latin America, Asia; industrialization of Japan; Karl Marx and the rise of communism; communist revolutions of Russia, China; World Wars I and II; atomic bomb and nuclear era; rise of Third World powers, Islam, Mexico, and India; global terrorism and collapse of technological civilization; Earth purification and final era of global regeneration; information age and crystal solar technology; galactic synchronization.

[The Mayan Factor / Path Beyond Technology, by Jose Arguelles, Copyright 1939-, 1987, pp. 115 & 118]

*Trivia "Within this final baktun of the Great Cycle, we find ourselves in the midst of the final katun. Baktun 12 dates back to 1618 AD. This is the time period of Galeleo, Kepler, and Descartes, and indeed the birth of scientific materialism. Four hundred years; it seems about as far back as any one can remember, yet it was only a moment ago. From Newton, to the Industrial Revolution, through colonialism, electricity, World Wars I and II, the nuclear era, the birth of computer technology, and space travel; the wave of this baktun represents the cresting of the entire Great Cycle of history. In this short period of time we witness an awesome compression of exponential acceleration which is reflected through transformations in technology, art, and nature, not to mention the conscious reality experienced by the collective mind of the human race."  

1619 - Tobacco Currency / Virginia - "Tobacco begins to be used as currency in Virginia. Barely a dozen years after its introduction to Virginia tobacco starts being used as currency and this use continues for nearly 200 years."

1619 - American Slavery - "A boatload of blacks was brought to Virginia in 1619, and the institution of black slavery was introduced to North America."

1620 - Mayflower Landing / Plymouth Massachusetts - "According to one report, the Mayflower landing happened on November 11th, 1620. According to another report, the Mayflower passengers disembarked at Plymouth Massachusetts on December 26th, 1620."

1621 - Dutch West India Company - "Dutch West India Company founded. This company provides the financial backing for Dutch competition with England for a foothold in the New World."

1624 - Massachusetts Colony - "In 1624, Thomas Morton, an English lawyer, founded his own colony called Merrymount in Massachusetts. Morton was a rebel who forged alliances with the local Indians, sold them muskettes and warned them of the genocidal tendencies of the Puritan colonists. In May 1628 Morton ordered a maypole to be erected in the center of his colony."

1625 - Fatality / King James - "The king of England and Scotland, King James, dies."

1629 - Native American Missions - "Spanish start missions [1629-1633] among the Acoma, Hopi, and Zuni tribes."

1631 - Venus Transit - "The German Johannes Kepler caculated Venus' path, although he died a year before the 1631 transit." [Based on: The Associated Press, 06/09/04]

*Trivia: "Reportedly, Venus transits happen in pairs [twice] about every 200 years."

*Trivia: "A Venus transit occured in 1882 - less than one year before the Krakatau Volcano explosion." [E.M.]

*Trivia: "A Venus transit happened on June 8th, 2004. The second will be expected in the year 2012. That year - December 23rd, 2012 - is believed by various groups and individuals to mark the end of an Era." [E.M.]

1631 - Volcanic Eruption / Mt. Vesuvius, Italy - "Volcanic eruption date(s): December 15th, 1631. Number of recorded deaths: 4,000." [Based on: The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2005, p. 491]

1632 -  Birth / John Locke - August 29th, 1632: "John Locke [1632-1704] is born." [Link: 1]

1634 - Increase / Ship money Taxes - "Ship money taxes were increased by Charles I. These taxes were introduced to raise money for the build-up of the English navy. They proved to be extremely unpopular."

1637 - Wampum Currency / Massachusetts - "Wampum becomes legal tender in Massachusetts. This is only for sums up to one shilling. Wampum is a type of shell used by the native Americans as currency and adopted by the settlers."

1638 - Science of Mechanics - "Galileo Galilei founds the science of mechanics." [Based on: Ultimate Visual Dictionary of Science, Timeline of Discoveries, p. 15, 2005 Barnes & Noble Books]

1642 - Civil War / England - "The English Civil War [1642-1651] begins. The war is fought because parliament disputes the king's right to levy taxes without its consent. The use of goldsmith's safes as secure places for people's jewels, bullion and coins had increased after the seizure of the mint by Charles I in 1640 and increases again with the outbreak of the Civil War. This accelerates the tendency of some goldsmiths to become bankers and development of that aspect of their business continues after the war is over."

*Trivia: "The Prieure de Sion initiated, with the aid of the moneychangers (above all the Portuguese Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel, who lived in the Netherlands, and Antonio Fernandez Moses Carvajal), the insurrection of 1642, led by Oliver Cromwell, which in turn led to the first republic (commonwealth) in England in 1649. In the year 1643 a large group of rich Jews came to England. They met with the Portuguese ambassador in London, Antonio de Souza, a Maranno, where further moves were discussed. All their actions were coordinated by Carvajal.
   "Having deposed and executed Charles I in 1649, naming himself as dictator in 1653, Cromwell became bloodthirsty and hostile to cultural development, letting the moneychangers strengthen their financial power. Under the puritanical rule of the Lord Protector Cromwell, music and other cultural activities were practically banned. Even colorful garments were forbidden.
   "In November of 1688 (under the sign of the scorpion) the Catholic king of England James II (Stuart) was overthrown through a well-organized invasion financed by the moneyed Jews of Amsterdam and led by the Prieure de Sion and the Orange Order. The king was exiled to France and in February of 1689 William of Orange, the prince of Nassau, was put upon the English throne by means of a coup d'etat, which became known as the Glorious Revolution. Even official historians admit that the people did not participate in this coup.
   "England at that time was in poor condition after more than 50 years of war with France and the Netherlands, and the new king, William III (of Orange), asked several powerful bankers for help. They provided the English state with a loan of 1.25 million pounds but only delivered 750,000 pounds. The terms of the loan were as follows: the names of the lenders were not to be revealed, and these were guaranteed the right to found the Bank of England, whose directors were ensured to establish a gold reserve so as to be able to issue loans to a value of 10 pounds for each pound deposited gold in the bank vault. They also were allowed to consolidate the national debt and secure payment for annuity and interest through direct taxation of the people." [Based on: article by Juri Lina, The Barnes Review, September/October 2004, p. 9]

1642 - Birth / Isaac Newton - "Reportedly born in 1642: Scientist, Isaac Newton [1642-1727]."

1643 - Discovered & Measured / Air Pressure - "Air pressure discovered and measured by Evangelista Torricelli." [Based on: Ultimate Visual Dictionary of Science, Timeline of Discoveries, p. 15, 2005 Barnes & Noble Books]
   
1644 - Astronomic Configuration - "[1644-1649] Uranus conjunct Neptune [Sagittarius], opposed by Pluto [Gemini]."

1644 - Qing Dynasty / China - "The Manchu [Qing] Dynasty [1644-1911] begins."

1645 - Maunder Minimum - "Witness the sobering case of the Maunder Minimum, the eerie stretch from 1645 to 1715 in which records show that practically no sunspots appeared on the solar face." [N.G.M., July 2004, p. 21]

1645 - Czar Alexis / Russia - After Michael died in 1645, his son Alexis became Czar. Called the 'most gentle Czar' despite his fits of temper, he was a devoted son of the church. He frequently sought the clergy for advice on matters of state, in sharp contrast to his father. Believing the clergy in their call to 'convert' non-believers, Alexis has become known as the Czar to institute full fledged 'serfdom' in Russia."

1645 - Milled Coins / Paris - "The Paris mint is fully mechanised and starts production of milled coins. With the replacement of the ancient technique of hammering coins, minting has become fully mechanised. Improved productivity is not the only advantage. The milled edges prevent clipping and cutting and make counterfeiting more difficult."

1648 - Configuration - Uranus-Pluto [Sagittarius/Gemini] opposition [1648-1649]. Uranus-Pluto conjunctions and oppositions might bring sudden and radical changes, like a cathartic diarrhoea, yet their full integration takes ages."

1648 - Jewish Expulsion / Polish Russia - "The Cossacks destroy 700 Jewish communities [1648-1658] in Polish Russia. Many Jews are expelled from the region."

*Trivia: "[....] Once the Church discovered the Talmud and understood the threat which the Jews posed to the social order, she had to do something, if for no other reason than to head off the mob violence that knowledge of the subversive nature of the Talmud was sure to generate among Christians. The natural reaction to the threat of Jewish subversion is violence, a reaction that can be seen at the time of the first crusade, at the time of the Chmielnicki pogroms in 1648, and at the time when Bolshevism threatened the social order of Europe during the 1920s and 30s. [....]" [Based on: E. Michael Jones, editor of Culture Wars]

1649 - English Commonwealth - "January 30th, 1649: "King Charles I is executed, the House of Lords is abolished, and England is declared a Commonwealth."

1649 - Trivia / Mother Mary Image - "In 1649, the bishops went so far as to issue a decree that all images of Jesus's mother should depict her wearing blue and white only."

1650 - Astronomic Configuration - "Uranus-Neptune [Sagittarius] conjunction. Uranus-Neptune energies work surreptitiously. They influence awareness and the inner movies playing within the world psyche."

1650 - Annales Veteris Testamenti - "In Christian Church theology, Adam is generally dated at 4004 B.C., and this has been the case since AD 1650 when Ireland's Protestant Archbishop, James Ussher of Armagh, published his famous Annales Veteris Testamenti." [Laurence Gardner, Genesis of the Grail Kings, p. 15]

1650 - Trivia / The European Enlightenment - "The Enlightenment was a sprawling intellectual, philosophical, cultural, and social movement that spread through England, France, Germany, and other parts of Europe during the 1700s. Enabled by the Scientific Revolution, which had begun as early as 1500, the Enlightenment represented about as big of a departure as possible from the Middle Ages—the period in European history lasting from roughly the fifth century to the fifteenth. [....]"

[Based on: http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/enlightenment/context.html] - [T.D. - 11/22/08]

*Links: http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/enlightenment/summary.html

1652 - Massachusetts Mint - "John Hull's unofficial mint operates in Massachusetts. The mint coins threepences, sixpences and pine-tree shillings all of which contain about three-quarters of the silver in their newly minted English equivalents but about as much as most of the old, worn coins in circulation."

1654 - Christian Dogma / Date of Creation - "Heaven and earth, centre and circumference were made in the same instance of time and clouds full of water and man was created by the Trinity on the 26th of October, 4004 B.C., at 9 0'clock in the morning." [Dr. John Lightfoot, 1654]

*Trivia: "In 1654, more than a century before the Universal History was published, the Vatican Council had decreed that anyone daring to contradict the 4004 BC date [of Creation] was a heretic - an attitude that was not relaxed until Pope Pius XII addressed the 1952 papal Academy of Sciences in Rome. In this address, he announced that theologians must not ignore the discoveries of geological science, and that it was clear that the Earth  had existed for thousands of millions of years."

1660 - Treatise on the Civil Magistrate / John Locke - "Locke meets Robert Boyle, the chemist, who was to be his friend and correspondent for thirty years. Locke writes his first treatise on the Civil Magistrate."

1660 - King Charles II / England - "Charles II returns to England [from France] and is restored to the throne."

1661 - Spanish Raid / Pueblo Indians - "Spanish raid the sacred kivas of the Pueblo Indians in an effort to destroy the religion and culture."

1664 - Guru Teg Bahadur - 1664: "TEG BAHADUR, Guru (Ministry 1664-76)—Son of Gul Hargobind, but ninth in the line of succession to Nanak. Captained the Sikhs during the tumultuous times of Aurangzeb, was beheaded in Delhi where now stands Gurdwara Sisganj in commemoration of his martyrdom."

[Based on: http://www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/gloss.htm] 

1665 - Mathematical Principles / Isaac Newton - "Isaac Newton publishes Mathematical Principles, in which he formulates the laws of motion and gravitation." [Based on: Ultimate Visual Dictionary of Science, Timeline of Discoveries, p. 15, 2005 Barnes & Noble Books]

*Trivia: "Most important, we see that a real revolution often requires that several new proposals for unification come together to support one another. In the Newtonian revolution, there were several proposed unifications that triumphed at once: the unification of the Earth with the planets, the unification of the sun with the stars, the unification of rest and uniform motion, and the unification of the gravitational force on earth with the force by which the sun influences a planet's motions. Singly, none of these ideas could have survived; together; they trounced their rivals. The result was a revolution that transformed every aspect of our understanding of nature." [Based on: Lee Smolin, The Trouble with Physics, p. 31 (1st paragraph), copyright 2006]

*Trivia: "From Newton to Einstein, a single idea dominated: The world is made of nothing but matter. Even electricity and magnetism were aspects of matter - just stresses in the aether. But this beautiful picture was crushed when special relativity triumphed [1905], for if the whole notion of being at rest or in motion is meaningless, the aether must be fiction." [Based on: Lee Smolin, The Trouble with Physics, p. 38 (2nd paragraph), copyright 2006]

1666 - London Fire -  "The Great Fire of London. The end of The Great Plague."

1667 - Earthquake / Shemaka, Caucasia - November 1667: Earthquake location: Shemaka, Caucasia. Earthquake magnitude: N/A. Number of recorded fatalities: 80,000."  [Based on: The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2005, p. 207]

1668 - Earthquake / Turkey- August 16th, 1668: "Earthquake location: Anatolia, Turkey. Earthquake magnitude: 8. Number of recorded fatalities: 8,000."  

1671 - Essay Concerning Human Understanding - "Locke writes the first draft of the Essay Concerning Human Understanding. From this year until 1675 Locke appears to have been the secretary to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina."

1675 - Volcanic Eruption / Kyushu, Japan - October 12th, 1995: "Hosho is a volcanic dome. The only eruption of this stratovolcano was in 1675, in which little records of the eruption were kept. On October 12, 1995, Hosho erupted small volumes of ash and steam."

 [Based on:  http://library.thinkquest.org/16132/html/volcanoinfo/recentdisasters/hosho.html  ]

1676 - Czar Fyodor  / Russia - "After Alexis died in 1676, his first son Fyodor became Czar. He ruled ineffectively only until 1682."

1676 - Guru Gobind Singh - "GOBIND SINGH, Guru (Ministry 16761708)—A soldier-saint ranking as tenth in succession to Nanak, brought about the transformation of Sikhs (mere disciples) into Singhs (militant lions), a martial race for the defense of the country against injustice and tyranny of the rulers, and gave the new institution the name of Khalsa—the brotherhood of the pure, by a form of baptism, called Khanda-di-Pahul or 'Baptism of the Sword.' "

[Based on: http://www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/gloss.htm]

1680 - Volcanic Eruption? - "At least three Dutch travelers reported that Danan and Perboewatan were seen erupting in May 1680 and February 1681." [Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa] - [T.D. - 10/11/08]

1682 - Czar Peter / Russia - "Only ten at the time, Alexis' second son Peter was named Czar in 1682. All in all Peter did more to modernize and westernize Russia than any Czar before him. All great Czars were to be judged in comparison to Peter the Great."

1682 - Perihelion / Halley's Comet - September 15th, 1682 A.D.: "1P/1682 Q1 (15 September 1682)"

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley%27s_Comet] - [T.D. - 06/12/07] 

1685 - King James II / England - "Charles II dies; the Catholic Duke of York ascends the throne as James II."

1688 - Published  Extract / Essay Concerning Human Understanding - "The Bibliotheque Universelle publishes a fifty page abstract of Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding."

1688 - William of Orange / England - "William of Orange invades England and accomplishes the 'Glorious Revolution of 1688.' William of Orange and his wife Mary are made jointly sovereign by parliament after James II flees to France. Political and economic power is in the process of shifting from the monarch to the moneyed classes and thus the financial and constitutional revolutions are closely and causally intertwined."

1689 - John Locke / England - February, 1689: "Locke returns to England escorting the princess of Orange, who later became Queen Mary. He meets Sir Isaac Newton and they become friends."

1689 - King William's War - May 12, 1689: "King William's War begins."

1690 - Trivia / Paper Money - "These notes are used to pay soldiers returning from an expedition to Quebec. They can be used to pay taxes and are accepted as legal tender. Other colonies subsequently copy the example of Massachusetts."

1692 - Salem Witch Trials - "Not the largest or most gruesome of the witch trials [Bamberg, Germany, 1623-1633 comes to mind], the events in Salem, Massachusetts are definitely the most famous. A group of young girls began to claim local women were bewitching them. The first arrest was a slave Tituba who provided all the details that could be wished to capture the imagination. Prominent theologians such as Cotton Mather provided legitimisation, and things ran on from there." [Link: 1]

1693 - Earthquake / Catania, Italy - January, 11th, 1693: Earthquake location: Catania, Italy. Earthquake magnitude: N/A. Number of recorded fatalities: 60,000."  [Based on: The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2005, p. 207]

1693 - Tontine Act - "This act, based on the ideas of the Italian adviser to the French court, Lorenzo Tonti, marks the beginning of the English national debt. The tontine is a scheme for raising money on a long-term basis by weighting rewards in favour of the longest lasting contributors."

1694 - Bank of England - "The main purpose of the Act founding the Bank is to raise money for the War of the League of Augsburg by taxation and by the novel device of a permanent loan on which interest would be paid but the principal would not be repaid."

*Trivia: "The privately owned Bank of England was established in 1694 with absolute control over the currency (the right to issue bank notes). The lending of money on usury was able to continue at an even larger scale. Thus the English people suffered a huge national debt. Taxes had to be raised and prices doubled. To the Masonic bankers it was necessary to have a monopoly on money issuing. That way they were able to make enormous profits and also control political processes.
   "The Bank of England was allowed to lend money to an amount 10 times the security the lender put up. With 5 percent interest it only took two years for the bank to earn back an amount equal to the original security." [Based on: article by Juri Lina, The Barnes Review, September/October 2004, p. 9]

1695 - The Reasonableness of Christianity -  "The Reasonableness of Christianity was published anonymously."

1696 - Lottery Act  / England - "The English government attempts to raise £1 million by issuing 100,000 shares of £10 at 10% with the possibility of sharing a total of £40,000 to be put up each year as lottery prizes. The target is not reached and the money is used as subscriptions to the capital of the Million Bank which becomes an investment fund for government securities."

1696 - Board of Trade - "A Board of Trade was established and John Locke appointed to it. The Board had a variety of duties including overseeing colonial governments. Though ill of health, Locke remained on the Board until 1700. He was its most influential member."

1697 - End / King William's War - September 30th, 1697: "King William's War ends [Peace of Ryswick]."

1698 - Trivia / English National Debt - "By the year 1698 the national debt [of England] had risen from one and a quarter million pounds to 16 million. In 1815 it was 885 million pounds and in 1945 it had grown to 22.5 billion pounds. By 1995 the national debt had risen to more than 300 billion pounds, equal to 45 percent of GNP."
  "Not even the Macmillan Committee, which was appointed in 1929, managed to find out who governed the Bank of England. Only one name has leaked out—that of Rothschild. All great wars have been started and financed by the economic conglomerate emanating from one single banking family—the Rothschilds.
   "In the Netherlands, secret societies had been able to found a central bank as early as 1609. About 40 of the world's most important central banks were established in a similar way as that of the Bank of England. In that way the Masonic bankers ruled the long-term development in the world with loan interest as a method, the central banks as middlemen, the politicians as dummies and the people as ignorant wage slaves. The Freemason-controlled banks thus can govern political life by acting without being seen. The English people strengthened the power of these invisible Freemasons through paying taxes during three centuries. Central banks were supposed to keep the economy stable." [Based on: article by Juri Lina, The Barnes Review, September/October 2004, p. 9]

1699 - Beginning / Dwapara Yuga? - "Sri Yukteswar’s introduction to The Holy Science includes his explanation of the Yuga Cycle – revolutionary because of his premise that the earth is now in the age of Dwapara Yuga, not the Kali Yuga that most Indian pundits believe to be the current age.[4] His theory is based on the idea that the sun “takes some star for its dual and revolves round it in about 24,000 years of our earth – a celestial phenomenon which causes the backward movement of the equinoctial points around the zodiac.”[1] The common explanation for this celestial phenomenon is precession, the ‘wobbling’ rotating movement of the earth axis. Research into Sri Yukteswar’s explanation is being conducted by the Binary Research Institute. [....] In The Holy Science, Sri Yukteswar concludes that we are currently in the beginning stages of Dwapara Yuga, which began around 1699 A.D. This now puts us in the year 308 Dwapara according to Sri Yukteswar. Thus, we are moving closer to the grand center, and will pass into Treta Yuga around the year 4099 A.D.[1] [....]"

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Science] - [T.D. - 10/19/08]

Earthquake Trivia / 17th Century - "Number of notable earthquakes this century: at least 3. Number of earthquake deaths this century: 148,000." [E.M.]

18th Century A.D.

1700 - Map of Europe - "Map of Europe: 1700 AD."

1700 - Map of Colonial America  - "A Map of Colonial America."

1700 - Mythos vs. Logos - "By the 18th Century, the people of Europe and America had achieved such astonishing success in science and technology that they began to think that logos was the only means to truth and began to discount mythos as false and superstitious." [Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God, p.xvii]

1700 - Earthquake, Tsunami? / Pacific Ocean? - January 26th, 1700: "Earthquake location: Cascadia subduction zone from No. CA to Vancouver Is. Earthquake magnitude: 9. Number of recorded fatalities: 0."  

*Trivia: "[....] Scientists say grinding geologic circumstances similar to those in Sumatra [Dec. 2004] also exist just off the Pacific Northwest  coast. They could trigger a tsunami that could hit Northern California, Washington, Oregon and British Columbia in minutes - too fast for the nation's deep-sea tsunami warning system to help. In fact, Atwater [Brian Atwater, of the U.S. Geological Survey] said there was a 9.0 earthquake under the Pacific in 1700 that had devestating consequences. He and other scientists last year [2003] reported finding evidence of severe flooding in the Puget Sound area, including trees that stopped growing after 'taking a bath in rising waters.' The danger rests just 50 miles off the the West Coast in a 680-mile undersea fault known as the Cascadia subduction zone that behaves much like one that ruptured off Sumatra. The 1700 quake occurred along the Cascadia fault. [....]" [A.P., 12/30/04]

1701 - "Acoustics" - "Joseph Sauveur suggests term 'acoustics' for science of sound." [Based on: Ultimate Visual Dictionary of Science, Timeline of Discoveries, p. 15, 2005 Barnes & Noble Books]

1701 - Iroquois Neutrality - "The Iroquois Indians set a policy of neutrality."

1702 - Queen Anne's War - May 4th, 1702: "Queen Anne's War begins."

1704 - The Boston News-Letter - "The first regular colonial newspaper was published."

1705 - Trivia / John Law - "After travelling widely on the Continent, Law returns to his native Scotland and publishes Money and Trade Considered: With a Proposal for Supplying the Nation with Money. He argues that metallic money is unreliable in quality and quantity. Bank notes issued and managed by a public bank would remove the brakes on the economy. He is probably the world's first Keynesian; but compare Sir William Petty, 1682."

1706 - Birth / Benjamin Franklin - January 17th, 1706: "Ben Franklin born, 1706." [Based on: The Old Farmer's Almanac (2006) by Robert B. Thomas, p. 101]

1710 - Saint Germain / England - "Saint Germain was active in Europe from 1710 to 1789, during which time he always had the appearance of a man in his early forties."

1710 - Astronomic Configuration - "Uranus-Pluto [Leo] conjunction. Uranus-Pluto conjunctions and oppositions might bring sudden and radical changes, like a cathartic diarrhoea, yet their full integration takes ages."

1712 - Steam Engine - "Thomas Newcomen invented the atmospheric steam engine."

1712 - Birth / Jean Jacques Rousseau - "June 28th, 1712: "Jean Jacques Rousseau (Geneva, 28 June 1712 – Ermenonville, 2 July 1778) was a major Swiss philosopher, writer, and composer of the Enlightenment, whose political philosophy influenced the French Revolution and the development of liberal, conservative, and socialist theory. With his Confessions, Reveries of a Solitary Walker, and other writings, he invented modern autobiography and encouraged a new focus on the building of subjectivity that bore fruit in the work of thinkers as diverse as Hegel and Freud. His novel Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse was one of the best-selling fictional works of the eighteenth century and of great importance to the development of romanticism.[1] He also made important contributions to music as a theorist and a composer, and was reburied alongside other French national heroes in the Panthéon in Paris, sixteen years after his death, in 1794. [....]"

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rousseau] - [T.D. - 11/22/08]

1713 - End / Queen Anne's War - April 11th, 1713: "Queen Anne's War ends [Peace of Utrecht]."

1713 - Immigration Trivia / United States - "Beginning of Scots-Irish and German immigration to the United States."

1715 - Solar Eclipse - "Edmund Halley's Eclipse [May 3rd]"

1715 - Status / Slave Trade - "The volume of slave trade doubles [1715-1730]."

1715 - North Carolina Money - "All the British colonies in North America tend to suffer from a dearth of the official British coinage. Consequently they use a variety of substitutes including wampum, copied from the native inhabitants, tobacco and other natural commodities, and Spanish and Portuguese coins. The importance of these substitutes varies according to location."

1716 - 1st Public Bank of France - "John Law creates France's first public bank. To economize on the use of precious metals Law establishes a note-issuing bank, Law & Co. or the Banque Generale. In contrast to the state's short-term paper, Law's banknotes appreciate in value."

1718 - French New Orleans - "The French settle New Orleans."

1719 - Mississippi Bubble - "The Mississippi Company had been set up to exploit the wealth of French colonies, especially in Louisiana. In 1719 it is also given a monopoly of trade with the East Indies and China and a speculative boom in the value of its shares ensues. The boom, combined with the over-issue of notes by the Banque Royale, leads to a drain of precious metals from France to London. Law's enemies persuade the Regent to dismiss him from his post as Minister of Finance, the bank stops payment and the boom collapses. The debacle sets back the development of banking in France by about 100 years."

1719 - South Sea Bubble - "Contemporary with the Mississippi Bubble a speculative boom takes place in the shares of the South Sea Company, originally set up to break the Spanish monopoly of trade with Central and South America, after it proposes to take over the National Debt. Numerous other companies are set up to take advantage of the speculative mania. The sudden collapse of the boom leads to changes in company law which affect the future development of banking in both Britain and America."

1721 - Birth / Russian Empire - "November 2, 1721 became the official birthday of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great."

1724 - Thermometer - "Gabriel Fahrenheit invented the first mercury thermometer."

1725 - Czarina Catherine I / Russia - "Catherine I was Peter's wife and successor upon his death in 1725. Being illiterate and virtually mentally retarded, her brother, Aleksander Menshikov governed Russia during her reign. He was a gentle man who belived highly in education mostly because of the condition of Catherine. It was he who founded the Academy of Sciences. Catherine only served as Czarina from 1725-1727, but in these two short years the Academy was founded and became the greatest of Russian colleges."

1727 - Died / Isaac Newton - March 20th, 1727: "Physicist Sir Isaac Newton died, 1727." [Based on: The Old Farmer's Almanac (2006) by Robert B. Thomas, p. 105]

1727 - Czar Peter II / Russia - "When Catherine I died she had designated her grandson, Pytor to be her successor. Pytor became Peter II in 1727 at age 14, but died one year later from smallpox."

1727 - Tobacco Notes - "Certificates attesting to the quality and quantity of tobacco deposited in public warehouses circulate more conveniently than the actual leaf, already used as money for over a century, and these notes are made legal tender."

1730 - Earthquake / Hokkaido, Japan - December 30th, 1730: Earthquake location: Hokkaido, Japan. Earthquake magnitude: N/A. Number of recorded fatalities: 137,000."  [Based on: The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2005, p. 207]

1731 - Freemason / Benjamin Franklin - "One of the most influential figures in the American Revolution was the writer, philosopher and scientist Benjamin Franklin. He was a Quaker but had become a Freemason in 1731 when he joined the lodge of  St. John in Philadelphia, which was the first recognized Masonic lodge in America."

1732 - Birth / George Washington - February 22nd, 1732: "George Washington born, 1732." [Based on: The Old Farmer's Almanac (2006) by Robert B. Thomas, p. 103]

1732 - Founded / Georgia - "Georgia founded for English paupers and as a buffer against Florida."

1735 - Astronomic Configuration - "Uranus-Neptune [Sagittarius/Capricorn Gemini/Cancer] opposition [1735-1738]."

1737 - Earthquake / Calcutta, India - October 11th, 1737: Earthquake location: Calcutta, India. Earthquake magnitude: N/A. Number of recorded fatalities: 300,000."  [Based on: The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2005, p. 207]

1738 - Masonry Condemned  - "In 1738 the Roman Catholic Church officially condemned Masonry."

1738 - Birth / William Herschel - November 15th, 1738: "Astronomer Sir William Herschel born, 1738." [Based on: The Old Farmer's Almanac (2006) by Robert B. Thomas, p. 97]

1741 - Czarina Elizabeth / Russia - "Elizabeth became Czarina in 1741 after a series of infants held the crown in succession. Elizabeth tried to link herself with Peter the Great. She abolished the death penalty for a short time and attempted to continue her father's reforms in government. She was not successful, though, and the financial condition of the country deteriorated. Upon her death she named her nephew Peter as Czar."

1741 - Trivia / Boston Land Bank - "British Parliament decides that the Boston Land Bank is illegal. The Land Bank or Manufactory Scheme is ruled to contravene the Bubble Act of 1720 which is retrospectively extended to cover the colonies."

1744 - King George's War - March 15th, 1744: "King George's War begins."

1745 - Electrical Capacitor - "Reportedly, E.G. von Kleist invented the leyden jar, the first electrical capacitor."

1748 - End / King George's War - October 18th, 1748: "King George's War ends [Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]."

1750

1750 - U.S. Indian School - "Moor’s Indian Charity School is founded in Connecticut. In 1769 it is moved to New Hampshire and becomes Dartmouth College, which has promoted the enrollment of Indian students to the present."

1750 - Trivia / British Banks - "In the mid-eighteenth century, at the start of the Industrial Revolution, there are barely a dozen banking houses in England and Wales outside the London area."

1750 - Masonic Lodge / Poland - "The first masonic lodge was officially founded in Poland in 1750 and within a few years Masonry had spread rapidly from there to Mother Russia."

1750 - Hasidism / Eastern Europe - "A new sect of Judaism known as Hasidism emerges [1750's] in Eastern Europe. Commerce and industry flourish in Western Europe and some Jews become very prosperous. It thrived despite disapproval from the mainstream rabbinate."

1750 - Colonial Scrip / North America - "Benjamin Franklin wrote of the British colonies in North America in the 1750s: 'Nowhere on Earth does one find a happier and more well-being people.' He explained that this was due to that 'we in the colonies make our own currency,' called 'colonial scrip.' He further explained: 'By issuing our own currency we can control its buying power, and we are not obliged to pay interest to anyone.' " [Based on: article by Juri Lina, The Barnes Review, September/October 2004, p. 9]

1752 - Gregorian Calendar / England - "Replacing the Julian [Old Style] calendar, the Gregorian [New Style] calendar was adopted in England [1752], when it was necessary to drop 11 days. England's calendar before 1752 reportedly began on March 25th. Other nations prior to the Gregorian calendar celebrated new Year's Day on December 25th."

1752 - Forbidden / Colonial Credit - "Britain forbids New England colonies from issuing new bills of credit. In addition, Parliament insists that all outstanding issues be promptly redeemed at maturity."

1752 - Lightening Rod - "Benjamin Franklin invents the lightening rod."

1754 - Beginning / French and Indian War - July 3rd, 1754: "The French and Indian War begins." [Link: 1]

1754 - Albany Congress - July 10th, 1754: "The Albany Congress meets."

1755 - Earthquake / N. Persia - June 7th, 1755: "Earthquake location: N. Persia. Earthquake magnitude: N/A. Number of recorded fatalities: 40,000."  [Based on: The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2005, p. 207]

1755 - Earthquake / Lisbon, Portugal - November 1st, 1755: "Earthquake location: Lisbon, Portugal. Earthquake magnitude: 8.75*. Number of recorded fatalities: 60,000."  [Based on: The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2005, p. 207]

1756 - French & Indian War Begins - The French & Indian War, or 'Seven Years War' [1756-1763] begins."

1758 - Perihelion / Halley's Comet - December 25th, 1758 A.D.: "1P/1758 Y1, 1758 I (25 December 1758)"

[Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley%27s_Comet] - [T.D. - 06/12/07]