1450 C.E - 1750 C.E

The Spanish were much better prepared to fight the fierce Aztec warriors. It was not the Spanish guns that won the day. It was the Spanish horses and dogs. The Spanish brought huge fierce mastiffs with them into battle. Their best weapon was disease. The Aztecs had never been exposed to childhood diseases like measles. As well, the Spanish had help from the other tribes in the area. These tribes saw a chance to get even, and perhaps even to rid themselves of the feared and hated Aztecs.

Suleyman the Magnificent has been known as one of the greatest rulers of the Ottoman Empire. He is mostly remembered as a fierce conqueror of the Islamic religion. In Middle Eastern cultures, however, he is often referred to as a great builder. During his rule as sultan, the Ottoman Empire reached its peak in power and prosperity.

The Mughal Empire, founded in 1526, was the most powerful Islamic state to rule in India. It was at its most prosperous during the 17th century, when fine buildings such as the TAJ MAHAL were constructed

The Council of Trent played an important part in determining the outcome of the Counter-Reformation. Along with the part played by the Jesuits and certain individuals, the Council of Trent was a central feature of the Counter-Reformation. But whether Trent represented a positive move by the Catholic Church remains contentious.

Akbar considered all faiths to be equal, and felt that they all taught of the same divine truth. He invited missionaries and teachers from many faiths to visit his court and teach their beliefs. Akbar eventually attempted to found a new religion, which he called ‘Divine Truth’, which incorporated aspects of many of the major religions of the day.

Galilei was born in Pisa in 1564, the son of Vincenzo Galilei, well known for his studies of music, and Giulia Ammannati. He studied at Pisa, where he later held the chair in mathematics from 1589 - 1592. He was then appointed to the chair of mathematics at the University of Padua, where he remained until 1610.

The Wanli emperor was a recluse whose apparent inattention to government affairs contributed to the abuses of power by provincial officials and other political figures that came to dominate that era of Chinese history. The violence and corruption among leaders of the northern provinces led to much popular dissatisfaction and unrest, preparing the way for the invasion from the north by the Manchu, who subsequently conquered all of China and established the Qing dynasty. Wanli’s reign also witnessed some of the earliest Western inroads into China, among them the establishment by the Italian priest Matteo Ricci of missions there.

The final shoguns were those of the Tokugawa clan, who came to power in 1603 and ruled until 1868. Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the dynasty, built a new capital in Edo, the city that is now Tokyo. His grandson Iemitsu completed the national isolation policy. The shoguns also imposed a strict class system, with the samurai (warriors) at the top, followed by farmers, artisans, and merchants. Under the shoguns were lords with the title of daimyo, each of whom ruled a part of Japan. The Tokugawa shogunate remained in firm command of the government during their rule, unlike earlier shogun families whose power was weaker

The Thirty Years' War was a series of conflicts that began early in the 17th century in the Holy Roman Empire and finally involved much of Europe. It started as a conflict between Protestants and Roman Catholics but soon became a struggle for political power.

Earlier writers had argued that human understanding was limited, Locke tried to determine what those limits are. We can, he thinks, know with certainty that God exists. We can also know about morality with the same precision we know about mathematics, because we are the creators of moral and political ideas. Locke was very important to the writers of the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution. They borrow some of his ideas and expanded on them. For example, Locke said that all people had these basic rights: the right to life, to own property, and to revolt against unjust governments.

In 1644, the Manchus invaded China, and set up a new dynasty known as the Qing Dynasty. Qing means ‘pure’ in Chinese. The Qing Dynasty would rule China for the next 300 years.

The Peace of Westphalia was the treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War in Europe. The treaty meant an end to the long conflict between Catholic and Protestant forces.The peace negotiations were after initial talks held in the cities, an alternative favoured by Sweden (Hamburg and Cologne being the French alternatives). The two locations were needed as the Protestant and Catholic leaders refused to meet each other. The Treaty of the Pyrennes ending the war between France and Spain is also often considered part of the treaty.

Seven Years' War, a power struggle in Europe, North America, and India that involved most of the nations of Europe. Prussia emerged from the war as a powerful state. Great Britain, victorious over France, became the world's greatest colonial power

The slaves set fire to the plantations they worked in and demanded their freedom. With crops burning to a crisp as a backdrop, the slaves offered to fight for their right to freedom. Leading them was Toussaint L'Overture, himself a former slave. He was so successful at training and leading the 500,000 slaves (10 times the number of plantation owners) that even though it took a long time, they eventually conquered all of Haiti and all of Santo Domingo, the other half of the island. In 1801, L'Overture proclaimed himself governor-general of the entire island. He also outlawed slavery on the island. This didn't sit well with Napoleon, Emperor of France. The French didn't like losing Haiti, their wealthiest colony; and they certainly didn't like losing their colony to a rebel leader and a bunch of slaves. So Napoleon set a trap for L'Overture; sadly, the Haitian hero fell for it and was thrown into prison, where he died in 1803.

In July 1833, a Bill to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire passed in the House of Commons, followed by the House of Lords on 1st August. There has been a lot of debate over the factors that contributed to the final success of the bill: