History Timeline

n 1398, Timur the Lame destroyed Delhi. The city was so completely devastated that according to one witness,
“for months, not a bird moved in the city.”
Delhi eventually was rebuilt. But it was not until the 16th century that a leader arose who would unify the empire

In 1494, an 11-year-old boy named Babur inherited a kingdom in the area that is now Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. It was only a tiny kingdom, and his elders soon took it away and drove him south. But Babur built up an army. In the years that followed, he swept down into India and laid the foundation for the vast Mughal Empire.

In 1526, for example, he led 12,000 troops to victory against an army of 100,000 commanded by a sultan of Delhi. A year later, Babur also defeated a massive rajput army.

Akbar’s Golden Age Babur’s grandson was called Akbar, which means
“Great.”
Akbar cer tainly lived up to his name, ruling India with wisdom and tolerance from 1556 to 1605.

In 1631, Mumtaz Mahal died at age 39 while giving birth to her 14th child. To enshrine his wife’s memory, he ordered that a tomb be built
“as beautiful as she was beautiful.

When Shah Jahan became ill in 1657, his four sons scrambled for the throne. The third son, Aurangzeb moved first and most decisively. In a bitter civil war, he exe-cuted his older brother, who was his most serious rival.

A master at military strategy and an aggressive empire builder, Aurangzeb ruled from 1658 to 1707. He expanded the Mughal holdings to their greatest size. However, the power of the empire weakened during his reign.

They were about a mysterious woman named Laura, who was his ideal. (Little is known of Laura except that she died of the plague in 1348.) In classical Latin, he wrote letters to many important friends.

Cosimo de Medici was the wealthiest European of his time. In 1434, he won control of Florence’s government. He did not seek political office for himself, but influenced members of the ruling council by giving them loans. For 30 years, he was dictator of Florence.
Cosimo de Medici died in 1464, but his family continued to control Florence.

Around 1440 Johann Gutenberg, a craftsman from Mainz, Germany, devel- oped a printing press that incorporated a number of technologies in a new way. The process made it possible to produce books quickly and cheaply.

Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks—and life—are mysterious. Some 3,500 pages closely covered with writings and drawings survive. His-writing is clear and easy to read, but only if you look at it in a mirror. No one-knows why he wrote backwards.

Looking to Greece and Rome Renaissance scholars looked down on the art and literature of the Middle Ages. Instead, they wanted to return to the learning of the Greeks and Romans. They achieved this in several ways. First, the artists and scholars of Italy drew inspiration from the ruins of Rome that surrounded them. Second, Western scholars studied ancient Latin manuscripts that had been preserved in mon-
asteries. Third, Christian scholars in Constantinople fled to Rome with Greek manu- scripts when the Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453.

When the destructive Hundred Years’ War between France and England ended in 1453, many cities grew rapidly. Urban mer- chants became wealthy enough to sponsor artists. This happened first in Flanders, which was rich from long-distance trade and the cloth industry.

Donatello’s statue was created in the late 1460s. It was the first European sculpture of a large, free-standing nude since ancient times. For sculptors of the period, including Michelangelo, David (page 478) was a favorite subject.

His grandson, Lorenzo de Medici, came to power in 1469. Known as Lorenzo the Magnificent, he ruled as a dictator yet kept up the appearance of having an elected government.

Like Leonardo, Michelangelo was a Renaissance man.
He excelled as a painter, sculptor, architect, and poet.
Michelangelo is most famous for the way he portrayed the human body in painting and sculpture. Influenced by classical art, he created figures that are forceful

The women writers who gained fame during the Renaissance usually wrote about personal sub- jects, not politics. Yet, some of them had great influence. Vittoria Colonna (1492–1547) was born of a noble family.

In 1494, a French king claimed the throne of Naples in southern Italy and launched an invasion through northern Italy. As the war dragged on, many Italian artists and writers left for a safer life in Northern Europe.

In 1509, Erasmus wrote his most famous work, The Praise of Folly. This book poked fun at greedy merchants, heartsick lovers, quarrelsome scholars, and pompous priests

The Prince (1513) by Niccolò Machiavelli

Baldassare Castiglione

The Renaissance spread to England in the mid-1500s. The period was known as the Elizabethan Age, after Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth reigned from 1558 to 1603. She was well educated and spoke French, Italian, Latin, and Greek. She also wrote poetry and music. As queen she did much to support the development of English art and literature.

Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, a small town about 90 miles northwest of London. By 1592 he was living in London and writing poems and plays, and soon he would be performing at the Globe Theater.