Key events, figures, and developments in early modern Europe from 1450 to 1648, covering the Renaissance and Age of Exploration. Front: the term, event, or figure. Back: a one to two sentence explanation of its significance.
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- Lorenzo de Medici
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Florentine ruler and patron of the arts whose support for artists and humanist scholars made Florence the cultural center of the Italian Renaissance.- Niccolò Machiavelli
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Italian political thinker whose treatise The Prince argued that rulers should prioritize power and pragmatism over moral virtue.- Leonardo da Vinci
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Florentine artist, scientist, and engineer whose diverse works in painting, anatomy, and invention exemplified Renaissance ideals of human capability.- Michelangelo
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Italian Renaissance sculptor and painter whose monumental works, including the Sistine Chapel ceiling, defined the era's artistic achievement.- Johannes Gutenberg
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German inventor credited with developing the movable-type printing press, which revolutionized the spread of information and ideas.- Desiderius Erasmus
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Dutch humanist whose scholarly works and advocacy for religious tolerance made him one of the most influential thinkers of his time.- Christopher Columbus
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Genoese navigator whose 1492 voyage across the Atlantic, sponsored by Spain, initiated sustained European contact with the Americas.- Vasco da Gama
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Portuguese explorer who sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to India, establishing a direct maritime trade route and enriching Portugal.- Ferdinand Magellan
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Portuguese navigator whose expedition circumnavigated the globe from 1519 to 1522, proving the Earth's true size and revealing the Pacific Ocean.- Bartolomeu Dias
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Portuguese explorer who rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, proving a sea route to Asia was possible and opening new trade networks.- Martin Luther
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German theologian whose 1517 Ninety-Five Theses challenged Church authority and sparked the Protestant Reformation.- John Calvin
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French Protestant reformer whose theology of predestination and strict church discipline shaped Reformed Protestantism and influenced Geneva.- Council of Trent
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Ecumenical council convened by the Catholic Church from 1545 to 1563 to address Protestant critiques and reform internal abuses.- Ignatius of Loyola
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Spanish theologian and soldier who founded the Jesuits, a religious order dedicated to missionary work and education in service of the Counter-Reformation.- Henry VIII
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English king whose break with Rome over his marriage to Anne Boleyn initiated the English Reformation and established the Church of England.
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