Hobbes publishes Leviathan, a seminal philosophical text
Leviathan rigorously argues that civil peace and social unity are best achieved by the establishment of a commonwealth through social contract.
Modernity (1500 - 1945 C.E.)
Abel Tasman becomes first European to explore New Zealand
Abel Tasman was the first known European explorer to reach the islands of Tasmania and New Zealand, and to sight the Fiji islands.
English lumber harvesters found Belize Town
Belize Town eventually became Belize City which now is the largest city in Belize and was once the capital of the former British Honduras.
Harvard College is founded
Harvard University is now the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Its influence, wealth, and rankings have made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
English settlers found St. John’s in modern-day Antigua and Barbuda
St. John’s is now the capital and largest city of Antigua and Barbuda, part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 22,219, St. John’s is the commercial center of the nation and the chief port of the island of Antigua.
Galileo Galilei makes key observations of physics and astronomy, laying the foundation for modern science
Galileo is a central figure in the transition from natural philosophy to modern science and in the transformation of the scientific Renaissance into a scientific revolution.
Johannes Kepler publishes his three laws of planetary motion
Kepler’s work improved the heliocentric theory of Nicolaus Copernicus, explaining how the planets’ speeds varied, and using elliptical orbits rather than circular orbits with epicycles.
Wilhelm Schickard invents the mechanical calculator
His machine was composed of two sets of technologies: an abacus made of Napier’s bones and a dialed pedometer to perform additions and subtractions.
The Dutch establish first European settlement in modern-day Guyana
n 1616 the Dutch established the first European settlement in the area of Guyana, a trading post twenty-five kilometers upstream from the mouth of the Essequibo River. Other settlements followed, usually a few kilometers inland on the larger rivers.
Miguel de Cervantes publishes Don Quixote, the first modern novel
Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon