Come for Learn: Millennium Milestones The 100 Most Significant Events of the Last Thousand Years Reducing the millennium to a laundry list of highlights cannot pretend to be a definitive or accurate exercise. Note that only events judged to haveworldsignificance are included. Apologies for the inevitable bias toward Western as well as twentieth century events—we are all prisoners of our own history. For a less whirlwind glance at the last thousand years, see our Millennium Timeline. *.1066— Norman Conquestof Britain *.1095—Pope Urban II calls for the Crusades *.1100s— Angkor Watis built *.1206— Genghis Khanbegins creation of largest land empire in history *.1215— Magna Cartasigned *.1260— Chartres Cathedralconsecrated *.1271— Marco Polobegins travels to Asia *.1273— Thomas Aquinas'sSumma theologica *.1300s— Renaissancebegins in Italy *.1347— Bubonic plague(Black Death) spreads in Europe *.c.1387— Chaucer'sCanterbury Tales *.1399— Tamerlanebegins last great conquest *.1438— Incan Empireformed in Peru *.1455— Gutenberg's movable-type printing press produces the Bible *.1492— Columbusreaches the New World *.1509— Michelangelobegins painting Sistine Chapel *.1513— Machiavelli'sThe Prince *.1517— Martin Lutherinitiates Reformation *.1519— Aztec Empireat height as Spanish arrive *.1520— Suleiman I“the Magnificent” presides over the Ottoman Empire's greatest period *.1522— Magellan's expedition circumnavigates the globe *.1543— Copernicuspostulates a heliocentric universe *.1582— Pope Gregory XIIIreforms calendar *.1603— Shakespeare'sHamlet *.1605— Cervantes'sDon Quixote,first modern novel *.1609— Galileomakes first astronomical observations with a telescope *.1637— DescartespublishesDiscours de la méthode *.1643— Taj Mahalcompleted *.1664— Newton's theory of universal gravitation *.1667— Milton'sParadise Lost *.1684— Leibniz's calculuspublished *.1690— Locke'sEssay Concerning Human Understanding *.1721— Bachcompletes the Brandenburg Concertos *.1755— Johnson'sDictionary of the English Language *.1760— Industrial Revolutionbegins in England *.1762— Rousseau'sThe Social Contract *.1764— Mozart(aged eight) writes first symphony *.1769— Wattpatents first practical steam engine *.1776—U.S. Declaration of Independence; Adam Smith'sWealth of Nations *.1787— U.S. Constitutionsigned *.1789— French Revolutionbegins *.1792— Wollstonecraft'sVindication of the Rights of Woman *.1796— Jennerdiscovers smallpox vaccine *.1808— Beethoven'sFifth Symphony *.1815—Battle of Waterloo crushes Napoleon *.1819— Bolívardefeats Spanish forces at Boyacá *.1826—Niepce takes first photograph *.1833— Slavery abolishedin British Empire *.1842—Long uses first anesthetic(ether) *.1859— Darwin'sOn the Origin of Species;Lenoir builds first practical internal-combustion engine *.1862— Pasteur's experiments lead to germ theory; Salon des Refusés introduces impressionism *.1867—Japan ends 675-year shogun rule *.1876— Bellpatents the telephone *.1879— Edisoninvents electric light *.1880s—Europe colonizes African continent *.1885—World's first skyscraperbuilt in Chicago *.1893— New Zealandbecomes first country in the world to grant women the vote *.1895—Lumiére brothers introduce motion pictures; Marconisends first radio signals *.1897—Herzl launches Zionist movement *.1900— Freud'sInterpretation of Dreams *.1903— Wright brothersfly first motorized airplane *.1905— Einsteinannounces theory of relativity *.1907— Picasso'sLes Demoiselles d'Avignonintroduces cubism *.1911— Rutherforddiscovers structure of atom *.1913— Forddevelops first moving assembly line *.1914— World War Ibegins *.1916— Sangerfounds international birth control movement *.1917— Leninleads the BolshevikRevolution *.1918—Global “Spanish flu” epidemic *.1922— Joyce'sUlyssespublished *.1927— Farnsworthdemonstrates working model of a television; Lemaitreproposes big bang theory *.1928— Flemingdiscovers penicillin *.1929— Hubbleproposes theory of expanding universe; U.S. stock market crash precipitates global depression *.1936— Keynes'sThe General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money *.1939— Hitlerinvades Poland; World War IIbegins *.1942—Nazi leaders at Wannsee Conferencecoordinate “final solution to the Jewish question” *.1945— Atomic bombsare dropped on Hiroshimaand Nagasaki; first electronic computer, ENIAC, is built; Arab Leaguelaunches modern pan-Arabism *.1946—First meeting of U.N. General Assembly; Churchill's “Iron Curtain” speech marks beginning of cold war *.1947— Gandhi's civil disobedience movement leads to an independent India *.1949—Communist victory in Chinaunder Mao Zedong *.1950s