Europe

On 12 October 1492, an expedition commanded by Christopher Columbus reached an island in the Caribbean after an extraordinary voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus believed that he had reached islands lying off the coast of Asia, but he had in fact opened a new and unexpected chapter in the history of relations between Europe and the Americas. The voyage was one of the great navigational achievements of the fifteenth century. It demonstrated that European sailors could cross the open Atlantic with the ships, instruments, knowledge, and seamanship then available to them and return safely to Europe. The expedition was followed by further voyages, permanent settlements, and eventually the creation of an Atlantic world linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas. ...

The Protestant Reformation was a religious and political transformation that began in the early sixteenth century and permanently changed Christianity and European history. It is traditionally associated with Martin Luther’s publication of his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517, although the movement emerged from much older disputes over theology, church authority, political power, and religious practice. What began as a dispute within the Western Christian Church eventually produced permanent divisions in European Christianity. Large parts of northern and central Europe broke with the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, while Catholic institutions responded with their own reforms and renewed efforts to defend Catholic doctrine. ...

The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in recorded history. Beginning in the mid-fourteenth century, the disease spread across much of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, killing tens of millions of people within only a few years. Its effects went far beyond the immediate loss of life. The pandemic disrupted agriculture and trade, transformed labor relations, intensified religious and social tensions, and permanently altered the demographic and economic structure of medieval society. ...

The Battle of Agincourt was fought on 25 October 1415 between the English army of King Henry V and a much larger French army during the Hundred Years’ War. The English victory became one of the most famous battlefield triumphs of medieval Europe and established Henry V as one of England’s most celebrated warrior kings. Background The Battle of Agincourt took place during the Hundred Years’ War, a prolonged series of conflicts between England and France that began in the fourteenth century. ...