1453: Fall of Constantinople; end of Byzantine Empire.
1492: Columbus discovers the Americas; Spanish Reconquista ends.
1498: Vasco da Gama reaches India via sea.
1517: Martin Luther's 95 Theses; start of the Protestant Reformation.
1543: Copernicus publishes De Revolutionibus; Scientific Revolution begins.
1607: Jamestown established in America.
1618 - 1648: Thirty Years' War in Europe.
1642 - 1651: English Civil War.
1687: Isaac Newton publishes Principia Mathematica.
1688: Glorious Revolution; constitutional monarchy in England.
1707: Union of England and Scotland; formation of Great Britain.
1756 - 1763: Seven Years' War; reshapes colonial empires.
1765 - 1783: American Revolution; USA gains independence.
1789 - 1799: French Revolution; end of monarchy and rise of Napoleon.
1799: Napoleon's coup d'état; establishes French Consulate.
1804: Napoleon becomes Emperor of France.
1815: Congress of Vienna; restores European balance after Napoleon.
1837 - 1901: Victorian Era; height of the Industrial Revolution.
1848: Revolutions across Europe; rise of liberal and nationalist ideas.
1857 - 1858: Indian Rebellion (Sepoy Mutiny); British Raj established.
1861 - 1865: American Civil War.
1871: Unification of Germany and Italy.
1894 - 1895: First Sino-Japanese War; rise of Japan as a global power.
1914 - 1918: World War I; Treaty of Versailles reshapes borders.
1917: Russian Revolution; rise of communism under the Bolsheviks.
1939 - 1945: World War II; Holocaust and atomic bombings.
1947: Indian independence and partition; Cold War begins.
1961: Berlin Wall constructed.
1969: Apollo 11 Moon landing.
1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall; end of Cold War.
1991: Dissolution of the Soviet Union; end of the Cold War era.