2nd millennium

From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids

In the Gregorian calendar, the 2nd millennium commenced on 1 January 1001, and ended at the end of 31 December 2000. It is perhaps more popularly thought of as beginning and ending a year earlier, thus starting at the beginning of the year 1000 and finishing at the end of the year 1999.

The 2nd millennium encompasses the High Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Early Modern Age, the age of Colonialism, Industrialisation, the rise of nation states and democracy, and culminates in the 20th century with its unprecedented scale of warfare (epitomized by the World Wars and the nuclear bomb), technological progress (epitomized for example by space travel), environmental degradation and population growth.

From the 16th century, major population movements set in, mainly from Europe and Africa (via Atlantic slave trade) to the New World, significantly pushing forward the age of the human most recent common ancestor, beginning the ever-accelerating process of globalization.

World population doubles over the first seven centuries of the millennium, from 310 million in AD 1000 to 600 million in AD 1700, and increases tenfold over its last three centuries, rising to 6070 million in AD 2000.

Some significant persons

1000–1500

• Ferdowsi (935–1020), Persian poet
• Brian Boru (941–1014), Irish High King
• Basil II (958 –1025), Byzantine Emperor
• Murasaki Shikibu (973–1025), Japanese author
• William the Conqueror {1028–1087), Norman Conqueror of England, victor in the Battle of Hastings
• Pierre Abélard (1079-1142), French philosopher
• Bhaskara (1114-1185), Indian mathematician, founder of differential calculus.
• Bernart de Ventadorn (ca.1130–ca.1190), troubadour
• Maimonides (1135 –1204), Jewish philosopher.
• Saladin (1137 –1193), Kurdish Muslim leader
• Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199), first Shogun of Japan
• Genghis Khan, (ca. 1155/1162/1167–1227), Mongolian conqueror
• Jayavarman VII (ca.1181 – ca.1219) Khmer king (Cambodia)
• Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), Italian theologian
• Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), Italian poet
• John Wycliffe (ca. 1320–1384), English theologian and early proponent of reform in the Roman Catholic Church
• Mansa Musa (14th century), Malian leader
• Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), Tunisian philosopher and historian
• Timur (1336–1405), founder of Timurid Empire
• Madhava of Sangamagrama (1350–1425), Indian mathematician, father of mathematical analysis.
• Yongle Emperor of China (1360–1424), considered among the greatest Chinese emperors.
• Jan Hus (1369–1415), Bohemian religious thinker and reformer.
• Zheng He (1371 –1435), Chinese explorer.
• Johannes Gutenberg (ca. 1398–1468), Inventor of movable type
• St. Thomas (1118–1170), Chancellor, Archbishop of Canterbury, Saint
• Joan of Arc (1412–1431), heroine of France and saint
• Lorenzo de' Medici (1492 –1519) Italian statesman, poet and patron

1500–1800

• Isabella of Castile (1451–1504) and Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452 - 1516) Spanish monarchs
• Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), Italian explorer
• Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italian Artist, Philosopher and Scientist
• Vasco da Gama (1469–1524), Portuguese navigator
• Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), astronomer and mathematician
• Ferdinand Magellan (1480–1521), Portuguese explorer
• Raphael (1483–1520), Italian artist
• Babur (1483–1530), founder of India's Mughal Empire, descendant of Timur.
• Martin Luther (1483–1546), German religious reformer.
• Suleiman the Magnificent (1495–1566), Turkish sultan, poet, patron
• Jyeshtadeva (1500–1575), Indian mathematician and astronomer, writer of the world's first calculus text.
• Akbar (1542–1605), considered the greatest of the Mughal emperors
• Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), Spanish playwright and novelist
• Lope de Vega (1562–1635), Spanish playwright and poet
• Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), English playwright and poet
• William Shakespeare (1564–1616), English playwright and poet
• Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), Italian scientist
• Jahangir (1569–1627), one of the greatest Mughal emperors
• Thomas Hobbs (1588–1679), founder of modren Political Philosophy
• Shah Jahan (1592–1666), one of the greatest Mughal emperors, builder of the Taj Mahal
• René Descartes (1596–1650), French philosopher and mathematician
• Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600–1681), Spanish playwright and poet
• Molière (1622–1673), French playwright, actor and director
• John Locke (1632–1704), English philosopher
• Jean Racine (1639–1699), French playwright
• Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), (Maths & Physics)
• Bashō (1644–1694), Japanese poet
• Peter the Great (1672–1725) , Russian Tsar
• Voltaire (1694–1778), French philosopher
• Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), American founding father and scientist
• David Hume (1711–1776), Scottish philosopher
• Denis Diderot (1713–1784), French philosopher
• Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
• George Washington (1732–1799), First American president
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), German novelist, dramatist, poet, humanist, scientist, philosopher, politician
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), Austrian Composer
• Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French Revolutionary Leader
• Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805), German poet, philosopher, historian, and dramatist.
• Hokusai (1760–1849), Japanese artist
• Byron (1788–1824), Anglo-Scottish poet
• Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
• John Wesley, Protestant
• Henry VIII, former Catholic
• Elizabeth I, Protestant
• Oliver Cromwell, Parliamentarian
• William and Mary, Joint Monarchs (brought bill of rights to Ireland & England)

19th century

• Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), American founding father and president
• Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand (1754–1838), French politician
• Napoleon I of France (1769–1821), French conqueror and emperor
• Klemens Wenzel von Metternich (1773–1859), Austrian politician
• José de San Martín (1778–1850), Argentine military leader
• Simón Bolívar (1783–1830), South American revolutionary and politician
• Michael Faraday (1791–1867), British scientist and inventor
• Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), American president
• Charles Darwin (1809–1882), British natural scientist
• Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), German chancellor
• Karl Marx (1818–1883), German political philosopher
• Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of England & Empress of India
• Louis Pasteur (1822–1895), French microbiologist and chemist.
• Claude Monet (1840–1926), French painter
• Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher
• Thomas Edison (1847–1931), Inventor
• Rhodes of Africa (1853–1920)

• Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), Dutch painter
• Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891), French poet, adventurer, explorer, businessman
• Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), Austrian psychoanalyst
• Nikola Tesla (1856–1943), Inventor
• Mangal Pandey (d. 1857), considered to be responsible for the Indian Mutiny
• Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), Russian playwright and author
• Henry Ford (1863–1947), Industrialist
• Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948), Indian civil rights leader
• Henri Matisse (1869–1954), French artist
• Mustapha Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), Turkish soldier, revolutionary and politician

20th century

• Marie Curie (1867–1934), French physicist of Polish origin
• David Lloyd George (1863–1945), Liberal prime minister
• Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924), First Soviet leader
• Winston Churchill (1874–1965), British prime minister
• Albert Einstein (1879–1955), German physicist
• Joseph Stalin (1879–1953), Soviet leader
• Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), Spanish artist
• Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), American president
• Charles Chaplin (1889–1977), Silent film actor and director
• Adolf Hitler (1889–1945), German dictator
• Ho Chi Minh (1890–1969), Vietnamese leader
• Mao Zedong (1893–1976), Chinese revolutionary
• Walt Disney (1901–1966), American film producer and animator
• Bhagat Singh (1907–1931), one of the most famous martyrs of the Indian freedom struggle
• Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–1970), Egyptian leader
• Nelson Mandela (1918 – ), President of South Africa
• John Paul II (1920–2005), Pope of the Roman Catholic Church
• Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968), American civil rights leader
• Mikhail Gorbachev (1931), last Soviet leader

Inventions, discoveries, and introductions

• Human Tables
• Christianity (to Americas, Africa, East Indies etc.)
• Tea & Sugar
• Inoculation, Vacination & Antibiotics
• America
• Negro Slaves from Africa
• The Printing press
• Gunpowder and Rockets
• The Steam engine & turbine
• The discovery of the scientific method
• Theory of evolution
• The invention of genetics and DNA technology
• Calculus and Insurance
• Human Flight and Balloons
• Nuclear Power & Waste
• The transistor and electronics
• The Punch Card - See Basile Bouchon
• Coal Mining and Town Gas
• Lego & Duplo
• Space travel and mankind's first flight to the moon
• Sputnik, the first satellite in orbit
• The Railways and the Bicycle
• Nuclear Weapons and the submarine
• The internal combustion engine
• Capitalism and socialism
• The computor and robots
• Telegraphy the Internet
• Universal suffrage and Parliamentary Sovereignty
• Quantum Physics & Lasers
• North Sea Gas and Petrol
• Mechanisms, Machinery & Mechine tools
• Gas and Electricity
• Rule of Law and Double-entry book-keeping
• Dentistry & Anesthetics
• The Bible in english
• Missiles and the mechanisation of warfare

Centuries and decades