1517
Luther's Ninety-five theses: Beginning of the Reformation.
1543
Copernicus' The Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies: Beginning
of the scientific revolution.
1607
Founding of the first English colony in North America, at Jamestown,
Virginia.
1632
Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems.
1633
Galileo condemned by the Inquisition.
1637
Descartes' Discourse on Method.
1677
Spinoza's Ethics.
1684
Leibnitz publishes his discovery of the infinitesimal calculus (he
made the discovery in 1675; Newton had discovered it nine years earlier,
but did not publish).
1687
Newton's Principia: climax of the scientific revolution.
1690
Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
1710
Berkeley's Principles of Human Knowledge.
1739-40
Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature.
1776
American Declaration of Independence. Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.
1781
Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.
1787
U.S. Constitution.
1789
French Revolution begins.
1799
Napoleon comes to power in France.
