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Milan, City of Splendour and War 1277-1515
Milan’s most important business street had no displays of velvet cloaks, bright bolts of silk, or cloth-of-gold. It was a
Florence in the Golden Age 1469 -1498
Lorenzo de’ Medici was far from handsome. His skin was sallow, his eyes had a short-sighted squint and his nose
Florence, First City of the Renaissance 1200-1480
March 25, 1436, was the Feast of the Annunciation and the city of Florence was decked out for a celebration.
Early Civilizations to Modern Age
The Ming Dynasty Restores the Old Order A.D. 1368-1644
THE MEN who took over from the Mongols came to be known as Hung-wu, or “Vast Military Power.” Hung-wu named
Japan, the “Source of the Sun” 3000 B.C.-A.D. 400
THE Japanese islands — four large ones and many smaller ones — rise out of the Pacific Ocean to the
Becoming a Nation 660 B. C.-A. D. 587
DRAWING ON nature for inspiration, the Japanese invented a number of gods and goddesses. They took it for granted that
Distant Past and New Challenges
Milestones of History
Notre-Dame, Palace of the Virgin (1194 A.D.)
Notre-Dame, Palace of the Virgin, with its clusters of columns, its soaring arches, its superb stone carvings and its matchless
Richard I, the Lion Heart (1194-1204 A. D.)
Richard I, the Lion Heart, fails to capture Jerusalem from the Saracens. The birth of the New Byzantium The first
Fall of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople begins – the crusaders from the West had taken an oath to free the Holy Land from
