Important People from the Renaissance,

Reformation, Age of Discovery, and the

Enlightenment

William Shakespeare

•William Shakespeare was born in April of 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

•Shakespeare was one of the worlds greatest writers and playwrights.

•Two of his most famous plays are Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet.

Leonardo da Vinci

•Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in the small Tuscan town of Vinci.

•Leonardo was a scientist, artist, inventor, and engineer.

•Leonardo was the original “Renaissance man.”

•He was great at everything he tried.

Michelangelo

•Michelangelo was born

March 6, 1475 in

Tuscany, Italy.

•Michelangelo was one

of the great artists of the

Renaissance.

•His most famous work

in the painting of the

Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Johann Gutenberg

•Johann Gutenberg was

born in Germany in

1398.

•Gutenberg invented the

printing press in Europe

in the 1450’s.

•The first book he printed

was the Bible.

Martin Luther

•Martin Luther was born November 10, 1483 in Germany.

•Martin Luther protested against the Catholic Church by nailing a list of 95 complaints to a door of a church.

•Luther is credited with starting the Reformation.

John Calvin

•John Calvin was born July 10, 1509 in France.

•Calvin was an important Christian thinker during the Reformation.

•Calvin began a new system of Christian thinking called Calvinism.

Galileo

•Galileo was Pisa, Italy in 1564.

•Galileo used instruments to observe nature.

•He was able to prove that the earth moves around the sun by using a telescope.

Christopher Columbus

•Columbus was born in

Genoa, Italy in 1451.

•In 1492, Columbus to

led the first expedition

to cross the Atlantic

Ocean, discovering the

New World for Europe.

Ferdinand Magellan

•Ferdinand Magellan

was born in Portugal

in 1481.

•Magellan led the first

crew to sail all the

way around the

world.

Isaac Newton

•Isaac Newton was

born on December

25, 1642.

•Isaac Newton was a

scientist and

mathematician.

•Newton studied the

laws of motion and

gravity.

Prince Henry the Navigator•Prince Henry was born

in Portugal in 1394.

•Prince Henry opened a navigation school and sent many voyages from England to Africa.

•He was nicknamed “the Navigator” because he was responsible for sending so many voyages.

King Ferdinand and Queen

Isabella•The King and Queen of Spain financed the

voyages of Columbus to the “New World.”

Henry VIII

•King Henry VIII was

born on June 28, 1491

in England.

•Henry is famous for his

six wives and starting

his own church of

England when the pope

forbid him to divorce his

wife.

Queen Elizabeth I

•Queen Elizabeth I was born in England in 1533.

•She is recognized as the best queen England ever had.

•Here reign saw many accomplishments including Shakespeare’s plays and Drake’s explorations.

Francisco Pizarro

•Francisco Pizarro

was born in Spain in

1475.

•Pizarro was an

Italian explorer and

conqueror of the

Incas.

Hernando Cortes

•Hernando Cortes was born December 2, 1485 in Spain.

•Cortes was the conquistador who conquered the Aztecs and Mexico for Spain.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

•Jean-Jacques

Rousseau was born

on June 28, 1712 in

Switzerland.

•Rousseau was a

philosopher who

said that man was

essentially good by

nature.

Voltaire

•Voltarie was born

November 21, 1694

in Paris, France.

•Voltaire was the

greatest French

author and

philosopher.

John Locke

•John Locke war born

August 29, 1632 in

England.

•Locke was the father of

liberal philosophy.

•His ideas helped lead to

the American

Revolution.

Nicolaus Copernicus

•Nicolaus Copernicus

was born February 19,

1473 in Poland.

•Copernicus was the first

astronomer who said

the earth moved around

the sun.