2nd millennium

The second millennium is a period of time that commenced on January 1, 1001, and ended on December 31, 2000. This is the second period of one thousand years in the Common Era.

The Julian calendar was used in Europe at the beginning of the millennium, and all countries that once used the Julian calendar had adopted the Gregorian calendar by the end of it. So the end date is always calculated according to the Gregorian calendar, but the beginning date is usually according to the Julian calendar (or occasionally the Proleptic Gregorian calendar).

This millennium is perhaps more popularly (albeit incorrectly) thought of as beginning and ending a year earlier, thus starting at the beginning of 1000 and finishing at the end of 1999. Many public celebrations for the end of the millennium were held on December 31 1999–January 1 2000 [ [http://wwp.millennium-dome.com/info/millennium-faq.htm Greenwich 2000: Millennium FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions ] ] — with few on the actual date a year later. The inaccuracy stems from the assumption that there is a year zero, however this is not the case for this calendar.

ummary

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 the impact of science, widespread education, and universal healthcare and vaccinations in many nations. The centuries of expanding large-scale warfare with high-tech weaponry (of the World Wars and nuclear bombs) are offset by growing peace movements from the United Nations, the Peace Corps, religious campaigns warning "violence begets violence" (Christianity, etc.), plus doctors/healthworkers crossing borders to reduce injuries or disease, and the return of the Olympics as contest without combat.

From the 16th century, major population movements had set in, initially from Europe and Africa (via Atlantic slave trade) to the New World, with subsequent increased migration from Asia to the Americas, beginning the ever-accelerating process of globalization.

Scientists (with Einstein) prevail in explaining intellectual freedom, and new technology is developed by governments, industry, and academia across the world, with education shared by many international conferences and journals. The development of moveable type, radio, television, and the Internet spread information worldwide, within minutes, in audio, video, and print-image format to educate, entertain, and alert billions of people by the end of the 20th century.

The interwoven international trade led to the formation of multi-national corporations, with home offices in multiple countries. International business ventures reduced the impact of nationalism in popular thought.

The world population doubled over the first seven centuries of the millennium, (from 310 million in AD 1000 to 600 million in AD 1700), and later increased tenfold over its last three centuries, rising to 6070 million in AD 2000.

ome Important Civilisations

1001–1500

* Kievan Rus'
* Byzantine Empire (330–1453)
* Kingdom of England (927–1707)
* Kingdom of France (987–1789)
* Holy Roman Empire (962–1806)
* Song Dynasty (960–1279)
* Fatimid Empire (910–1171)
* Chola Dynasty
* Pagan Kingdom
* Goryeo (918–1392)
* Seljuks (1037–1194)
* Khmer Empire
* Mongol Empire (1206–1368)
* Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368)
* Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1526)
* Kingdom of Poland (1271–1569)
* Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517)
* Crown of Aragon (1035–1479)
* Crown of Castile (1030–1479)
* Hoysala Empire (1026–1343)
* Mali Empire (1230–1600)
* Songhai Empire (1375–1591)
* Ming Dynasty (1368–1644)
* Vijayanagara Empire (1375–1591)
* Inca Empire (1438–1533)
* Aztec Empire (1428–1521)

ome significant persons

1001–1500

* Ferdowsi (935–1020), Persian poet
* Abu al-Qasim (Abulcasis) (936–1013), Arab Andalusian physician, father of modern surgery, author of "Al-Tasrif"
* Brian Boru (941–1014), Irish High King
* Basil II (958–1025), Byzantine Emperor
* Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen) (965–1039), Iraqi scientist, father of optics, pioneer of the scientific method, considered the "first scientist", author of the "Book of Optics"
* Murasaki Shikibu (973–1025), Japanese author
* Saint Stephen I (I. Szent István), born as Vajk, first King of Hungary, son of Prince Géza, founder of Kingdom of Hungary, lawmaker.
* Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980–1037), Persian physician, philosopher, and scientist, and author of "The Book of Healing" and "The Canon of Medicine"
* Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (973–1048), Persian scientist and polymath, father of geodesy, considered the "first anthropologist"
* Sigurd I of Norway, king of Norway from 1103 to 1130. First king in Europe to go on crusade to the Holy Land.
* Canute the Great (995–1035), Danish king of Denmark,England,Norway,south Sweden legendary for his attempt to "hold back the tide"
* William the Conqueror (1028–1087), Norman Conqueror of England, victor in the Battle of Hastings
* Shen Kuo (1031–1095), Chinese astronomer, geologist, mathematician, encyclopedist, geographer, official, diplomat, and general who was famous for being the first to write of the magnetic compass and Bi Sheng's movable type printing
* Omar Khayyám (1048–1131), Persian poet, mathematician, philosopher and astronomer
* Pierre Abélard (1079–1142), French philosopher
* Hildegard of Bingen (1089–1142), German abbess
* Bhaskara II (1114–1185), Indian mathematician, founder of differential calculus
* Su Song (1020–1101), Chinese astronomer, mechanical engineer, horologist, pharmacologist, mineralogist, and cartographer famous for his astronomical clocktower featuring an escapement mechanism and chain drive
* Al-Khazini (fl. 1115–1130), Muslim physicist and astronomer, considered the greatest scholar from Merv
* Thomas Becket (1118–1170), Chancellor, Archbishop of Canterbury, saint
* Averroes (1126–1198), Arab Andalusian philosopher and physician, founder of Averroism, a precursor to secularism
* Bernart de Ventadorn (c.1130–c.1190), troubadour
* Maimonides (1135–1204), Jewish philosopher
* Al-Jazari (1136–1206), Arab inventor and mechanical engineer, father of robotics, father of modern engineering
* Saladin (1137–1193), Kurdish Muslim military leader
* Robin Hood
* Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199), first Shogun of Japan
* Richard the Lionheart (1157–1199), King of England
* Saxo Grammaticus (1160–1208), Danish history writer.
* Genghis Khan, (c. 1162/1167–1227), Mongolian conqueror
* Jayavarman VII (c.1181–c.1219) Khmer king (Cambodia)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), Italian theologian
* Marco Polo Italian explorer (1254–1324),
* Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), Italian poet
* John Wycliffe (c. 1320–1384), English theologian and early proponent of reform in the Roman Catholic Church
* Mansa Musa (14th century), Malian leader
* Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406), Arab Tunisian philosopher and historian, the father of demography, historiography, philosophy of history and sociology
* Timur (1336–1405), founder of Timurid Empire
* Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400), English poet
* Madhava of Sangamagrama (1350–1425), Indian mathematician, founder 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 (c. 1398–1468), Inventor of movable type printing press
* Petrarch (1304–1374), Italian poet and Renaissance Humanist
* 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
* Guru Nanak Dev (1469–1539), founder of Sikhism
* Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), astronomer and mathematician
* Ferdinand Magellan (1480–1521), Portuguese explorer
* Raphael (1483–1520), Italian artist
* Krishnadevaraya (d. 1520), Vijayanagaran emperor
* Babur (1483–1530), founder of India's Mughal Empire, descendant of Timur.
* Martin Luther (1483–1546), German religious reformer.
* Henry VIII (1491–1547), former Catholic king of England, founded Church of England
* Suleiman the Magnificent (1495–1566), Turkish sultan, poet, patron
* Jyeshtadeva (1500–1575), Indian mathematician and astronomer, writer of the world's first calculus text.
* Elizabeth I (1533–1603), Queen of England
* Akbar (1542–1605), considered the greatest of the Mughal emperors
* Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), Spanish playwright and novelist
* Xu Guangqi (1562–1633), Chinese agronomist, astronomer, and mathematician
* 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/astronomer, father of modern physics
* Jahangir (1569–1627), one of the greatest Mughal emperors
* Xu Xiake (1587–1641), Chinese geographer and author
* Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), founder of modern 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
* Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), Lord Protector of England
* 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
* Louis XIV (1638–1715), King of France
* Jean Racine (1639–1699), French playwright
* Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), physicist, astronomer, and inventor of calculus
* Matsuo Basho (1644–1694), Japanese poet
* William III (1650–1702) and Mary II (1662–1694), joint monarchs of England
* John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722), English general
* Peter the Great (1672–1725), Russian Tsar
* Robert Walpole (1676–1745), first Prime Minister of Great Britain.
* Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), German composer
* Voltaire (1694–1778), French philosopher
* John Wesley (1703–1791), early Methodist leader
* Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), American founding father and scientist
* Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), British writer and literary critic
* Qianlong Emperor of China (1711–1799), considered one of the greatest Chinese emperors
* David Hume (1711–1776), Scottish philosopher
* Frederick II (1712–1786), King of Prussia
* Denis Diderot (1713–1784), French philosopher
* Adam Smith (1723–1790), Scottish philosopher
* Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
* George Washington (1732–1799), First American president
* James Watt (1736–1819), Scottish inventor
* Edward Jenner (1749–1823), English scientist, introduced the vaccine for smallpox
* 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

19th century

* Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), American founding father and president
* Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838), French politician
* Napoleon I of France (1769–1821), French conqueror and emperor
* Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852)
* Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), Prussian naturalist/explorer ("continental drift" & scientific holism)
* 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
* Shaka (c. 1787–1828) King of the Zulu Kingdom.
* George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (1788–1824), Anglo-Scottish poet
* Michael Faraday (1791–1867), British scientist and inventor
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), American president
* Charles Darwin (1809–1882), British natural scientist
* Franz Liszt (1811–1886), Hungarian pianist/composer, inventor of symphonic poems
* Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), German chancellor
* Karl Marx (1818–1883), German political philosopher
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of England
* Louis Pasteur (1822–1895), French microbiologist and chemist.
* Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908), "de facto" ruler of Qing China
* John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937), American legendary businessman, founder of Standard Oil company.
* Claude Monet (1840–1926), French painter
* Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher
* Karl Benz (1844–1929), German engine designer and engineer, inventor of the automobile
* Thomas Edison (1847–1931), American inventor
* Cecil Rhodes (1853–1920), British mining magnate
* 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), Serbian 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
* Henri Matisse (1869–1954), French artist

20th century

* David Lloyd George (1863–1945), British liberal prime minister
* Marie Curie (1867–1934), French physicist of Polish origin
* Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948), Indian civil rights leader
* Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924), First Soviet leader
* Winston Churchill (1874–1965), British prime minister
* Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876–1948), Indian Muslim Leader; Father of Pakistan
* Albert Einstein (1879–1955), German physicist
* Joseph Stalin (1879–1953), Soviet leader
* Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), Turkish soldier, revolutionary and politician
* Béla Bartók (1881–1945), Hungarian composer
* Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), Spanish artist
* Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), American president
* Benito Mussolini (1883–1945), Italian dictator
* 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 leader
* Walt Disney (1901–1966), American film producer and animator
* Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975), Russian composer
* Bhagat Singh (1907–1931), one of the most famous martyrs of the Indian freedom struggle
* Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910–1997), French undersea explorer
* Akira Kurosawa (1910–1998), Japanese film director
* Jackson Pollock (1912–1956), American artist
* Norman Borlaug (1914), father of the Green Revolution
* Thor Heyerdal (1914-2002), Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer
* Nelson Mandela (1918– ), President of South Africa
* John Paul II (1920–2005), Pope of the Roman Catholic Church
* P.R. Sarkar (1921–1990), Indian philosopher and spiritual leader
* Margaret Thatcher (1925– ) British Prime Minister
* Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968), American civil rights leader
* Mikhail Gorbachev (1931), last Soviet leader
* Elvis Presley (1935–1977), American singer
* Bill Clinton (1946– ) 42nd American president

Inventions, discoveries, and introductions

*Communication and Technology
** Printing press
** Photography and motion pictures
** Telegraphy, Telephone and Television
** Animation
** Transistors and electronics
** Computers
** Public Key Cryptography
** Robotics
** The Internet

*Food and Drink
** Sugar
** Sliced bread
** Frozen food
** Canned food
** Powdered milk
** Food processing
** TV dinners and Fast food

*Mathematics and Business
** Calculus
** Insurance
** Rule of Law and double-entry book-keeping

*Manufacturing
** Machinery & machine tools and Interchangeable Replaceable parts
** Factory
** Circular saw
** The Assembly line
** Plastic
** Nail gun

*Medicine
** Inoculation, vaccination & antibiotics
** Dentistry & anesthesia

*Power
** Coal Mining
** Gasoline
** Nuclear power & waste
** Solar panel

*Science
** The development of the scientific method
** Theory of evolution
** The invention of genetics and DNA technology
** Theory of Relativity
** Quantum physics & Lasers

*Society
** The Bible in English
** Christianity (to Americas, Africa, East Indies etc.)
** Negro slaves from Africa
** Capitalism and socialism
** Universal suffrage and Parliamentary Sovereignty
** European explorers colonize the Americas

*Transportation and Space exploration
** Bicycle
** Steam engine and turbine
** Internal combustion engine
** Railways
** Automobile
** Human Flight
** Landing on the Moon
** Space shuttle, satellites and the Space station
** GPS navigation

*Warfare
** Mongol bow
** Longbow
** Rockets
** Gunpowder
** Aircraft carrier
** Nuclear weaponry and the submarine
** Mechanization of warfare
** firearms

Centuries and decades

References