Poll without page-refresh
Article on other languages:
The second millennium is a period of time which commenced on January 1 , 1001 and ended on December 31 , 2000 of the Gregorian calendar . This is the second period of one thousand years in the Common Era .
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 . The inaccuracy stems from the assumption that there is a year zero , however this is not the case for this calendar.
Summary
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 .
As information spread, sophisticated stealth monitoring groups expanded to check access to dangerous technology, and many products became manufactured with built-in chemical indicators, micro-printing , or GPS /radio-locators to back-trace the origin or routing of those products.
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.
Some 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
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 (ca.1130 –ca.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 , (ca. 1162 /1167 –1227 ), Mongolian conqueror
Jayavarman VII (ca.1181 –ca.1219 ) Khmer king (Cambodia)
Thomas Aquinas (1225 –1274 ), Italian theologian
Marco Polo Italian explorer (1254 –1324 ),
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 ), 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 (ca. 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
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 & Empress of India
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
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
Ludwig von Mises (1881 –1973 ), Austrian economist
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
Ronald Reagan (1911 –2004 ), American president
Jackson Pollock (1912 -1956 ), American artist
Norman Borlaug (1914 ), father of the Green Revolution
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
Murray Rothbard (1926 –1995 ), American political philosopher, economist
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 –1968 ), American civil rights leader
Mikhail Gorbachev (1931 ), last Soviet leader
Elvis Presley (1935 -1977 ), American singer
Inventions, discoveries, and introductions
Centuries and decades