2nd millennium

On the Gregorian calendar, the 2nd millennium commenced on 1 January, 1001, and ended at the end of 31 December, 2000. It is perhaps more popularly (albeit incorrectly) thought of as beginning and ending a year earlier, thus starting at the beginning of the year 1000 and finishing at the end of the year 1999.

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.

The tremendous power of technological advancements (with World War II called the "Scientist's war") leads the U.S. military to attempt to restrict all scientific research as classified. However, many 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.

World population doubles over the first seven centuries of the millennium, from 310 million in AD 1000 to 600 million in AD 1700, and increases tenfold over its last three centuries, rising to 6070 million in AD 2000.

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"
 * 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
 * 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
 * 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
 * Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199), first Shogun of Japan
 * Genghis Khan, (ca. 1162/1167–1227), Mongolian conqueror
 * Jayavarman VII (ca.1181–ca.1219) Khmer king (Cambodia)
 * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), Italian theologian
 * 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
 * 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
 * St. Thomas Becket (1118–1170), Chancellor, Archbishop of Canterbury, Saint
 * 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
 * Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), astronomer and mathematician
 * Ferdinand Magellan (1480–1521), Portuguese explorer
 * Raphael (1483–1520), Italian artist
 * Babur (1483–1530), founder of India's Mughal Empire, descendant of Timur.
 * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German religious reformer.
 * Suleiman the Magnificent (1495–1566), Turkish sultan, poet, patron
 * Jyeshtadeva (1500–1575), Indian mathematician and astronomer, writer of the world's first calculus text.
 * Akbar (1542–1605), considered the greatest of the Mughal emperors
 * Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), Spanish playwright and novelist
 * 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
 * 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
 * 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
 * Jean Racine (1639–1699), French playwright
 * Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), physicist, astronomer, and inventor of calculus
 * Matsuo Basho (1644–1694), Japanese poet
 * Peter the Great (1672–1725), Russian Tsar
 * Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750), German composer
 * Voltaire (1694–1778), French philosopher
 * Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), American founding father and scientist
 * Qianlong Emperor of China (1711–1799), considered one of the greatest Chinese emperors
 * David Hume (1711–1776), Scottish philosopher
 * 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
 * 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
 * Xu Xiake (1587–1641), Chinese geographer and author
 * Xu Guangqi (1562–1633), Chinese agronomist, astronomer, and mathematician
 * Byron (1788–1824), Anglo-Scottish poet
 * Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
 * John Wesley, Protestant
 * Henry VIII, former Catholic
 * Elizabeth I, Protestant, protector of England
 * Oliver Cromwell, parliamentarian
 * William and Mary, joint monarchs (brought bill of rights to Ireland & England)

19th century

 * Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), American founding father and president
 * Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838), French politician
 * Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), Prussian naturalist/explorer ("continental drift" & scientific holism)
 * Napoleon I of France (1769–1821), French conqueror and emperor
 * 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
 * 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.
 * Claude Monet (1840–1926), French painter
 * Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher
 * Thomas Edison (1847–1931), Inventor
 * Rhodes of Africa (1853–1920)


 * 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), 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
 * Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948), Indian civil rights leader
 * Henri Matisse (1869–1954), French artist
 * Mustapha Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), Turkish soldier, revolutionary and politician

20th century

 * Marie Curie (1867–1934), French physicist of Polish origin
 * David Lloyd George (1863–1945), British liberal prime minister
 * 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
 * Béla Bartók (1881-1945), Hungarian composer
 * Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), Spanish artist
 * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), American president
 * 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 dictator
 * 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
 * Norman Borlaug (1914), father of the Green Revolution
 * Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–1970), Egyptian leader
 * Nelson Mandela (1918– ), President of South Africa
 * John Paul II (1920–2005), Pope of the Roman Catholic Church
 * Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968), American civil rights leader
 * Mikhail Gorbachev (1931), last Soviet leader
 * Ronald Reagan (1911–2004), 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
 * Frozen 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
 * Longbow
 * Aircraft carrier
 * Nuclear weaponry and the submarine
 * Mechanization of warfare