Year
|
Description
|
Answer
|
1688
|
The Glorious Revolution brings this Dutch king to England
|
William of Orange
|
1687
|
This English scientist explains gravity
|
Isaac Newton
|
1683
|
This Middle East empire reaches its maximum territorial extent
|
Ottoman Empire
|
1670
|
This fur trading company, Canada's oldest, is established
|
Hudson's Bay Company
|
1666
|
A fire in Pudding Lane spreads and destroys much of this city
|
London
|
1662
|
This flightless bird of Mauritius goes extinct
|
Dodo
|
1653
|
This white marble mausoleum is completed in Mughal India
|
Taj Mahal
|
1653
|
This military leader becomes Lord Protector of England
|
Oliver Cromwell
|
1618–1648
|
This war devastates most of Germany
|
Thirty Years' War
|
1644
|
This dynasty comes to power in China
|
Qing
|
1643
|
This "Sun King" is crowned
|
Louis XIV
|
1637
|
Dutch speculators go wild for this type of flower
|
Tulip
|
1637
|
This philosopher writes "Cogito ergo sum" - I think, therefore I am
|
René Descartes
|
1633
|
This scientist is punished by the Roman Inquisition for espousing heliocentrism
|
Galileo Galilei
|
1620
|
This ship of Pilgrims lands in Massachusetts
|
Mayflower
|
1611
|
This very popular English bible is completed
|
King James Version
|
1605
|
Miguel de Cervantes publishes this novel
|
Don Quixote
|
1605
|
Guy Fawkes and other radicals launch this plot to blow up Parliament
|
Gunpowder Plot
|
1603
|
The Edo period begins in this country
|
Japan
|
1602–
|
This country dominates the spice trade
|
Netherlands
|
I'll see if i can find some links to endorse this
Particularly at its "greatest territorial extent." Its capital straddled the Bosporus, though it was mostly on the Western side which is Thrace and firmly in Europe. The Eastern side is on the extreme northwest corner of Anatolia - Asia Minor - also known as the Near East. Only very recently and then only sometimes conceptualized as belonging to the Middle East, even though it probably shouldn't be. The Ottomans had extensive territory in the Middle East including most of the coastline of the Arabian peninsula and Iraq, but then they had substantially more territory in North and East Africa and also in Europe - pressing as far into that continent as Vienna, completely overrunning the Balkans and encircling the entire Black Sea.
I know historically the Europeans thought of the Ottoman Empire as "the Orient," aka the East, but to me it seems very odd to characterize it as Middle Eastern.
A proper Middle Eastern Empire would be... the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the AlSauds, or the Persians. Some of which are what I thought of first. But then the clue didn't fit...