Ottomans capture Constantinople -1453
What-The army of mehmed II that had well over 10000 men assaulted the city for 7 weeks and eventually broke through a wall and loot and pillaged the city for 3 days
So what- When the ottomans took Constantinople this marked the end of the byzantine empire and allowed the ottomans to become a strong naval presence in the Mediterranean.
Now What-The ottoman takeover of Constantinople allowed to the ottomans to push further over the next two centuries into Syria, Egypt and north Africa.

Dias rounded cape of good hope-1488
What- Dias rounded the cap of good hope, but was forced to turn around because of tired sailors. The goal of the expedition was to find a trade route to India.
So what- This event was significant because the Europeans now had a direct trade route between them and India and didn’t have to rely on the long and expensive land trade
Now What-This expedition along with Columbus’s success led to Vasco de Gama’s fleet reaching India by rounding the cape of good hope, therefore establishing maritime trade routes with India

Columbus sailed ocean blue-1492
What- Christopher Columbus set off from Spain hoping to find India, but instead found the Americas , that is why the natives that he fund there he named Indians
So what-This was the first time anyone had been to the Americas besides the native people, and was also the first new land discovered in a long time
Now What-The discovery of the Americas by Columbus started the Columbian exchange, began the colonization of the new continent. It also effected the Native Americans greatly because their land was being taken from them and European diseases were tearing through the population.

Reconquista of Spain-1492
What- King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella defeat the Emirate of Granada when kind Boabdil surrendered to them
So what-This marked the completion of their takeover of the Iberian peninsula from the Muslims that had been going on for nearly 800 years
Now what- This allowed the crown to force everyone on the peninsula to convert to Christianity, and this led to prosecution of any Muslims that remained there

Slaves to America-1502
What-Beginning of the Atlantic slave trade that brought slaves to the new world and old world
So what-The slaves that were coming from Africa provided an almost inexhaustible source of labor for the new world colonies. This was the beginning of slavery in the Americas.
Now what-The slaves being brought to America established the cultural norm of slavery in the Americas and would eventually lead to the debate on the morality of slavery and the civil war hundreds of years later.

Cortes conquers the Aztecs-1521
What-Cortes enlisted the help of Indians and by a combination of deception boldness and ruthlessness he captured Montezuma the Aztec ruler and eventually took down the capital city of Tenochtitlan.
So what- This removed the Aztec threat from Latin America giving all the land that the Aztecs had possessed to the Spaniards, they also took lots of precious metals from the city
Now what-The Spaniards set up their capital city of Mexico city where the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan had been

Pizarro topples the Incas-1533
What-Pizarro attacked an Inca empire that had been weekend by civil war. He attacked with 200 Spaniards and Indian allies, and brought the great Inca empire down.
So what-Removed the Inca threat and put almost all of Peru under Spanish control
Now what-This lead to further expedition into other parts of the Americas, and allowed the Spanish to set up a major city of Lima, which is the current capital of Peru.

Battle of Lepanto-1571
What-A fleet composed of Spanish and venetian men defeated the main fleet of the ottoman empire after five hours of fighting.
So what- The defeat ended the myth of the ottoman naval invincibility, and it also stopped the ottomans from becoming completely dominant in the Mediterranean
Now what- Since the ottomans