# data[].attributes.headline
Christopher Columbus Reaches the Americas - 1492

# data[].attributes.subject
Christopher Columbus Reaches the Americas - 1492

# data[].attributes.body
Funded by Spain to find a new route to Asia, Christopher Columbus accidently ended up in the Caribbean. He thought he was in India for his entire life, yet this event still marked the beginning of European colonization and the Columbian Exchange.

# data[].attributes.body
He was the first European to sail all the way around Africa and reach India. This allowed Portugal to bypass the Middle East and started the first direct sea trade between the two continents.

# data[].attributes.headline
Hernán Cortés Takes Over the Aztec Empire - 1519

# data[].attributes.subject
Hernán Cortés Takes Over the Aztec Empire - 1519

# data[].attributes.body
Cortés already had alliances with indigenous groups, which helped him in his fight with the Aztecs. Montezuma tried to appease Cortés but ended up being taken hostage and killed. They also thought Cortés was a god when he arrived, so it wasn't a fair fight.

# data[].attributes.headline
Francisco Pizarro Conqueres the Incan Empire - 1533

# data[].attributes.subject
Francisco Pizarro Conqueres the Incan Empire - 1533

# data[].attributes.body
Pizarro used guns, germs, and glory to defeat Atahualpa and capture the city of Cuzco. Pizarro's army also used deception to catch the Incas off guard, so the fight was not fair.

# data[].attributes.headline
British East India Company is Founded - 1600

# data[].attributes.subject
British East India Company is Founded - 1600

# data[].attributes.body
The company was established to control trade between Britain and India, and ended up playing a major role in the British colonization of India. The company competed with Dutch and Portuguese merchants in the Indian Ocean.

# data[].attributes.headline
Qing Dynasty Overthrows Ming Dynasty - 1644

# data[].attributes.subject
Qing Dynasty Overthrows Ming Dynasty - 1644

# data[].attributes.body
The Manchu people from the North invaded China and started the Qing Dynasty. They enforced cultural assimilation through their queue hairstyle and dress codes, and they also expanded China's overall territory.

# data[].attributes.headline
Dutch Set Up Cape Colony in South Africa - 1652

# data[].attributes.subject
Dutch Set Up Cape Colony in South Africa - 1652

# data[].attributes.body
The Dutch East India Company set up a new settlement at the Cape of Good Hope. This settlement made it easier for ships traveling between Europe and Asia, but--as most settlements in this time did--it led to conflicts between the settlers and native people.

# data[].attributes.headline
Japan Starts the Closed Country Policy - 1639

# data[].attributes.subject
Japan Starts the Closed Country Policy - 1639

# data[].attributes.body
Tokugawa Shogunate did not want foreign ideas to influence his people, so he restricted European traders. This put Japan behind the rest of the world for 200 years, and this policy lasted until Commodore Perry came to Japan in 1853.

# data[].attributes.body
France took control and expanded sugar plantations in Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Haiti. These caribbean colonies were fueled by enslaved Africans and were important for European economies.

# data[].attributes.body
Great Britain, the strongest empire at the time, won the right to supply enslaved Africans to the colonies owned by the Spanish. This right was known as the asiento, and it increased global economic dependency on the slave trade.

# data[].attributes.body
"East India Company." Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 31 Dec. 1600, www.britannica.com/topic/East-India-Company.

"Treaties of Utrecht." Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 26 June 1997, www.britannica.com/topic/treaties-of-Utrecht.