Asher Sisneros

Having finished Tom Woods’ first history course on Western civilization, I decided to turn my notes into a timeline. This is hardly a comprehensive timeline. Much more happened during the thousands of years between the creation of the Earth and when Columbus discovered America. That being said, these were memorable…

One of the biggest misconceptions in modern historical textbooks is that people—Christians—during the Middle Ages believed the earth was flat. There are a few reasons as to why this myth is preposterous, and why it is nothing more than a myth. All modern historians acknowledge that historically speaking, everyone has…

The Inca Empire and the Aztec Empire were two serious, sophisticated powers in the Americas before European colonization. Even though both empires were far more organized than their Native American counterparts in North America, both empires provided seemingly little resistance to the Spanish invasion. Their large numbers and organized military…

The kingdoms of Spain experienced immense centralization through the 15th century. It experienced unification on three fronts: political centralization, militaristic centralization, and religious centralization. This strengthened Spain and made it a future powerhouse during the Age of Discovery.  The two most powerful kingdoms in Spain were Castile and Aragon. A…

After the Avignon Papacy, which Rome derogatorily titled the “Babylonian Captivity,”  Rome was in dire need of reestablishing the Apostolic See’s dominion over the Christian world. Cities were becoming increasingly independent from Rome following the disorder within the Catholic Church. To address this, the College of Cardinals went through a…

Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael were the three most prominent artists during the High Renaissance. All of them studied artistic masterpieces from antiquity. However, they also built on the work of the Early Renaissance in separating themselves from antiquity by creating art that was far more realistic and beautiful. …

Machiavelli’s The Prince has become one of the most notorious pieces of literature from the Early Renaissance. This small booklet completely refuted the moral standards set by the Renaissance humanists, and it especially refuted the moral standards pushed by Christianity. All of his anti-Christian policies can be summarized into three…