London grew, despite fires sweeping through the place and a massive bout of Black Death which wiped out nearly half of the city's inhabitants.

The Tudors took over , the infamous Henry VIII a major player in the radical transformation of the country. He wanted a son, which meant getting a younger wife, which meant a divorce - which the Pope wouldn't allow. So he killed off Thomas More, his Chancellor, established the Church of England and outlawed Catholicism. In London this meant that all the land previously owned by the church was now his. He set about carving it up and giving large chunks to his friends (and more importantly to his potential enemies). Convent Garden became Covent Garden, and the land previously owned by Westminster Abbey, covering much of what is now the West End, was released for private development. In short, a new-look London was born.

The Globe Theatre was built entertaining bawdy crowds with the classic plays that Shakespeare was knocking out.

The Great Plague and the Fire of London in were something of a blow

Home of the notorious "Ton", the Naval Royal Fleet.

Moderator: JD Black

The "Great Rebellion" it dragged on for eleven years and caused wholesale death and destruction throughout the whole island. Finally, Oliver Cromwell came to Ireland to put this rebellion down "once and for all." He proceeded by marching on every Irish city, slaughtering any and all that resisted him. Typical was his march on Drogheda. When his army entered the town, in addition to the defending soldiers, there were also 3000 unarmed civilians there. Cromwell's soldiers began killing everyone in sight, and when the slaughter was over, only thirty Irish people remained.

When the war ended, one third of the Irish Catholic population had been killed and additional thousands had been transported to the West Indies to work as slaves. Cromwell's soldiers were granted generous grants of land as a result of their "excellent effort." To make room for his soldiers, Cromwell issued his famous order, "to hell or Connaught"--either move to the barren lands of western Ireland or be killed. Land owned by non-Irish had increased to 75%. In spite of all this, it was said, "an Irish nation still existed--separate, numerous, and hostile."

Because of the savagery with which this rebellion had been put down, the English authorities believed that Irish rebellions were a thing of the past. They soon found out that they were wrong.

Moderator: JD Black

The land of Egypt stretches as far as the eye could see, from the blue Mediterranean, to the outer fringes of Ethiopia, on the doorstep to Lebanon, and way into western Libya. The Egyptian Kingdom stood at the height of its power and influence, and Rome still a nation of power had yet to rise to rule the old world. The fading empires of Persia, and Carthage remained having yet to fall to Roman Power. The Greek States remaining independent had yet to be trodden upon under the iron grip of Rome as well.

Moderator: JD Black

The SPANISH EMPIRE expanded rapidly in the Western Hemisphere and gained control of all of Central and South America except Brazil. Despite setbacks in Europe, Spain's overseas empire remained intact as the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The Spanish Inquisition was independent of the Medieval Inquisition. It was established by Ferdinand and Isabella with the reluctant approval of Sixtus IV. It was entirely controlled by the Spanish kings, and the pope's only hold over it was in naming the inquisitor general chosen by the kings. The popes were never reconciled to the institution, which they regarded as usurping a church prerogative. The treasure fleet across the Atlantic and the Manila galleons across the Pacific made it the wealthiest and most powerful nation in Europe, but the rapidly rising influx of silver and gold from the colonies in the Americas in the last decades of the 16th century ultimately resulted in economically damaging rampant inflation and led to economic depression by the 17th century. Religious and dynastic wars supported by the Spanish crown, especially in the Netherlands, also greatly burdened the empire's economy.

Moderators: JD Black, Corothius Encinosa