Researchers have found an ancient shark in the North Atlantic, believed to be 512 years old, which could be the oldest living vertebrate in the world. This particular shark, was measured at 18 feet in length and weighed over a tonne. By measuring the size of the shark, researchers suggest the animal could have been born as early as 1505, making it even older than Shakespeare. Thanks for Watching SOME HISTORICAL EVENTS OVER THE LAST 512 YEARS ________________________________________________________ •1508 | European settlers arrive on American mainland, at the Isthmus of Panama •1517 | Protestant Reformation begins when monk Martin Luther begins protests against Catholic Church •1519-1521 | Conquest of Aztec empire by Spain •1532-1533 | Conquest of Inca empire by Spain •1534 | England Breaks With Church in Rome •1572 | Supernova observed by Tycho Brahe •c1578 | Population of China reaches 60 million •1582 | Russia, a small Slavic state centered on Moscow, begins its expansion beyond the Ural Mountains, swallowing up dozens of non-Slavic peoples •1588 | British Empire arises. Battle of the English Channel. Spanish Armada defeated. Seat of Empire moved from Madrid to London •c1592 | Compound microscope developed by Zacherias Jansson of Denmark which lead to study of microorganisms •c1594 | Principles of Algebra developed by mathematician Francios Viete of France •c1600 | Tobacco and coffee consumption skyrockets in Europe. 1604 | Supernova recorded by Johannes Kepler, the last such event observed in our galaxy. •1608 | Lippershey invents telescope; Galileo Galilei makes astronomical observations. •1609 | Johannes Kepler shows that a planet moves round the Sun in an elliptical orbit which has the Sun in one of its two foci. •1611 | Authorized King James Version of the Bible produced under reign of King James of England •1630 | The first Slide Rule calculators are developed independently by William Aughtred and Edmund Wingate, •c1635 | Pope Clement VIII approves the drinking of coffee, previously considered a heathen's drink •1652 | European settlers arrive at Cape of Good Hope, south Africa •1653 | Taj Mahal completed after 22 years of construction, at a cost of $700 million in today's money •1660 | Frederick de Whit's world atlas •1666 | First English language newspaper is published in London •c1668 | Coffee introduced into North America •1690 | First newspaper in the United States is published in Boston •1752 | Ben Franklin suggests lightning rod •1780 | First establishment of liberal democracy, in North America (western European settlers) and western Europe •1788 | European settlers arrive at Sydney, Australia; Aboriginal population will decline in Australia from 300,000 to a minimum 60,000 in 1921, mostly due to European diseases •c1800 | Industrial revolution begins in western Europe. •1816 | Chemist Joseph N. Niepce develops the first photographic negative in France. •1850 | Human population: 1 billion •c1870 | First environmental problems develop; modern nature conservation movement begins •1876 | Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone •1878 | Thomas Edison patents the phonograph •1879 | Edison patents the electric lightbulb •c1900 | Humans begin to generate potientally unstable climate. Temperatures, nudged up by emissions of greenhouse gases, rise sharply in the beginning of the 1900s, •1901-1909 | Golden Age of Nature Conservation, in US; US President Theodore Roosevelt creates US Forest Service, establishes natural parks. •1920 | Western civilization (America/Britain/France) reaches its peak •1920-1945 | Global-scale wars. •1945 | American Empire arises. [Truman on WMD|First atomics demonstrated to end Second World War]. Seat of Empire moved to Washington. •1945-1991 | Cold War between the American and Soviet Empires. •1948 | Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations •1950-2000 | Air transportation leads to global travel on unprecedented scale. •1957 | Civil Rights movement •c1960 | Field of ecology established; many severe environmental problems •1961 | First humans in space; Soviet Empire reaches low earth orbit. •1969 | First humans on celestial body other than Earth; American Empire reaches the moon. •1975 | Human population: 4 billion •1981 | IBM introduces its first personal computer •1991 | Soviet Empire collapses •1995 | Internet electronically connects the globe. •2000 | Human population: 6 billion. Widespread interbreeding between formerly isolated peoples. Human genetic diversity begins to decrease. Human evolution declared over (?). •2001 | Bush, President of the American Empire, declares "War On Terror"