People
Lives told in ten minutes.
Era
Continent
Showing 196 of 196
Alexander the GreatKing of Macedon from 336 to 323 BC- AAshokaMauryan emperor from 269 to 232 BCE
Julius CaesarRoman general and dictator (100–44 BC)
CleopatraPharaoh of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC
AugustusRoman emperor from 27 BC to AD 14
Wu ZetianEmpress of China from 690 to 705
CharlemagneCarolingian emperor from 800 to 814
Genghis KhanKhan of the Mongol Empire from 1206 to 1227
Mansa MusaRuler of Mali from c. 1312 to c. 1337
TimurTurco-Mongol conqueror (1320s–1405)
Suleiman the MagnificentSultan of the Ottoman Empire (1520–1566)
AkbarMughal emperor from 1556 to 1605
Elizabeth I of EnglandQueen of England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603
Catherine II of RussiaEmpress of Russia from 1762 to 1796
George WashingtonU.S. Founding Father, president from 1789 to 1797
NapoleonFrench general and emperor (1769–1821)
Simón BolívarVenezuelan statesman and military officer (1783–1830)
Abraham LincolnPresident of the United States from 1861 to 1865
Mahatma GandhiIndian independence activist (1869–1948)
Joseph StalinLeader of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953
Adolf HitlerDictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945
Christopher ColumbusItalian navigator and explorer (1451–1506)
Leonardo da VinciItalian polymath (1452–1519)
MichelangeloItalian artist and architect (1475–1564)
RembrandtDutch painter and printmaker (1606–1669)
Katsushika HokusaiJapanese artist (1760–1849)
Vincent van GoghDutch painter (1853–1890)
Pablo PicassoSpanish painter and sculptor (1881–1973)
ConfuciusChinese philosopher (c. 551 – c. 479 BCE)
SocratesGreek philosopher (c. 470–399 BC)
CiceroRoman statesman and lawyer (106–43 BC)
Ibn KhaldunArab Islamic scholar, historian and philosopher (1332–1406)
Niccolò MachiavelliFlorentine statesman, diplomat, and political theorist (1469–1527)
René DescartesFrench philosopher and mathematician (1596–1650)
John LockeEnglish philosopher and physician (1632–1704)
Adam SmithScottish economist and philosopher (1723–1790)
Immanuel KantGerman philosopher (1724–1804)
Mary WollstonecraftEnglish writer and philosopher (1759–1797)
Karl MarxGerman philosopher and socialist (1818–1883)
Sigmund FreudAustrian psychiatrist and founder of psychoanalysis (1856–1939)
Virgil1st-century-BC Roman poet
Li BaiChinese poet (701–762)
RumiSufi mystic and poet (1207–1273)
Dante AlighieriItalian writer and philosopher (1265–1321)
William ShakespeareEnglish playwright and poet (1564–1616)
VoltaireFrench writer and philosopher (1694–1778)
Leo TolstoyRussian writer (1828–1910)
Rabindranath TagoreIndian polymath (1861–1941)
Johann Sebastian BachGerman composer (1685–1750)
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartComposer (1756–1791)
Ludwig van BeethovenGerman composer (1770–1827)
Louis ArmstrongAmerican jazz trumpeter and singer (1901–1971)- Walt DisneyAmerican animator, producer and entrepreneur (1901–1966)
AvicennaPersian polymath, physician and philosopher (c. 980–1037)
Johannes GutenbergGerman inventor and craftsman (died 1468)
Nicolaus CopernicusMathematician and astronomer (1473–1543)- Galileo GalileiItalian physicist and astronomer (1564–1642)
Isaac NewtonEnglish polymath (1642–1727)
Antoine LavoisierFrench nobleman and chemist (1743–1794)
Michael FaradayEnglish chemist and physicist (1791–1867)
Charles DarwinEnglish naturalist and biologist (1809–1882)
Florence NightingaleEnglish founder of modern nursing (1820–1910)
Louis PasteurFrench chemist, pharmacist and microbiologist (1822–1895)
James Clerk MaxwellScottish physicist and mathematician (1831–1879)
Dmitri MendeleevRussian chemist (1834–1907)
Thomas EdisonAmerican inventor and businessman (1847–1931)
Nikola TeslaSerbian-American engineer and inventor (1856–1943)
Marie CuriePolish-French physicist and chemist (1867–1934)
Albert EinsteinGerman-born theoretical physicist (1879–1955)
ArchimedesGreek mathematician and physicist (c. 287 – 212 BC)
Leonhard EulerSwiss mathematician (1707–1783)
Carl Friedrich GaussGerman scholar (1777–1855)
Alan TuringEnglish computer scientist (1912–1954)
Jesus Christ1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader
MuhammadFounder of Islam (c. 570–632)- Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib1st Shia Imam and 4th Rashidun caliph (656–661)
Martin LutherGerman priest, theologian and author (1483–1546)
Henry FordAmerican business magnate (1863–1947)
MadhubalaIndian actress (1933–1969)
Rudolph ValentinoItalian actor (1895–1926)
Sarah BernhardtFrench stage actress (1844–1923)
Vivien LeighBritish actress (1913–1967)
Humphrey BogartAmerican actor (1899–1957)
Clark GableAmerican actor (1901–1960)
Judy GarlandAmerican actress and singer (1922–1969)
Marilyn MonroeAmerican actress and model (1926–1962)- Marius PetipaFrench-Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (1818–1910)
Anna PavlovaRussian ballet dancer (1881–1931)- Vaslav NijinskyRussian dancer and choreographer (1889–1950)
Isadora DuncanAmerican dancer and choreographer (1877–1927)
Josephine BakerAmerican and French entertainer (1906–1975)
Harry HoudiniAmerican escapologist and stuntman (1874–1926)
GiottoItalian painter and architect (c. 1267–1337)
Jan van EyckFlemish painter (died 1441)
Masaccio15th-century Italian Renaissance painter
Sandro BotticelliItalian Renaissance painter (1445–1510)
Albrecht DürerGerman artist and theorist (1471–1528)
TitianItalian painter (c. 1477/88/90–1576)
RaphaelItalian painter and architect (1483–1520)
Hans Holbein the YoungerGerman artist and printmaker (1497–1543)
Pieter Brueghel the ElderDutch and Flemish painter (c. 1525/30–1569)
El GrecoGreek painter of the Spanish Renaissance (1541–1614)
CaravaggioItalian painter (1571–1610)
Peter Paul RubensFlemish artist and diplomat (1577–1640)
Artemisia GentileschiItalian painter (born 1593)
Nicolas PoussinFrench Baroque painter (1594–1665)
Diego VelázquezSpanish painter (1599–1660)
Johannes VermeerDutch painter (1632–1675)
Jean-Antoine WatteauFrench painter (1684–1721)
William HogarthEnglish painter, engraver and satirist (1697–1764)
Francisco GoyaSpanish painter and printmaker (1746–1828)
Jacques-Louis DavidFrench painter (1748–1825)
Caspar David FriedrichGerman Romantic landscape painter (1774–1840)
J. M. W. TurnerEnglish painter (1775–1851)
John ConstableEnglish painter (1776–1837)
Jean-Auguste-Dominique IngresFrench painter (1780–1867)
Eugène DelacroixFrench painter (1798–1863)
Gustave CourbetFrench realist painter (1819–1877)
Camille PissarroDanish-French painter (1830–1903)
Édouard ManetFrench painter (1832–1883)
James McNeill WhistlerAmerican painter (1834–1903)
Edgar DegasFrench Impressionist artist (1834–1917)
Paul CézanneFrench painter (1839–1906)
Claude MonetFrench painter (1840–1926)
Pierre-Auguste RenoirFrench painter and sculptor (1841–1919)
Henri RousseauFrench painter (1844–1910)
Ilya RepinRussian realist painter (1844–1930)
Paul GauguinFrench artist (1848–1903)
John Singer SargentAmerican painter (1856–1925)
Georges SeuratFrench painter (1859–1891)
Gustav KlimtAustrian symbolist painter (1862–1918)- EEdvard MunchNorwegian painter (1863–1944)
Henri de Toulouse-LautrecFrench painter and illustrator (1864–1901)
Wassily KandinskyRussian painter and art theorist (1866–1944)
Henri MatisseFrench artist (1869–1954)
Piet MondrianDutch painter (1872–1944)
Kazimir MalevichRussian artist and painter (1879–1935)
Paul KleeSwiss-German painter (1879–1940)
Franz MarcGerman artist (1880–1916)
Edward HopperAmerican painter and printmaker (1882–1967)
Diego RiveraMexican muralist (1886–1957)
Max ErnstGerman artist (1891–1976)
René MagritteBelgian painter (1898–1967)
Frida KahloMexican painter (1907–1954)
Jackson PollockAmerican painter (1912–1956)
Winsor McCayAmerican cartoonist and animator (c.1866–1934)
Aubrey BeardsleyEnglish illustrator and author (1872–1898)
M. C. EscherDutch graphic artist (1898–1972)
PhidiasGreek sculptor, painter and architect (c.480–430 BC)
DonatelloItalian Renaissance sculptor (c. 1386–1466)
Gian Lorenzo BerniniItalian sculptor and architect (1598–1680)
Auguste RodinFrench sculptor (1840–1917)
Constantin BrâncușiRomanian sculptor, photographer and painter (1876–1957)
Marcel DuchampFrench painter, sculptor, and chess player (1887–1968)
Alberto GiacomettiSwiss sculptor and painter (1901–1966)
Filippo BrunelleschiItalian Renaissance architect (1377–1446)
Leon Battista AlbertiItalian architect and author (1404-1472)
Mimar Sinan16th-century Ottoman chief architect and civil engineer
Andrea PalladioVenetian architect (1508–1580)
Christopher WrenEnglish architect (1632–1723)
Antoni GaudíCatalan architect (1852–1926)
Louis SullivanAmerican architect (1856–1924)
Frank Lloyd WrightAmerican architect (1867–1959)
Walter GropiusGerman-American architect (1883–1969)
Ludwig Mies van der RoheGerman-American architect (1886–1969)
Le CorbusierSwiss-French architect (1887–1965)
Louis KahnEstonian-American architect (1901–1974)
Coco ChanelFrench fashion designer (1883–1971)
Eadweard MuybridgeEnglish photographer (1830–1904)
Sergei Prokudin-GorskiiRussian chemist and photographer (1863–1944)
Edward WestonAmerican photographer (1886–1958)
Antonio StradivariItalian luthier (1644–1737)
Georges-Eugène HaussmannFrench official who renovated Paris (1809–1891)
Frederick Law OlmstedAmerican landscape architect (1822–1903)
Sesshū TōyōJapanese painter (c. 1420–1506)
ShitaoChinese painter (1642–1707)
Utagawa HiroshigeJapanese ukiyo-e woodblock print artist
Qu YuanChinese poet (c.340–278 BCE)
Tao YuanmingChinese poet (365–427)
AristophanesClassical Athenian comic playwright (c. 446 – c. 386 BC)
HoraceRoman lyric poet (65–8 BC)
Wang WeiTang-dynasty Chinese poet, musician, painter, and statesman
Du FuTang dynasty Chinese poet (712–770)
Han YuAncient Chinese writer, essayist and poet (768–824)
Bai JuyiChinese poet of the Tang dynasty (772-846)
Ouyang XiuChinese poet, historian and statesman (1007–1072)
Su ShiChinese writer and politician (1037–1101)
Amir KhusrauIndian poet, writer, singer and scholar (1253–1325)
Kabir15th-16th century Indian poet and sant
Abu Nuwas8th-century classical Arabic poet
RudakiPersian poet (858–940/41)
FerdowsiPersian poet (940–1025)
Omar KhayyámPersian polymath and poet (1048–1131)
JamiPersian poet (1414–1492)
PetrarchItalian scholar and poet (1304–1374)
Geoffrey ChaucerEnglish writer (1343–1400)