History as taught remains largely male. Yet dozens of women bent the course of the world. Here are 20 essential figures, in chronological order.
Antiquity
Hatshepsut (around 1480 BC). Female pharaoh of Egypt. Reigns 22 years, a time of prosperity and large trade expeditions.
Cleopatra VII (69-30 BC). Last queen of Egypt. Political and romantic alliances with Caesar and Mark Antony. Commits suicide after the defeat at Actium.
Boudicca (around 60). Celtic queen who led a major revolt against the Romans in Britain.
Middle Ages
Theodora (around 500-548). Byzantine empress, wife of Justinian. Effective co-ruler. Reforms for women’s rights.
Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204). Queen of France then England. Mother of Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland.
Joan of Arc (1412-1431). Peasant from Lorraine who leads the French army to victory at Orleans. Burned at 19. Canonized in 1920.
Renaissance and Early Modern
Isabella of Castile (1451-1504). Co-founder of modern Spain with Ferdinand. Finances Christopher Columbus in 1492.
Elizabeth I (1533-1603). Queen of England. Defeats the Spanish Armada in 1588. Elizabethan age, England’s golden moment.
Catherine the Great (1729-1796). Empress of Russia. Expands and modernizes the empire along Enlightenment ideals.
Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793). Queen of France, guillotined. Symbolic figure of the Old Regime.
19th century
Queen Victoria (1819-1901). Longest reign before Elizabeth II. Peak of the British global era.
Ada Lovelace (1815-1852). British mathematician, considered the first computer programmer in history.
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). Pioneer of modern nursing during the Crimean War.
20th century
Marie Curie (1867-1934). Only person to have received the Nobel Prize in two different scientific disciplines (physics and chemistry).
Coco Chanel (1883-1971). Revolutionizes women’s fashion in the 20th century.
Rosa Parks (1913-2005). Refuses to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery bus in 1955. Triggers the civil rights movement.
Indira Gandhi (1917-1984). First female Prime Minister of India. Modernization of the country. Assassinated.
Mother Teresa (1910-1997). Albanian nun active in India. Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013). First female British Prime Minister. Conservatism and economic liberalism.
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954). Mexican painter. Emblematic self-portraits, political activism, posthumous cultural icon.
21st century
Angela Merkel (1954-). German Chancellor for 16 years (2005-2021). Head of European diplomacy through the eurocrisis and migration crisis.
Malala Yousafzai (1997-). Pakistani activist for girls’ education. Youngest Nobel Peace laureate (17).
Method to remember
Group by era. Antiquity = Cleopatra, Hatshepsut. Middle Ages = Joan of Arc, Eleanor. Renaissance = Isabella, Elizabeth. 19th = Victoria, Marie Curie. 20th = Rosa Parks, Indira Gandhi.
Tie each figure to a field. Politics: queens and prime ministers. Science: Marie Curie, Ada Lovelace. Civil rights: Rosa Parks, Malala. Arts: Frida Kahlo, Coco Chanel.
Cross-reference with contexts. Joan of Arc = Hundred Years’ War. Cleopatra = Roman conquest. Rosa Parks = American segregation. Context makes the figure more memorable.
Worth reading: major historical figures and the world history timeline. SAPIRO offers quizzes on 500+ historical figures with contextualized explanations.