At the Washington Naval Conference, the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, China, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Belgium signed an agreement recognizing China’s sovereignty and maintaining the Open Door policy.

In World War I, the Allied forces were initially composed of Britain, France, Belgium, Serbia, and Russia, with Japan, Italy, the United States, and fifteen other nations joining the alliance before the war’s end.

Though born in the Republic of Florence (Italy), like many others from the trading city-states on the Mediterranean, Vespucci (1451–1512) became a mariner and explorer for another country. While in the employ of the Medici family of bankers, he was sent to work in the family’s bank in Spain. While there he came to the attention of King Manuel I of Portugal, who hired him to be an observer on several voyages to explore the portion of the Americas acquired through the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. Several published accounts of these voyages...

Born in either Caieta or Genoa, John Cabot (ca. 1453–ca. 1498) became a citizen of Venice in 1476. Little is known about Cabot’s background as a mariner. He appeared in England in 1495 where he applied for a royal patent to raise funds for an exploring venture to follow up Columbus’s discoveries. Having gotten his patent from Henry VII and sponsorship from various merchant groups, he departed from Bristol in June 1497 and reached the North American coast later that year. His landing gave England a justification for claiming part of the New...