The 16th Century

see also:

Overview of the 16th Century:

the 16th century was dominated by:
- Protestant Reformation (1520 onwards) - the splitting of Roman Catholicism into new protestant churches and the subsequent religious wars esp. in Europe & the revival of catholic Inquisitions
- the “Age of Discovery” of the New World & its domination by the Portuguese & Spanish, and the start of Negro slave trade
- the age of the printing press
- the final stages of the 15th century Italian Renaissance
- central Europe dominated by the Holy Roman Empire
- Tudor England by Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and in the last decade of the century, Shakespeare's plays
- middle east dominated by the rise of the Islamic Ottoman Empire
- China dominated by the Ming dynasty whilst the Mogul Empire ruled India
new foods, plants & materials introduced to Europe from:
- East Indies: spices, silk, Asian porcelain
- Americas: chocolate, tobacco, potato, tomato, Guinea pepper, sugar cane, turkey, snuff
- Near East: tulips
music:
- refinements of the violin, early cello, spanish guitar
- printed music
- 4 more modes were added to Pope Gregory's plainsong modes in 1547 by a Swiss monk, Henry of Glarus, who named the 12 modes with ancient Greek names
- church music, protestant hymnals
- pre-baroque music - motet, 16thC madrigal
art:
- Renaissance (1420-1520) eg. Michelangelo, Raphael
- Venetian Art School (c1480-1580) - Bellini, Giorgione, Titian (“the 1st modern painter”), Tintoretto
- Mannerism (1520-80)
  - a reaction in central Italy particularly, to the classic tendencies of Renaissance to express the passions following Charles V's climb to power & his sack of Rome which ended the Renaissance, the battles for foreign rule over Italian territories and the Protestant Reformation.
  - bright colors; accurate linework; intense expressions; unnatural poses; disregard for perspective;
  - Pontormo; Rosso Fiorentini; Titian (Mannerist phase c1530-1550);
- Baroque (1580-1750)
- Classicism (1550-1760)
science:
- the rise of anatomy, botany, astronomy, charting see below

Britain:

Tudor England:
Henry VII (-1509):
- 1501: declines pope's request to lead a crusade against Turks; Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII, marries Catherine of Aragon.
- 1501: 1st voyage of Anglo-Portugese syndicate to Nth America
- 1504: places guilds & trade companies under supervision of the Crown;
- 1505: Henry, Prince of Wales, denounces marriage contract with Catherine of Aragon.
Henry VIII (1509-47):
- Henry, Prince of Wales, succeeds his father to the throne & marries Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow.
- 1511: joins Holy League & begins to reform Royal Navy.
- 1513: Treaty of Mechlin: agreement with Maximilian I, the pope & Ferdinand of Aragon to invade France.
- 1515: Anglo-French peace treaty signed; Thomas Wolsey appointed Cardinal & Lord Chancellor of England;
- 1517: “Evil May Day” riots - 50 rioters hanged on Wolsey's orders.
- 1518: Wolsey devises Peace of London between England, France, HRE, pope & Spain;
- 1523: Sir Thomas More elected Speaker of the House of Commons;
- 1528: severe outbreaks of plague; Henry VIII starts divorce issues;
- 1529: Wolsey falls from power; More made Lord Chancellor;
- 1530: Wolsey dies after having been arrested as a traitor;
- 1533: to allow him to be divorced from his 1st wife, Catherine of Aragon, he broke from Rome and became “Supreme Head” of the English Church, secretly marries Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cranmer becomes Archbishop of Canterbury, declares marriage to Catherine void & marriage with Anne lawful. Anne crowned queen; Henry is excommunicated by pope;
- sanctioned the dissolution of monasteries by the Crown, selling the lands to the gentry.
- 1534: decree forbidding farmers to own more than 2,000 sheep
- 1535, More, refusing the oath of the king's supremacy, tried for treason & executed (canonised 1935); statute of Uses curbs powers of landowners;
- 1536: Q.Anne Boleyn sent to Tower of London & executed; Henry marries Jane Seymour, his 3rd wife; Thomas Cromwell made Lord Privy Seal; 376 religious houses dissolved by royal decree;
- 1537: Q.Jane dies after birth of Prince Edward (later Edward VI)
- 1540: marries Anne of Cleves; marriage annulled by convocation of Canterbury & York; marries Catherine Howard, his 5th wife; Thomas Cromwell executed;
- 1541: assumes title of King of Ireland & Head of the Irish Church; Q.C.Howard sent to the Tower on suspicion of immoral conduct, her alleged paramours, Thomas Culpepper & Dereham, executed;
- 1542: Q.C.Howard executed;
- 1543: marries Catherine Parr, his 6th wife who outlives him and who continued to look after his daughter to Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth;
- 1544: St Batholomew's hospital refounded
Edward VI (r.1547-53):
- saw a Protestant doctrine more fully accepted, relaxed laws against heretics, allowed clergy to marry
Lady Jane Grey (r.1553) - deposed after 9 days; executed in 1554;
Mary I (r.1553-8):
- daughter of Catherine of Aragon, introduced a severe, unpopular, Catholic reaction, driving many Protestants to exile & nearly 300 burnt at stake as heretics
- 1554: Princess Elizabeth sent to the Tower for suspected participation in a Protestant rebellion against Mary.
- 1554: marries Phillip of Spain, son of HRE Charles V
- 1556: Stationers' Company of London granted monopoly of printing in England
- 1558: loses Calais;
Elizabeth I (r.1558-1603):
- Mary I's half-sister, daughter of Anne Boleyn, sought a middle way between the policies of Edward VI and Mary I, attempting to bring peace between the Catholics & the Protestants, but a strongly Protestant parliament forced her to a more extreme view than she intended.
- her mother was killed for not bearing Henry VIII a son
- as a teenager she was accused of having treasonous amorous relationship with Seymour which she managed to survive
- sent to the Tower by Mary I when thought to be involved in a Protestant rebellion
- became Queen when Mary I died childless;
- vain, arrogant, adored adoration, spiteful, frequently unjust & often indecisive, but was brave, intelligent and usually wise.
- a Protestant queen in a predominantly catholic country (esp. the north) hence was pushed to have a husband and children for the sake of Protestant England - and also to avoid the Medieval belief that abnormal retention of female sperm from prolonged virginity causing the toxic sickness “Green sickness”!
  - rumours abounded that she was sleeping with Dudley, a married man with a sick wife who died after “falling” down stairs, further fuelling gossip that it was not accidental. Elizabeth was forced to push Dudley away.
- haunted & fascinated by Mary Q. of Scots with whom she competed for adoration, but also Mary, being a Catholic as well as a Tudor and a Stuart, a competitor for the English throne!
- had to contend with:
  - inflation, increasing beggars
  - serious attack of smallpox in 1562
  - rise of the Puritans
  - Catholic plots & threats from Scotland, France & Spain
  - Irish rebellion in northern Ireland; sacking of Durham Cathedral (1569);
- 1563: Parliament passes acts for relief of the poor & for regulating apprentices (repealed 1814);plague kills 20,000 in London;
- 1567: recognises eisteddfod;
- 1569: the catholic northern rebellion brutally repressed creating stability in England; public lottery held in London to finance repairs to the port;
- 1571: Act of Parliament forbids export of wool & enforces subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles among clergy;
- 1572: Parliament demands execution of Mary Q. of Scots; plans for Elizabeth to marry Henry, Duke of Anjou abandoned;
- 1573: Sir Francis Walsingham made chief Secretary of State, instituted an intelligence agency to spy on potential catholic conspirators & created a police state.
- 1575: Parliament grants freedom from arrest for its members & their servants;
- 1578: Levant Trading Company founded for trade with Turkey;
- 1579: English-Dutch military alliance signed;
- 1580: folk tune “Greensleeves” mentioned for 1st time; Drake returns from circumnavigation of world; London earthquake; new buildings banned in London to restrict growth of city;
- 1582: 1st water works in London; London Bridge gets water wheels;
- 1583: Sommerville plot to kill Elizabeth I discovered, Sommerville executed; Throgmorton plot for Spanish invasion of England discovered, Throgmorton executed;
- 1585: declines sovereignty of Netherlands but takes it under her protection; orders Drake to attack Vigo & Santo Domingo;
- 1586: Pope & Spain plot to invade England; Walsingham creates a trap for Mary & unravels Babington plot to murder Elizabeth I, proving involvement of Mary Q. of Scots; Babington tortured, confessed & executed; Mary sentenced; severe corn shortage;
- 1587: Mary Q of Scots executed at Fotheringay, a catholic martyr;
- 1588: Charles Howard with help from Drake, Raleigh, and the weather, overcomes the Spanish armada; Elizabeth gives her famous victory speech at Tilbury creating short-lived euphoria broke by famine, plague & a 9yr war with Ireland; English Guinea Company founded;
- 1589: Drake with 150 ships & 18,000 men fails to take Lisbon;
- 1592: plague kills 15,000 in London;
- 1596: pacification of Ireland; English sack Cadiz;
- 1597: Parliament prescribes sentences of transportation to colonies for convicted criminals; English merchants expelled from HRE in retaliation for treatment of Hanseatic League in London;
- ends her reign, childless, single but with a much more powerful England hence the “Golden Age”

Scotland:

James IV (r. - 1513) dies at Battle of Flodden against England
James V (r. 1513-1542) infant king for whom his mother Margaret Tudor assumes regency
- 1515: Scottish Parliament names Duke of Albany, nephew of James III, as Protector of Scotland, Margaret Tudor, Queen Regent, escapes to England.
- 1524: James V becomes king of Scotland in his own right
- 1526: Anglo-Scot. peace signed;
Mary Stewart, Q.of Scots (r.1542-67):
- a Catholic & great-granddaughter of Henry VII, considered by many Catholics to be the rightful queen of England
- sent to France in 1558 to marry the Dauphin, the future French king, Francis II
- when Francis was crowned King of France in 1559, she assumed the title Queen of England in opposition to Elizabeth I
- her mother, Mary of Guise acted as her regent until she returned to Scotland in 1561 to rule herself, although opposed by Protestant Scots such as John Knox.
- 1565: marries Henry, Lord Darnley, her cousin, but he was an lazy, dissolute, alcoholic & became increasingly estranged
- 1566: Darnley kills Ritzio whom he thought was having an affair with Mary; Mary wanted to get rid of Darnley after the birth of his son, thus Lord Darnley was murdered in 1567, possibly on Earl of Bothwell's orders;
- Bothwell takes her to his grim castle in Dunbar and marries Mary Q. of Scots, losing Scotland as seen as a murderous whore “mermaid”, imprisoned & thus denounced the throne at 25yrs age and giving it to her son, James VI.
- fled prison in 1568 and was kept in protective custody by Elizabeth I for 19yrs to prevent attacks by France or Spain, until she was executed when Spain began war.
1571: Earl of Lennox, Regent of Scotland, killed, succeeded by Earl of Mar, but dies in 1572, succeeded by Earl of Morton;
James VI (r. Scotland 1578-1625)
- son of Mary Q. of Scots & Lord Darnley, forced to be a Protestant after her mother's disgrace;
- 1583: escapes from hands of Ruthven raiders after 10 months;
- 1587: John Knox forms the Presbyterian Church in Scotland
- 1603: becomes King of England

Europe:

the Reformation of the catholic church:
- protestant movement starting in 1517 with Martin Luther, the wars with the catholics across Europe in 1545-1650
card games (since 1400) gain popularity all over Europe in 1501
1540: Antwerp becomes a most important commercial city.
1549: court jesters (dwarfs, cripples) appear in Europe
1557: state bankruptcy in Spain & France; influenza epidemic all over Europe;
1567: Duke of Alba arrives as military governor in Netherlands & begins reign of terror;
1569: Sigismund II of Poland unites Poland with Lithuania; 40,000 inhabitants of Lisbon die in carbuncular fever epidemic;
1572: Dutch war of Independence begins;
1573: Henry, Duke of Anjou elected King of Poland, returns to France to succeed his brother Charles IX in 1574; Spanish capture Dutch Haarlem after 7 month siege; Duke of Alba leaves Brussels for Spain;
1575: Stephen Bathory of Transylvania becomes King of Poland (r. 1575-86);
1578: Sebastian, king of Portugal, killed at Alcazar during invasion of Morocco;
1580: Italian cooking predominant in Europe; Stephen Bathory invades Russia;
1583: Duke of Anjou sacks Antwerp & retires from Netherlands;
1585: Antwerp loses its importance as international port to Rotterdam & Amsterdam;
1595: Warsaw, capital of Poland;

France:

Louis XII (Valois-Orleans) (r.1498-1515)
- 1514: Anglo-French truce; Louis XII marries Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII; Louis XII's daughter marries Francis, Duke of Angouleme;
Valois-Angouleme (r.1515-1589)
- Francis I (r.1515-1547)
  - 1530: marries Eleanor of Portugal, widow of Manuel I & sister of Charles V
  - 1532: reformation in France - John Calvin;
- Henry II (r. 1547-59):
  - 1547: French instead of Latin declared the official language of the French authorities
  - 1547: Nostradamus (1503-1566) - 1st predictions
  - 1559: dies in a tournament whilst his mistress, Diane de Poitiers dies in 1566;
- Francis II (r. 1559-1560):
  - husband of Mary Queen of Scots
- Charles IX (r. 1560-1574):
  - his mother, Catherine de Medici, as regent
  - 1562: plague in Paris;
  - 1563: Peace of Amboise ends 1st War of Religion in France;
  - 1568: Treaty of Longjumeau ends 2nd War of Religion in France
  - 1570: Peace of St Germain-en-Laye ends 3rd civil war in France; Huguenots gain amnesty; marries Elizabeth, daughter of Maximillian II;
  - 1572: massacre on St Bartholomew's Day in Paris - 2,000 Huguenots murdered incl. Gaspard de Coligny; 4th War of Religion begins;
  - 1573: 4th War of Religion ends; Huguenots gain amnesty;
- Henry III (r. 1574-):
  - King of Poland, brother of Charles IX
  - 1574: 5th War of Religion begins;
  - 1577: 6th War of Religion begins;
  - 1580: 7th War of Religion begins;
  - 1589: last of the house of Valois, assassinated, on his deathbed, recognises Henry, King of Navarre, as his successor, who, as Henry IV, is the 1st Bourbon king of France.
Bourbons (r.1589-1792)
- Charles X (r. 1590):
  - Catholic League proclaims Cardinal de Bourbon, King Charles X of France in Jan but he dies in May;
- Henry IV (r.1589-1610):
  - 1590: lays siege to Paris causing famine
  - 1591: excommunicated by Pope Gregory XIV
  - 1593: becomes a Roman Catholic - “Paris is well worth a mass”; 1st French botanical gardens;
  - 1594: now crowned, enters Paris
  - 1595: declares war on Spain;

Spain:

1502, the Spanish Inquisition turned its attention to insincere converts from Islam
1503: Naples no longer the Spanish capital
1504: Columbus returns from his last voyage; postal service b/n Vienna & Brussels extended to Madrid.
1520s, the Spanish Inquisition turned its attention to people suspected of Protestantism
1550-1600: Spain at its peak of political & economic power
1560: Madrid becomes capital of Spain
House of Aragon & Castile (1474-1516)
- Ferdinand II, Isabella 1474-1504
- Ferdinand II, Philip I 1504-6
- Ferdinand II, Charles I 1506-16
Spanish Hapsburgs (1516-1700)
- Charles I 1516-56
  - grandson of Maximilian I, also becomes Charles V of HRE (1519-56);
  - 1530: grants the Maltese islands to the Order of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem (this order, founded at end of 11thC during the 1st Crusade, was the only one still defending the Holy Sepulchre) as a free & perpetual feudal territory dependent on the crown of Sicily.
- Phillip II 1556-98
  - dominated European politics in the late 16thC
  - introduced the Inquisition, but defended foremost, the Hapsburgs
  - 1570: marries Anne of Austria (his 4th wife), a daughter of Maximillian II
  - 1575: state bankruptcy
  - 1576: Spain sacks Antwerp
  - 1580: Spain invades Portugal under Duke of Alba
  - 1586: Pope Sixtus V promises financial aid to send Spanish Armada against England;
  - 1588: the “invincible” Spanish Armada defeated by the English; England attack Lisbon;
  - 1596: English sack Cadiz; Spain take Calais;
  - 1597: 2nd Spanish Armada leaves for England but is scattered by storms;

Italy:

15thC Italy was divided into a large number of city states but dominated by 5 powers with considerable territorial possessions: Florence, Venice, Milan, Naples & the Papacy
in 1494, Charles VIII of France led his army unopposed into Italy (the 1st Italian War) to assert his claim to the throne of Naples. His successor, Louis XII, brought the power of Spain into Italy by bargaining for the partition of Naples with Ferdinand of Aragon. Within a few years, the Spaniards had mastered southern Italy.
during the 1st quarter of 16thC, the Italian states tried to play off one invader against another but never succeeding in maintaining a compact alliance among themselves.
The Renaissance:
- Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) horizontal water wheel (1510);
- Michelangelo (1475-1564) - “David” (1501); Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508-12); fortifications of Florence (1529); replans the Capitol (1539);
- Paracelsus
1504: Venice sends ambassadors to Sultan of Turkey proposing construction of a Suez Canal.
1506: Machiavelli creates Florentine militia, 1st national army in Italy.
1508-10: Pope Julius II forms the League of Cambrai, an anti-Venetian alliance which included Louis XII of France, HRE Maximilian I and Ferdinand I of Spain to curb Venice's influence in northern Italy.
1511: Pope Julius II falls out with France & forms the Holy League with Venice & Aragon to drive out the French from Italy.
1512: Machiavelli's soldiers fail dismally against the Spaniards; Machiavelli was removed from politics & began to vent his frustrations by writing:
- Machiavelli (1469-1527) shamed by the incompetence of the Italian leaders of the time, watching his proud 1st rate city state of Florence become a 2nd-rate power under domination of Spain, wrote his infamous book “The Prince” in 1514, and “Discourses upon Livy”, “History of Florence” & “Dialogue on language”
1524: French driven out of Italy;
1527: sack of Rome: Charles V's Swiss imperial troops pillage the city, killing 4,000 inhabitants & looting art treasures, Pope Clement VII imprisoned; “the end of golden age of the Renaissance”;
Mannerist art (1520-80):
- virtually throughout Italy in the 16thC, the artificial style of Mannerist painting was widely acclaimed
- reflected a feeling of tension, discord and violent emotion. This reflected the scientific, religious and political unrest of the time.
- Michelangelo (Florence), Tintoretto (Venice)
1530: Pope Clement VII crowns Charles V HRE & King of Italy - the last imperial coronation by a pope;
1535: Milan becomes a Spanish province when Charles V occupied the city & duchy on the death without issue of Francesco Sforza, gradually transforming the independent state into a vassal
1540: Pope Paul III confirms the Order of Jesuits;
1542, the church, alarmed by the spread of Protestantism esp. into Italy, encouraged by Carafa, established the Roman Inquisition & the Holy Office
the decline of Venice:
- 1570: Ottoman Empire attacks the important Venetian colony of Cyprus.
- 1571: Venetian alliance defeat the Ottoman attacks
- 1573?: Doges' Palace destroyed by fire
- 1573: impoverished Venice signs peace agreement and gives Cyprus to Turkey.
- 1576: plague hits Venice killing 25%; Titian dies;
- 1577: Doges' Palace again destroyed by fire including many of Titian's works.
- 1578: Tintoretto becomes the main artist in Venice as it rebuilds.
House of Savoy (1553-1831)
- Emmanuel Philibert 1553-80
  - 1575: Sicily & Italy hit by plague;
  - 1578: catacombs of Rome discovered;
- Charles Emmanuel I 1580-1630
  - 1587: Pope Sixtus V proclaims Catholic crusade for invasion of England; Monteverdi's 1st book of Madrigals;
Pope Sixtus V (1585-90) overseas the reconstruction of Rome and imposed on artists a homogeneous style of figuration that reinforced the work's overall moral purpose. This style is late Roman Mannerism.

Russia:

Ivan III:
- 1501: invades Lithuania
Vasily III 1505-33
- 1512-22: war between Russia & Poland; in 1514 takes Smolensk;
Ivan IV, the Terrible (r.1547-84)
- 1549: calls 1st national assembly
- 1552: begins conquest of Kazan & Astrakhan
- 1580: kills his son & heir with his own hands; Russia invaded by Poland; Russian conquest of Siberia (1580-98);
- 1582: loses access to Baltic, abandons Livonia & Estonia to Poland;
Fyodor Ivanovitch 1584-98:
- Ivan's son, relinquishes most of his powers to his brother-in-law Boris Godunov
- 1584: Dutch trading post founded at Archangel, Russia
- 1591: Dmitri, son of Ivan IV, assassinated on instigation of Boris, regent under Czar Fyodor;
Boris Godunov 1598-1605

Hapsburgs:

Maximilian I (r. -1519):
- 1505: begins reformation of Holy Roman Empire, interpreting it as universal Hapsburg monarchy
- 1508: assumes title of emperor without being crowned. Pope Julius II confirms the fact that from now on the German king automatically becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1509: authorises persecution of Jews in Germany by confiscating & destroying all Jewish books, esp. the Talmud.
- 1509: lends 170,000 ducats from merchant Fugger to finance war against Venice, in return for trading monopolies
- 1514: House of Fugger secures right to sell papal indulgences in Germany.
Charles V (r. 1519-56):
- Charles I of Spain, grandson of Maximilian I, becomes Charles V of HRE;
- 1521: grants his brother Ferdinand, certain Hapsburg possessions & rights in Austria; Ferdinand marries Anne of Hungary;
- 1525: Germans & Spanish with aid of muskets, defeat France & Swiss, King Francis I taken prisoner, Charles V becomes master of Italy;
- 1526: marries Isabella of Portugal; after Turks defeat Hungary & kill their king, John Zapolyta & Ferdinand of Austria are both crowned King of Hungary; persecution of Jews in Hungary;
- 1527: Ferdinand is crowned king of Bohemia & recognised as sole king of Hungary
- 1528: gives the Augsburg merchants Welser, the privilege of colonising Venezeula
- 1546: civil war in Germany b/n Charles V & Schmalkaldic League
- 1551: Jews persecuted in Bavaria
- 1555: turns over govt of Netherlands to his son Philip (who had married Queen Mary I of England in 1554)
- 1556: Charles V abdicates, assigning Spain to his son Phillip II & the HRE to his brother Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I 1556-64
- 1562: Maximilian, son of Ferdinand becomes King of Bohemia;
- 1563: Maximilian elected King of Hungary
Maximilian II 1564-76
Rudolph II 1576-1612

Prussia:

1525: Grand Master Albert of the Teutonic Knights (1490-1568) transforms Prussia into secular duchy of Brandenburg with himself as Duke

Middle East:

1501: Ismail I (1487-1524), Sheikh of Ardabil, conquers Persia, founding Safavid dynasty (1501-1736)
1509: earthquake destroys Constantinople
1512: Shi'ism becomes state religion in Persia
1514: Selim I, Sultan of Turkey, attacks Persia
1515: Selim I conquers eastern Anatolia & Kurdistan;
1520: Selim I dies & succeeded by his son, Suleiman I, the Magnificent (r. 1520-66);
1521: Suleiman I conquers Belgrade & begins to invade Hungary;
1522: Suleiman I takes Rhodes from the Knights of St John;
1525: Suleiman I signs seven year truce with Hungary;
1526: Battle of Mohacs: Turks defeat Hungarians, killing Louis II of Hungary; Suleiman I takes Buda;
1529: Turks attack Austria, lay siege to Vienna, but are forced to raise it.
1532: Suleiman I invades Hungary, his attack on Carinthia & Croatia repelled;
1541: Suleiman I takes Buda & annexes Hungary (and holds it until 1686);
1546: Turks occupy Moldavia
1551: Turks fail to capture Malta but take Tripoli
1553: Turks make peace with Persia
1560: Turk galleys rout Spanish fleet off Tripoli
1565: Knights of St John defend Malta from Turks who abandon their attack once Spanish troops arrive
1566: Suleiman I dies, succeeded by Selim II as Sultan of Turkey (r.1566-74);
1570: Turks sack Nicosia, Cyprus & declares war on Venice;
1571: Turks take Famagusta, Cyprus & massacre its inhabitants;
1573: Peace of Constantinople ends war b/n Turks & Venice;
1574: Selim II dies, succeeded by Murad III (r. 1574-1595); Turks take Tunis from Spain;
1578: Mohammed Khudabanda becomes Shah of Persia (r. 1578-87);
1587: Abbas I becomes Shah of Persia (r. 1587-1628);
1590: Abbas I, abandoning Tabriz & Georgia, makes peace with Turkey;
1594: Turks conquer Raab at Austro-Hungarian border
1595: Murad III dies, succeeded as Sultan of Turkey by Mohammed III (r. 1595-1603);

Asia:

India:

in 1497-98 Vasco da Gama, one of the Portugese royal navigators, led an expedition around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean. On May 20, 1498, da Gama sailed into the harbor of Calicut (now Kozhikode), on the Malabar Coast, opening a new era of Indian history.
1506: Fugger, Augsburg merchant, imports spices from E. Indies to Europe
Mughal Empire / Mogul Empire (1526-:
- Babur/Babar (a descendant of the Mongol conqueror Tamerlane) climaxed a series of invasions into India by defeating the Lodi army. Babur soon occupied Agra, the Lodi capital, and proclaimed himself emperor of the Muslim dominions thus founding the great Mughal dynasty in 1526.
- Afghan rebel Sher Shah becomes Emperor of Delhi (1540)
- Akbar (r. 1556-1605), the grandson of Babur was the greatest sovereign of the Mughal Empire.
  - 1567: conquers Chitor;
  - subdued rebellious princes in various regions, including Punjab, Rajputana (modern Rajasthan), and Gujarat.
  - 1576: conquers Bengal
  - 1579: Father Thomas Stephens is 1st Englishman to settle in India (Goa); Portugues merchants set up trading station in Bengal;
  - 1581: conquers Afghanistan
  - 1583-91: English expeditions to Mesopotamia, India & Persian Gulf led by merchants Fitch & Eldred;
  - 1586-92: conquered Kashmir
  - 1590: conquers Orissa
  - 1592: annexed Sind
  - 1594: takes Kandahar ; Lancaster breaks Portuguese trade monopoly in India;
  - 1598-1601: subjugated a number of the Muslim kingdoms of the Deccan.

China:

1514: 1st European vessel in Chinese waters (Portugese);
1520: Portugese traders settle in China to be expelled in 1523;
1555: Japanese pirates beseige Nanking
1573: Wan-Li (1563-1620) begins reign as 13th emperor of Ming dynasty

Japan:

1542: Antonio da Mota enters Japan as 1st European;
1543: Portugese land & bring firearms
1567: Nobunaga deposes shogunate & centralises government;
1568: Jesuit missionaries welcomed in Japan;
1570: opens port of Nagasaki to overseas trade;
1578, Otomo Yoshishige, a chief ruler in Japan, converted to Christianity
1587: Hideyoshi, the new dictator, banishes Portuguese missionaries from Japan;
1592: Hideyoshi fails in invasion of Korea, & thus of China;

Oceania:

1520: Magellan passes through Straits of Magellan into Pacific Ocean & sails for the Philippines where he is killed in 1521;
1526: Portugese vessels in New Guinea;
1564: Spaniards occupy Philippines & build Manila
1567: Alvaro Mendana de Neyra discovers Solomon Islands
1592: Lancaster sails around Malay Peninsula
1595: Dutch begin to colonise East Indies;

Americas:

1500: De Ojeda & Vespucci discover mouth of the Amazon River; Cabral discovers Brazil, claiming it for Portugal;
1507: Waldseemuller, proposes the New World be called “America” after Amerigo Vespucci
1511: Diego de Velasquez de Cuellar occupies Cuba
1513: de Balboa crosses Panama Isthmus & discovers Pacific Ocean; de Leon discovers Florida;
1516: Hernandez de Cordoba, visits Yucatan, Mexico, becoming 1st European to report on Mayan culture
1518: Juan de Grijalva discovers Mexico; License to import 4,000 African slaves to Span. Amer. colonies granted to Lorens de Gominot;
1519: Cortes brings Arabian horses from Spain to N.American continent;
1520: Hernan Cortes invades, and with the help of Indians (previously subjugated by Aztecs) conquers the Aztecs, capturing & destroying the citadel of Tenochtitlan, replacing Aztec oppression with that of imperial Spain, returning to Portugal with gold, silver & new metals & chocolate
1521: Francisco de Gordillo explores Amer. Atlantic coast up to S.Carolina;
1522: Pascuel de Andagoya leads land expedition from Panama & discovers Peru;
1523: town of Jamaica founded by the Spanish;
1524: Giovanni da Verrazano discovers New York Bay & Hudson River;
1528: Mexico declared a Viceroyalty of Spain, its large Indian population attracted missionaries looking for converts as well as adventurers looking for mineral and land. Rich silver mines were worked by natives, who were also employed on the land & kept in subjugation by their Spanish overlords, though within a century, the Indian population had been decimated by European diseases.
- 1529: Bernadino de Sahagun starts his Franciscan mission in Mexico
- 1531: Mexico's current Roman Catholic spiritual icon the Virgin …… , has a vision and builds 1st church
1531: Villegagnon discovers site of Rio de Janeiro;
1532: sugar cane 1st cultivated in Brazil;
1533: Pizarro executes the Inca of Peru;
1534-5: Jacques Cartier discovers Gaspe Peninsula (Qebec), leading to eastern Canada being opened up by French explorers & settlers
1538: Mercator uses the name America for 1st time.
1539: Spain annexes Cuba;
1540: G.L.de Cardenas discovers the Grand Canyon, Arizona;
1542: St Francis Xavier (canonised 1602) arrives at Goa as a Jesuit missionary
1544: silver mines of Potosi, Peru discovered
1548: silver mines of Zaatecar, Mexico mined by Spanish
1549: Jesuit missionaries in Sth America
1555: French colony founded on Bay of Rio de Janeiro
1562: French attempt to colonise Florida; John Hawkins makes his 1st journey to New World & begins slave trade b/n Guinea & West Indies;
1567: Rio de Janeiro founded; 2 million Indians die in Sth America from typhoid fever;
1572: Francis Drake attacks Spanish harbours in America;
1573: Francis Drake sees Pacific Ocean for 1st time;
1574: Portuguese found Sao Paulo;
1579: Drake proclaims British sovereignty over New Albion, California
1582: 1st English colony in Newfoundland founded;
1584: Sir Walter Raleigh discovers & annexes Virginia
1585: Davis discovers Davis Strait b/n Canada & Greenland;
1592: Juan de Fuca discovers British Columbia;

Africa:

1505: Portuguese found factories on east coast of Africa
1509: beginning of slave trade - Bartolome de Las Casas, Roman Catholic bishop of Chiapas, proposes that each Spanish settler should bring a certain number of Negro slaves to the New World
1574: Portuguese colonise Angola
1592: Portuguese settle at Mombasa;
1593: islamic Emperor of Morocco invades and annexes Timbuktu ending its legendary rich kingdom, it trading wealth and central importance to the islamic African world. Westerners having heard of its king who gave away gold, only managed to discover it in the 19th century but by then it was an impoverished town. The wealth of written knowledge was hidden by the locals and only presented to the Western world in 1997.

Science/Culture:

1500: 1st black-lead pencils used in England;
1501: swift development of book printing & typography;
1503: pocket handkerchief comes into use; “Nuremberg egg” - the 1st watch;
1505: del Ferro solves a form of a cubic equation;
1506: E.Indies spice brought to Europe;
1507: manufacture of glass mirrors improved;
1510: horizontal water wheel - principle of water turbine;
1512: ban on quacks in Augsburg; Royal Navy builds double-deck ships with 70 guns, 1000 tons;
1515: 1st nationalised factories open (France weapons, tapestries);
1518: Royal College Physicians founded; E.Asian porcelain comes to Europe; spectacles for short-sighted;
1520: chocolate brought from Mexico to Spain; Henry VIII orders bowling lanes be built in Whitehall;
1521: manufacture of silk introduced to France;
1523: 1st English manual of agriculture: Fitzherbert's “Book of husbandry”; 1st marine insurance policies issued at Florence;
1524: turkeys from S.America eaten for 1st time in English court;
1525: 1st use of muskets by Spanish infantry; hops introduced to England from Artois;
1526: card game piquet 1st played;
1529: clinical bedside examination of patients introduced by Giovanni Battista da Monte; alchemy manual published;
1531: 1st complete edition of Aristotle's works published by Erasmus; the “great comet” (Halley's) arouses a wave of superstition;
1532: Chaucer's works published posthum; Machiavelli “Il Principe” written in 1513 published posthum; sugar cane Brazil;
1533: 1st lunatic asylums (without medical attention);
1535: London stock exchange;
1536: India rubber mentioned for 1st time;
1537: 1st conservatories of music founded; Fontana initiates science of ballistics; 1st map of Flanders by Mercator;
1539: 1st Christmas tree; public lottery; Magnus' map of the world;
1540: ether produced from alcohol & sulphuric acid; Servetus discovers pulmonary circulation of blood;
1542: Vesalius' anatomy; heavy taxes on drinks in Bavaria;
1543: Copernicus' heliocentric solar system challenges the embedded geocentric universe doctrine
1544: Agricola - study of physical geology; 1st herbarium published;
1546: Fracastoro's theory on epidemic diseases; Mercator states earth has a magnetic pole; 1st pharmacopoeia;
1547: Guinea pepper plant grown in England;
1550: billiards 1st played in Italy; sealing wax; 1st written reference to cricket;
1551: 1st licensing of alehouses & taverns in England;
1552: Eustachian tube; St Andrew's golf club founded;
1553: violin in its modern form begins to develop; potato from Peru;
1555: tobacco brought to Spain from America
1558: Portuguese introduce Europeans to the habit of taking snuff;
1559: position & posture of human embryo;
1560: tobacco plant imported to Europe by Jean Nicot; visiting cards used for 1st time;
1561: Lopez develops modern technique of chess playing; forerunners of hand grenades; tulips from Near East come to Europe;
1562: milled coins introduced England;
1563: 1st printing presses in Russia;
1564: horse-drawn coach introduced in England from Holland;
1565: RCP empowered to carry out human dissections; Royal Exchange founded; pencils made in England; sweet potatoes & tobacco introduced to England;
1566: 1st newspaper appears in Venice;
1568: Mercator's cylindrical projection for charts; Varolio studies anatomy of human brain; bottled beer invented;
1570: Henryson's “The moral fables of Aesop”; 1st modern atlas; Nuremberg postal service;
1572: Dutch use pigeons to carry letters during Spanish siege of Haarlem; Brahe discovers the “New Star” in the Milky Way;
1573: 1st German cane sugar refinery at Augsburg;
1575: 1st European imitations of Chinese porcelain made in Venice & Florence; pop: Paris 0.3m; London 0.18m;
1576: beginning of modern botany; Viete introduces decimal fractions;
1577: Holinshed chronicles of Britain; Drake's voyage around the world via Cape Horn;
1578: catacombs of Rome discovered;
1580: Venice imports coffee from Turkey;
1581: Galileo discovers isochronous property of pendulum; Sedan chairs in general use in England;
1582: Gregorian calendar adopted by Papal States, Spain, Portugal, France, Netherlands & Scandinavia (England: 1752);
1583: 1st known life insurance in England;
1584: Banco di Rialto founded in Venice; oldest extant wave-swept lighthouse erected at Cordouan;
1585: Stevin's law of equilibrium; 1st English travelling & standing clocks;
1589: forks used for 1st time in French courts; stocking frame & 1st knitting machine invented;
1590: 1st compound microscope; Shakespeare's “Henry VI”; coal mining begins in the Ruhr; 1st English paper mill at Dartford;
1591: skittle alleys, in use since end of 12thC, become popular in Germany;
1592: Shakespeare's “Richard III”; Pompeii ruins discovered; windmills used in Holland to drive mechanical saws;
1594: Shakespeare's “Romeo & Juliet”; 1st opera: Peri's “Dafne”; Galileo's golden rule;
1595: Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream”; English army finally abandons bow as weapon of war; 1st heels on shoes;
1596: Shakespeare's “The Merchant of Venice”; Galileo's thermometer; Rheticus' trigonometric tables; tomatoes in England; 1st water closets for the rich;
1597: Shakespeare's “Henry IV”; 1st field hospitals & field dispensaries;
1598: Shakespeare's “Much Ado about Nothing” & “Henry V”;
1599: Shakespeare's “Julius Caesar”; Korean admiral invents iron-clad warship; Brahe's account of his discoveries & instruments;

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Table of Contents

The 16th Century

Overview of the 16th Century:

Britain:

Scotland:

Europe:

France:

Spain:

Italy:

Russia:

Hapsburgs:

Prussia:

Middle East:

Asia:

India:

China:

Japan:

Oceania:

Americas:

Africa:

Science/Culture: