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16th century

One hundred years, from 1501 to 1600

  • 27 min read
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Planisphere made by Rumold Mercator, 1587
Julian Sargent · Public domain

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The Renaissance in Italy and Europe saw the emergence of important artists, authors and scientists, and led to the foundation of important subjects which include accounting and political science. Copernicus proposed the heliocentric universe, which was met with strong resistance, and Tycho Brahe refuted the theory of celestial spheres through observational measurement of the 1572 appearance of a Milky Way supernova. These events directly challenged the long-held notion of an immutable universe supported by Ptolemy and Aristotle, and led to major revolutions in astronomy and science. Galileo Galilei became a champion of the new sciences, invented the first thermometer and made substantial contributions in the fields of physics and astronomy, becoming a major figure in the Scientific Revolution in Europe.

Spain and Portugal colonized large parts of Central and South America, followed by France and England in Northern America and the Lesser Antilles. The Portuguese became the masters of trade between Brazil, the coasts of Africa, and their possessions in the Indies, whereas the Spanish came to dominate the Greater Antilles, Mexico, Peru, and opened trade across the Pacific Ocean, linking the Americas with the Indies. English and French privateers began to practice persistent theft of Spanish and Portuguese treasures. This era of colonialism established mercantilism as the leading school of economic thought, where the economic system was viewed as a zero-sum game in which any gain by one party required a loss by another. The mercantilist doctrine encouraged the many intra-European wars of the period and arguably fueled European expansion and imperialism throughout the world until the 19th century or early 20th century.

The Reformation in central and northern Europe gave a major blow to the authority of the papacy and the Catholic Church. In England, the British-Italian Alberico Gentili wrote the first book on public international law and divided secularism from canon law and Catholic theology. European politics became dominated by religious conflicts, with the groundwork for the epochal Thirty Years' War being laid towards the end of the century.

In the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire continued to expand, with the sultan taking the title of caliph, while dealing with a resurgent Persia. Iran and Iraq were caught by a major popularity of the Shia sect of Islam under the rule of the Safavid dynasty of warrior-mystics, providing grounds for a Persia independent of the majority-Sunni Muslim world.

In the Indian subcontinent, following the defeat of the Delhi Sultanate and Vijayanagara Empire, new powers emerged, the Sur Empire founded by Sher Shah Suri, Deccan sultanates, Rajput states, and the Mughal Empire by Emperor Babur, a direct descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan. His successors Humayun and Akbar, enlarged the empire to include most of South Asia.

Japan suffered a severe civil war at this time, known as the Sengoku period, and emerged from it as a unified nation under Toyotomi Hideyoshi. China was ruled by the Ming dynasty, which was becoming increasingly isolationist, coming into conflict with Japan over the control of Korea as well as Japanese pirates.

In Africa, Christianity had begun to spread in Central Africa and Southern Africa. Until the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century, most of Africa was left uncolonized.

Events

1501–1509

1510s

1520s

1530s

1540s

1550s

1560s

1570s

1580s

  • 1580: Drake's royal reception after his attacks on Spanish possessions influences Philip II of Spain to build up the Spanish Armada. English ships in Spanish harbours are impounded.
  • 1580: Spain unifies with Portugal under Philip II. The struggle for the throne of Portugal ends the Portuguese Empire. The Spanish and Portuguese crowns are united for 60 years, i.e. until 1640.
  • 1580–1587: Nagasaki comes under control of the Jesuits.
  • 1581: Dutch Act of Abjuration, declaring abjuring allegiance to Philip II of Spain.
  • 1581: Bayinnaung dies at the age of 65.
  • 1582: Oda Nobunaga commits seppuku during the Honnō-ji Incident coup by his general, Akechi Mitsuhide.
  • 1582: Pope Gregory XIII issues the Gregorian calendar. The last day of the Julian calendar was Thursday, 4 October 1582 and this was followed by the first day of the Gregorian calendar, Friday, 15 October 1582
  • 1582: Yermak Timofeyevich conquers the Siberia Khanate on behalf of the Stroganovs.
  • 1583: Denmark builds the world's first theme park, Bakken.
  • 1583: Death of Sultan Babullah of Ternate.
  • 1584–1585: After the siege of Antwerp, many of its merchants flee to Amsterdam. According to Luc-Normand Tellier, "At its peak, between 1510 and 1557, Antwerp concentrated about 40% of the world trade...It is estimated that the port of Antwerp was earning the Spanish crown seven times more revenues than the Americas."
  • 1584: Ki Ageng Pemanahan died. Sultan Pajang raised Sutawijaya, son of Ki Ageng Pemanahan as the new ruler in Mataram, titled "Loring Ngabehi Market" (because of his home in the north of the market).
  • 1585: Akbar annexes Kashmir and adds it to the Kabul Subah
  • 1585: Colony at Roanoke founded in North America.
  • 1585–1604: The Anglo-Spanish War is fought on both sides of the Atlantic.
  • 1587: Mary, Queen of Scots is executed by Elizabeth I.
  • 1587: The reign of Abbas I marks the zenith of the Safavid dynasty.
  • 1587: Troops that would invade Pajang Mataram Sultanate storm ravaged the eruption of Mount Merapi. Sutawijaya and his men survived.
  • 1588: Mataram into the kingdom with Sutawijaya as Sultan, titled "Senapati Ingalaga Sayidin Panatagama" means the warlord and cleric Manager Religious Life.
  • 1588: England repulses the Spanish Armada.
  • 1589: Spain repulses the English Armada.
  • 1589: Catherine de' Medici dies at aged 69.

1590–1600

  • 1590: Siege of Odawara: the Go-Hojo clan surrender to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Japan is unified.
  • 1591: Gazi Giray leads a huge Tatar expedition against Moscow.
  • 1591: In Mali, Moroccan forces of the Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur led by Judar Pasha defeat the Songhai Empire at the Battle of Tondibi.
  • 1592–1593: John Stow reports 10,675 plague deaths in London, a city of approximately 200,000 people.
  • 1592–1598: Korea, with the help of Ming dynasty China, repels two Japanese invasions.
  • 1593–1606: The Long War between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Turks.
  • 1594: St. Paul's College, Macau, founded by Alessandro Valignano.
  • 1595: First Dutch expedition to Indonesia sets sail for the East Indies with two hundred and forty-nine men and sixty-four cannons led by Cornelis de Houtman.
  • 1596: Birth of René Descartes.
  • 1596: June, de Houtman's expedition reaches Banten the main pepper port of West Java where they clash with both the Portuguese and Indonesians. It then sails east along the north coast of Java losing twelve crew to a Javanese attack at Sidayu and killing a local ruler in Madura.
  • 1597: Romeo and Juliet is published.
  • 1597: Cornelis de Houtman's expedition returns to the Netherlands with enough spices to make a considerable profit.
  • 1598: The Edict of Nantes ends the French Wars of Religion.
  • 1598: Abbas I moves Safavids capital from Qazvin to Isfahan in 1598.
  • 1598–1613: Russia descends into anarchy during the Time of Troubles.
  • 1598: The Portuguese require an armada of 90 ships to put down a Solorese uprising. (to 1599)
  • 1598: More Dutch fleets leave for Indonesia and most are profitable.
  • 1598: The province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México is established in Northern New Spain. The region would later become a territory of Mexico, the New Mexico Territory in the United States, and the US State of New Mexico.
  • 1598: Death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, known as the unifier of Japan.
  • 1599: The Mali Empire is defeated at the Battle of Jenné.
  • 1599: The van Neck expedition returns to Europe. The expedition makes a 400 per cent profit. (to 1600)
  • 1599: March, Leaving Europe the previous year, a fleet of eight ships under Jacob van Neck was the first Dutch fleet to reach the ‘Spice Islands’ of Maluku.
  • 1600: Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake for heresy in Rome.
  • 1600: Battle of Sekigahara in Japan. End of the Warring States period and beginning of the Edo period.
  • 1600: The Portuguese win a major naval battle in the bay of Ambon. Later in the year, the Dutch join forces with the local Hituese in an anti-Portuguese alliance, in return for which the Dutch would have the sole right to purchase spices from Hitu.
  • 1600: Elizabeth I grants a charter to the British East India Company beginning the English advance in Asia.
  • 1600: Michael the Brave unifies the three principalities: Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania after the Battle of Șelimbăr from 1599.

Undated

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