16th century
As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century lasted from 1501 through 1600.
See also: 16th century in literature
[edit] Events
 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. - 1550: Mongols led by Altan Khan invade China and besiege Beijing.
- 1550-1551: Valladolid debate concerning the existence of souls in Amerindians
- 1551: Fifth outbreak of sweating sickness in England. John Caius of Shrewsbury writes the first full contemporary account of the symptoms of the disease.
- 1551: North African pirates enslave the entire population of the Maltese island Gozo, between 5,000 and 6,000, sending them to Libya.
- 1552: Russia conquers the Khanate of Kazan.
- 1553: Portuguese found a settlement at Macau.
- 1555: The Muscovy Company is the first major English joint stock trading company.
- 1556: Publication in Venice of Delle Navigiationi et Viaggi (terzo volume) by Giovanni Battista Ramusio, secretary of Council of Ten, with plan La Terra de Hochelaga, an illustration of Indian village Hochelaga. See [1]
- 1556: The Shaanxi Earthquake in China is history's deadliest known earthquake.
- 1556: Georgius Agricola, the "Father of Mineralogy", publishes his De re metallica.
- 1556: Akbar the Great defeats the Sultan of Bengal at the Second battle of Panipat
- 1556: Russia conquers the Astrakhan Khanate.
- 1556-1605: During his reign, Akbar expands the Mughal Empire in a series of conquests.
- 1556: Mir Chakar Khan Rind captured Delhi with Emperor Humayun.
- 1556: Pomponio Algerio, radical theologian, is executed by boiling in oil as part of the Roman inquisition.
- 1557: The Portuguese settle in Macau.
- 1557: Spain became the first sovereign nation in history to declare bankruptcy. Philip II of Spain had to declare four state bankruptcies in 1557, 1560, 1575 and 1596.
- 1558-1603: The Elizabethan era is considered the height of the English Renaissance.
- 1558-83: Livonian War between Poland, Grand Principality of Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark and Russia.
- 1558: After 200 years, the Kingdom of England loses Calais to France.
- 1559: With the Peace of Cateau Cambrésis, the Italian Wars conclude.
- 1570: Ivan the Terrible orders to massacre inhabitants of Novgorod.
- 1571: Pope Pius V completes the Holy League as a united front against the Ottoman Turks.
- 1571: The Holy League defeats a force of Ottoman galleys in the Battle of Lepanto.
- 1571: Crimean Tatars attack and sack Moscow, burning everything but the Kremlin.
- 1571: Spanish missionaries are murdered by Indians at the later Jamestown Settlement, Virginia.
- 1572: Brielle is taken from Habsburg Spain by Protestant Watergeuzen in the Capture of Brielle, in the Eighty Years' War.
- 1572: Spanish conquistadores apprehend the last Inca leader Tupak Amaru at Vilcabamba, Peru, and execute him in Cuzco.
- 1572: Catherine de' Medici instigates the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre which takes the lives of Protestant leader Gaspard de Coligny and thousands of Huguenots. The violence spreads from Paris to other cities and the countryside.
- 1573: After heavy losses on both sidee the Siege of Haarlem ends in a Spanish victory.
- 1574: in the Eighty Years' War the capital of Zeeland, Middelburg declares for the Protestans.
- 1574: After a siege of 4 months the Siege of Leiden ends in a comprehensive Dutch victory.
- 1575: Oda Nobunaga finally captures Nagashima fortress.
- 1576: Sack of Antwerp by badly paid Spanish soldiers.
- 1577-80: Francis Drake circles the World.
- 1578: King Sebastian of Portugal is killed at the Battle of Alcazarquivir.
- 1579: The Union of Utrecht unifies the northern Netherlands, a foundation for the later Dutch Republic.
- 1579: The Union of Arras unifies the southern Netherlands, a foundation for the later states of the Spanish Netherlands, the Austrian Netherlands and Belgium
- 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.
[edit] Significant people
- Henry VII of England, founder of the Tudor dynasty. Introduced ruthlessly efficient mechanisms of taxation which restored the kingdom after a state of virtual bankruptcy due to the effects of the Wars of the Roses (1457 - 1509).
- Leonardo da Vinci famous artist and inventor and scientist (1452 – 1519).
- Pedro Álvares Cabral, first European to arrive in Brazil in 22 April, 1500 (c. 1467 - 1520).
- Zygmunt I the Old, King of Poland, established a conscription army and the bureaucracy needed to finance it (1467 - 1548).
- Vasco da Gama, Portuguese navigator, first one to sail around the Cape of Good Hope (c. 1469 - 1524).
- György Dózsa, leader of the peasants' revolt in Hungary (1470 - 1514)
- Nicolaus Copernicus, developed the heliocentric (Sun-centered) theory using scientific methods (1473 - 1543).
- Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian painter and sculptor (1475 - 1564)..
- Thomas More, English politician and author (1478 - 1535).
- Ferdinand Magellan Portuguese navigator who sailed around the world (1480 - 1521).
- Martin Luther, German religious reformer (1483 - 1546).
- Hernán Cortés, Spanish Conquistador (1485 - 1547).
- King Henry VIII of England, founder of Anglicanism (1491 - 1547).
- Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (1491 - 1556).
- François Rabelais, French author (c. 1493 - 1553).
- King Francis I of France, considered the first Renaissance monarch of his Kingdom (1494 - 1547).
- Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Conqueror and legal reformer (1494 - 1566).
- King Gustav I of Sweden, restored Swedish sovereignty and introduced Protestantism in Sweden (1496-1560).
- Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and the first to reign as King of Spain. Involved in almost constant conflict with France and the Ottoman Empire while promoting the Spanish colonization of the Americas (1500 - 1558).
- Cuauhtémoc, the last Tlatoani of the Aztec, led the native resistance against the Conquistadores (1502 - 1525).
- Michel Nostradamus, French astrologer and doctor, author of Les Propheties, a book of world prophecies (1503 - 1566).
- Qiu Ying, Chinese painter who belonged to the Wu School and used gongbi brush style (1494 - 1552)
- Mikolaj Rej, Polish writer (1505 - 1569).
- Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi, Somali Imam and general (1507 - 1543).
- John Calvin, theologian, and reformer. Founder of Calvinism (1509 - 1564).
- Mary I of England. Attempted to counter the Protestant Reformation in her domains. Nick-named Bloody Mary for her Religious persecution (1516 - 1558).
- Luís de Camões, Portuguese poet (c. 1524 –1580).
- Pierre de Ronsard, French poet. Called the 'Prince of poets' of his generation. (1524 – 1585).
- Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian Composer (1525 - 1594)
- King Philip II of Spain, self-proclaimed leader of Counter-Reformation (1527 - 1598).
- Ivan IV of Russia, first Russian tsar (1533-1584).
- William the Silent, William I of Orange-Nassau, main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish (1533-1584).
- Wanli Emperor, Emperor of China during the Ming Dynasty, aided Korea in the Imjin War, (1563 - 1620)
- Michel de Montaigne, French essayist (1533 – 1592).
- Elizabeth I of England, central figure of the Elizabethan era (1533 - 1603). She was the granddaughter of the aforementioned Henry VII, daughter of Henry VIII and parental half-sister of Mary I. Though some within her court thought of her merely as a bastard, due to the fact that her father executed her supposedly criminal mother Anne Boleyn, her reign is still considered one of the greatest ever in England's history.
- Oda Nobunaga , daimyo of the Sengoku period of Japanese civil war. First ruler of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1534 - 1582).
- Toyotomi Hideyoshi , daimyo of the Sengoku period of Japanese civil war. Second ruler of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1536 - 1598).
- Edward VI of England, notable for further differentiating Anglicanism from the practices of the Roman Catholic Church (1537 - 1553).
- Lady Jane Grey, Queen regnant of England and Ireland. Notably deposed by popular revolt (1537 - 1554).
- Mary I of Scotland, First female head of the House of Stuart (1542 - 1587).
- Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch politician and Grand Pensionary, played a pivotal role in organizing the Dutch revolt against Spain (1542 - 1619).
- Admiral Yi Sun-sin , Korean admiral, respected as one of the greatest admirals in world history. (1545 - 1598).
- Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish author (1547 - 1616).
- Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher and astronomer/astrologer (1548 - 1600).
- King Henry IV of France and Navarre, ended the French Wars of Religion and reunited the kingdom under his command (1553 - 1610).
- Michael the Brave, ruler of Walachia, national symbol of Romanians for uniting the three provinces under his rule in 1600 (1558 - 1601)
- Lope de Vega, Spanish dramatist (1562 – 1635).
- Christopher Marlowe, English poet and dramatist (1564 – 1593).
- William Shakespeare, English author (1564 - 1616).
- Caravaggio, Italian artist (1571 - 1610).
- John Donne, English metaphysical poet (1572 - 1631)
- Miyamoto Musashi, famous warrior in Japan, author of The Book of Five Rings, a treaty on strategy and martial combat. (1584 - 1645)
- Giovanni Battista Ramusio, diplomat and secretary of council of Ten of Venice Italy, author of Delle Navigationi et Viaggi. Third volume (terzo volume) containing plan La Terra de Hochelaga showing village of Hochelaga (1585 - 1657). See [2]
- John Ford, English dramatist (1586 - c. 1640).
- Matteo Ricci, Italian Jesuit who traveled to Macau, China in 1582, and died in Beijing, (1552 - 1610)
- Andrea Amati, (ca. 1520 – ca. 1578) was the earliest maker of violins whose instruments still survive today.
[edit] Inventions, discoveries, introductions
- Related article: List of 16th century inventions.
[edit] Decades and years
stq:16. Jierhunnert
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