History Timeline

1501 - 1600 AD

1509 John Calvin is born
1513 Macchiavelli writes "The Prince"
1515 Birth of Teresa of Avila
1517 Reformation in Germany by Martin Luther
1519 Ferdinand Magellan attempts voyage around the world
1520 - 1566 Height of Ottoman Empire under Suleiman I
1521 Spanish conquer Aztecs
1526 - 1700 Mughal empire in India comprises most of modern-day India
1527 End of Italian Renaissance
1530 Beginning of transatlantic slave trade by the Portuguese
1533 Spain conquers Incas in Peru
   Ivan the Terrible rules in Russia, begins conquest of Siberia
   Birth of Montaigne
   Birth of Queen Elizabeth I
1542 Spanish Jesuit missionary Saint Francis Xavier converts many Indians to Christianity
   Birth of Mary, Queen of Scots
   Birth of Akbar the Great - Mughal emperor of India
1545 Council of Trent, in Europe, Catholic Church's response to Protestantism, reform of the Church
1547 Birth of Miguel de Cervantes
1550 First nation states come into existence
1552 Birth of Matteo Ricci - gave the Chinese their first understanding of the West
   Birth of Sir Walter Raleigh
1553 Birth of Henry of Navarre (Henry IV king of France)
1555 Treaty of Augsburg - rulers allowed to decide what religion their subjects follow
1560 Medici family stops ruling Florence
1561 Birth of Francis Bacon
1564 Shakespeare born
   Galileo born
   Birth of Christopher Marlowe
   End of Renaissance
1568 - 1600 Period of reunification in Japan, Oda Nobunaga captures Kyoto (capital of Japan)
1571 Birth of Johannes Kepler, German astronomer and natural philosopher
1572 Birth of John Donne
   Massacre of St. Bartholomew day
1583 Birth of Grotius
1585 John Davis, the English navigator once again discovers Greenland
1588 Height of Spanish Empire
   Birth of Thomas Hobbes
1590 Miyamoto Musashi, the great swordsman is alive in Japan
   Microscope invented
1594 Birth of Oliver Cromwell
1595 Birth of Pocahontas
1596 Descartes is born. Father of modern philosophy
1598 Edict of Nantes issued
1600 English East India Company founded
   China is the largest, most sophisticated empire on earth
   Economic expansion in Europe halts, and brings in era of economic depression and uncertainty
   Beginning of the Baroque period
   Camera obscura invented