- Africa
Rise of Ndongo under the ngola
The Kimbundu-speaking Kingdom of Ndongo grew in strength under its ruler the ngola, asserting independence from Kongo; the title would give the future colony its name.
Era: Kongo, Ndongo and the kingdoms of Central Africa
Sources: Kingdom of Ndongo · Wikipedia, Mbundu (people) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Angola — Colonialism, Independence, Civil War (history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Rise of the Kingdom of Allada
Allada (Great Ardra) emerged as the leading Aja kingdom of the coastal region and the dynastic source from which the kingdoms of Dahomey and Porto-Novo would branch.
Era: The Aja migrations and the kingdoms of Allada and Porto-Novo
Sources: Benin — History · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of the Kingdom of Dahomey · Wikipedia
- Africa
Rise of the island sultanates
Muslim sultanates of Swahili culture emerge on the islands, with ruling houses claiming Arab, Persian (Shirazi) and Hadhrami descent to legitimise their authority.
Era: The Swahili-Muslim Sultanates
Sources: History of the Comoros · Wikipedia, Comoros: History · Encyclopædia Britannica, A history of Grande Comore (Ngazidja) ca. 700–1900 · African History Extra
- Africa
Funj Sultanate founded at Sennar
Amara Dunqas establishes the Funj Sultanate, a Muslim confederation centred on Sennar on the Blue Nile.
Era: Islam, Sennar and Darfur
Sources: Funj Sultanate · Wikipedia, Sudan — The Funj · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Asia
The khanate of Khiva is founded
A branch of the Shaybanid dynasty establishes the khanate of Khiva in the Khwarezm oasis, one of the three Uzbek states that would endure until the Russian conquest.
Era: The Uzbek Khanates
Sources: Khanate of Khiva · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Itchan Kala (Khiva) — World Heritage List · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Europe
The Confederacy of thirteen cantons
With the accession of Appenzell the league reached its early-modern form of thirteen cantons, a loose alliance of self-governing communities bound by oath rather than ruled by a single sovereign.
Era: The Oath of the Forest Cantons and the Old Swiss Confederacy
Sources: Switzerland: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Switzerland: The Swiss Confederation during the Late Middle Ages · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Barbarossa brothers seize Algiers
The corsair Aruj takes Algiers; his brother Hayreddin places it under Ottoman suzerainty, founding the Regency of Algiers.
Era: The Ottoman Regency of Algiers
Sources: From Pirate to Admiral: The Tale of Barbarossa · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Regency of Algiers · Wikipedia
- North America
Founding of Havana
The Spanish found Havana, whose harbour becomes an obligatory stop on the route to the New World and the most heavily fortified port of the Caribbean.
Era: Spanish Colony: Havana, Sugar, and Slavery
Sources: Old Havana and its Fortification System · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- North America
Founding of Panama Viejo
Pedrarias Davila founds Panama on the Pacific coast, the oldest European city on the Pacific shore of the Americas and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Era: Artery of the Spanish Empire
Sources: Archaeological Site of Panama Viejo and Historic District of Panama · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Panama · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Gustav Vasa elected king
The Estates meeting at Strängnäs elected Gustav Vasa king of Sweden, dissolving the Kalmar Union and founding the hereditary Vasa monarchy that is regarded as the start of the modern Swedish state.
Era: The Kalmar Union, the Bloodbath and the War of Liberation
Sources: Gustav I Vasa · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Decisions that have changed Sweden 1523–2023 · Sveriges Riksdag (Swedish Parliament), Sweden: The early Vasa kings (1523–1611) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- North America
Founding of León and Granada
Francisco Hernández de Córdoba founds León and Granada, the rival cities whose Liberal and Conservative elites would shape Nicaraguan politics for generations.
Era: Conquest, León, and the Mosquito Coast
Sources: Ruins of León Viejo · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, León, Nicaragua · Encyclopædia Britannica, History of Nicaragua · Encyclopædia Britannica
- South America
Founding of Coro
Coro is founded as one of the first lasting Spanish towns on the mainland; its earthen colonial quarter is later inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Era: Indigenous Peoples and the Encounter of 1498
Sources: Coro and its Port · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Venezuela · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- North America
San Salvador permanently founded
After being abandoned and resettled several times in the face of Pipil resistance, the Spanish town of San Salvador is permanently established near the old Pipil capital.
Era: Conquest and the Colonial Province
Sources: History of El Salvador · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- South America
Founding of Lima
Pizarro founds Lima, the City of Kings, on the coast; it becomes the capital of the future Viceroyalty of Peru, chosen over Cusco for its links to Spain.
Era: Conquest and the Viceroyalty of Peru
Sources: Viceroyalty of Peru · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Francisco Pizarro · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- South America
First founding of Buenos Aires
Pedro de Mendoza founds a first settlement on the Rio de la Plata, soon abandoned amid famine and Indigenous resistance, its survivors retreating to Asuncion.
Era: Indigenous Peoples and the Spanish Rio de la Plata
Sources: Pedro de Mendoza · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Buenos Aires: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- South America
Founding of Asuncion
Spaniards complete a stockade on the Paraguay River on the feast of the Assumption, founding Asuncion, the 'mother of cities' from which much of the south was settled.
Era: The Guarani World and the Founding of Asuncion
Sources: Asuncion · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Paraguay · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- South America
Founding of Santiago
Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago de Nueva Extremadura in the central valley, the nucleus of Spanish Chile and its future capital.
Era: Conquest, Santiago, and the Long Arauco War
Sources: Pedro de Valdivia · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Santiago, Chile · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Ovimbundu and Lunda states take shape
In the central highlands the Ovimbundu kingdoms emerged, while in the east the Lunda states built a wide commercial and political network across the interior savanna.
Era: Kongo, Ndongo and the kingdoms of Central Africa
Sources: Angola — Colonialism, Independence, Civil War (history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Angola — Ovimbundu and Kwanhama Kingdoms · U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies
- Africa
Rise of the Kingdom of Loango
The Vili built the Kingdom of Loango on the Atlantic coast, with its capital at Buali; ruled by the maloango, it became a producer of cloth and a centre of trade in copper, ivory and enslaved people.
Era: Bantu peoples, Loango, and the Teke kingdom
Sources: Kingdom of Loango · Wikipedia, Kingdom of Loango · Encyclopædia Britannica, A history of the Loango kingdom (c. 1500–1883) · African History Extra
- Europe
The Zaporozhian Sich
The Cossacks established the Zaporozhian Sich, a fortified camp on the lower Dnieper that became the political and military heart of Cossack Ukraine and a bastion of Orthodox resistance.
Era: Between Lithuania, Poland and the Steppe
Sources: Zaporozhian Sich · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ukraine: The Cossacks · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Founding of Valletta
In the year after the siege the Knights began building a new fortified capital on Mount Sciberras, named Valletta after the Grand Master and conceived as a planned Renaissance fortress-city; it became the capital in 1570.
Era: The Knights of St John and the Great Siege
Sources: Valletta, Malta's historic capital · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Siege of Malta (1565) · New World Encyclopedia
- South America
Founding of Caracas
Diego de Losada founds Santiago de Leon de Caracas, which grows into the colony's principal city and the future national capital.
Era: Colonial Venezuela and the Captaincy General
Sources: Venezuela · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Venezuela: A Country Study · U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division
- Europe
Union of Utrecht
The northern provinces sign a defensive alliance that becomes the constitutional foundation of the Dutch Republic.
Era: The Dutch Revolt and the Birth of the Republic
Sources: Union of Utrecht · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- South America
Refounding of Buenos Aires
Juan de Garay leads an expedition from Asuncion and permanently re-establishes Buenos Aires, fixing the future capital on the estuary.
Era: Indigenous Peoples and the Spanish Rio de la Plata
Sources: Buenos Aires: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Fakhr al-Din II unites the mountain
Fakhr al-Din II of the Druze Maan dynasty unites the Druze and Maronite districts of Mount Lebanon, expands his domains across the Levant and cultivates ties with Tuscany.
Era: The Emirate of Mount Lebanon
Sources: Fakhr al-Din II · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Lebanon · Encyclopaedia Britannica
Formation in the 16th century
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged formation — origins, unifications and the founding of states as each nation's archive records them, narrowed to the 16th century — 25 of them, drawn from 22 nations, running from 1500 to 1590. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 25
- Nations
- 22
- Earliest
- 1500
- Latest
- 1590
- Africa
- 7
- South America
- 7
- Europe
- 5
- North America
- 4
- Asia
- 2
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.