- Africa
The Teke (Anziku) kingdom inland
North of the Congo River the Teke (Bateke), organised as the Anziku or Tio kingdom under a sacred king titled the makoko, controlled the interior plateaus and trade routes; the northern reaches of Kongo also touched the region.
Era: Bantu peoples, Loango, and the Teke kingdom
Sources: Congo-Brazzaville — Early History · GlobalSecurity.org, History of the Republic of the Congo · Wikipedia, Iloo I (Makoko of the Teke) · Wikipedia
- Asia
The three jüz take shape
Kazakh society organises into three hordes, the Great, Middle, and Little jüz, each a confederation of tribes with its own pastures, united by language, Islam, and descent and headed by Genghisid khans.
Era: The Kazakh Khanate and the Three Jüz
Sources: History of Kazakhstan · Encyclopædia Britannica, Establishment of the Kazakh Khanate · Portal 'History of Kazakhstan' (e-history.kz), National Academic Library
- North America
- Asia
Ottoman conquest of Syria
The Ottomans defeat the Mamluks and take Syria and Lebanon, but leave Mount Lebanon largely to local emirs, allowing a semi-autonomous emirate to develop.
Era: The Emirate of Mount Lebanon
Sources: History of Lebanon · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Ottoman conquest
Sultan Selim I defeated the Mamluks and incorporated Palestine into the Ottoman Empire, beginning four centuries of Ottoman rule.
Era: Ottoman Palestine
Sources: Palestine - region, history · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Ottoman suzerainty over the Hejaz
After defeating the Mamluks, the Ottomans gained sovereignty over the holy cities; the Sharif of Mecca recognized the Ottoman sultan as caliph while retaining local power.
Era: The Caliphates and the Hejaz under Outside Rule
Sources: Sharifate of Mecca · Wikipedia
- Asia
Ottomans claim Yemen
From around the 1520s the Ottoman Empire asserted control over Yemen's ports and lowlands, contesting the highlands with the Zaidi imams in a struggle that recurred for centuries.
Era: Islam and the Long Zaidi Imamate
Sources: Yemen: History (ancient kingdoms, Islam, the imamate, unification and war) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Ottoman suzerainty established
After Aruj's death, Hayreddin Barbarossa submits Algiers to the Ottoman sultan and is made beylerbey, binding the regency to Istanbul.
Era: The Ottoman Regency of Algiers
Sources: From Pirate to Admiral: The Tale of Barbarossa · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Regency of Algiers · Wikipedia
- North America
Balboa executed
Accused of treason by the governor Pedrarias Davila, Balboa is beheaded, the same year a new Pacific-coast city is founded.
Era: Crossroads and Conquest
Sources: Vasco Nunez de Balboa · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Reign of Süleyman the Magnificent
Süleyman I presided over the Ottoman Empire at its territorial and cultural height, from Hungary to the Arab lands, codifying law and patronising the architecture of Sinan.
Era: The Ottoman Empire: Height and Decline
Sources: The Age of Süleyman 'the Magnificent' (r. 1520–1566) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ottoman Empire · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Europe
Sweden leaves the union
Gustav Vasa's rising drove out Danish rule and led to Sweden's secession from the Kalmar Union, leaving Denmark joined to Norway alone.
Era: The Medieval Kingdom and the Kalmar Union
Sources: Kalmar Union · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Denmark: Margaret I and the Kalmar Union · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Reign of Gustav I Vasa
Gustav Vasa built a centralised national monarchy, restored royal finances, suppressed revolts and founded the Vasa dynasty, ruling for nearly four decades as the architect of the modern Swedish kingdom.
Era: The Vasa Monarchy and the Swedish Reformation
Sources: Gustav I Vasa · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sweden: The early Vasa kings (1523–1611) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Bohemia under the Habsburgs
The Bohemian estates elected Ferdinand I of Habsburg as king, binding the kingdom to the Habsburg monarchy and to Austria and Hungary for nearly four centuries.
Era: Habsburg Bohemia: White Mountain, Counter-Reformation and National Revival
Sources: Czechoslovak history · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Habsburgs elected to the Croatian throne
Facing Ottoman conquest after the disaster at Mohacs in 1526, the Croatian nobility elected the Habsburg Ferdinand I as king, binding Croatia's defence to the Austrian monarchy.
Era: Venetian Dalmatia, the Republic of Ragusa and the Ottoman Wars
Sources: Croatia: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Charles V grants Malta to the Knights
Eight years after losing Rhodes to the Ottomans, the Order of St John received Malta from the Emperor Charles V, who held Sicily, in return for a token annual tribute, and made the islands their new sovereign base.
Era: The Knights of St John and the Great Siege
Sources: Knights Hospitaller · World History Encyclopedia, History of the Order of Malta: 1048 to Present · Order of Malta (British Association), Hospitallers (Knights of Malta) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Pressburg made capital of Hungary
As the Ottomans overran central Hungary, the parliament promoted Pressburg (now Bratislava) to capital of the Kingdom of Hungary, a secure stronghold close to Habsburg Vienna.
Era: A Thousand Years in the Kingdom of Hungary
Sources: History of Slovakia · Slovakia.travel (official tourism portal), Bratislava: Coronation City · Visit Bratislava (official city tourism)
- Europe
Norway reduced to a Danish province
After Sweden left the union, Norway remained tied to Denmark and was governed from Copenhagen, becoming in effect a Danish province while keeping its own laws and church.
Era: The Black Death, the Kalmar Union and the Danish Centuries
Sources: Kalmarunionen · Store norske leksikon, Norway: The Treaty of Kiel · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Ottoman capture of Buda and the three-part division
The Ottomans seized Buda and Hungary fractured into Royal Hungary under the Habsburgs, Ottoman Hungary ruled from Buda, and the autonomous Principality of Transylvania.
Era: Mohács and the Three-Part Kingdom
Sources: Battle of Mohács (1526) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
The Seventeen Provinces united
Charles V's acquisition of Guelders completes the union of the Seventeen Provinces under a single Habsburg ruler.
Era: Burgundian and Habsburg Rule
Sources: Netherlands · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
The crown made hereditary
The Estates declared the Swedish crown hereditary in the Vasa line, ending the older elective principle and entrenching the dynasty's hold on the throne.
Era: The Vasa Monarchy and the Swedish Reformation
Sources: Sweden: The early Vasa kings (1523–1611) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Ivan IV crowned first Tsar of All Russia
Ivan IV is crowned 'Tsar of All Russia' in the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin, becoming the first Russian ruler to hold the imperial title and converting the Grand Principality of Moscow into the Tsardom of Russia.
Era: Muscovy and the Tsardom of Russia
Sources: Russia · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ivan the Terrible · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- South America
Audiencia of Bogota
The crown establishes a royal court and administrative tribunal at Bogota, opening the formal colonial era in New Granada.
Era: Conquest and the Viceroyalty of New Granada
Sources: History of Colombia · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Pragmatic Sanction
Charles V decrees that the Seventeen Provinces shall be inherited together as an indivisible whole, treating the Low Countries as a single political entity.
Era: Burgundian and Habsburg Rule
Sources: Netherlands · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Abdication of Charles V in Brussels
The emperor Charles V, born in Ghent, abdicated the Netherlands to his son Philip II in Brussels in 1555, and the provinces passed under the rule of Habsburg Spain.
Era: The Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands
Sources: Belgium: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Abdication of Charles V
Charles V cedes the Low Countries to his son Philip II of Spain, whose centralising and anti-Protestant policies will ignite the Dutch Revolt.
Era: Burgundian and Habsburg Rule
Sources: Netherlands · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eighty Years' War · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Reign of Akbar
Akbar the Great consolidates and expands the empire, reforms its administration with the mansabdari system, and pursues a policy of religious tolerance and cultural synthesis.
Era: The Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire
Sources: Mughal dynasty · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Reign of Philip II
Philip II ruled Spain at the height of its imperial power, made Madrid the capital and defended Catholicism in Europe's wars, presiding over the cultural Golden Age despite the defeat of the Armada in 1588.
Era: The Catholic Monarchs and the Golden Age Empire
Sources: Spain · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
- Asia
Setthathirath moves the capital to Vientiane
Facing Burmese pressure, King Setthathirath transfers his capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, brings the Emerald Buddha, and builds the great stupa of That Luang.
Era: The Kingdom of Lan Xang
Sources: Setthathirat I · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vientiane · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Reval submits to Sweden
Amid the collapse of the Livonian Order, the city council of Reval and the nobles of northern Estonia placed themselves under the protection of the Swedish crown, the start of Swedish rule.
Era: Hanseatic Reval, Danish and Swedish Estonia
Sources: Livonian War · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Estonia: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Dissolution of Livonia and the Duchy of Courland
The collapse of the Livonian Order during the Livonian War split the land: Livonia passed under Polish-Lithuanian rule, while Gotthard Kettler founded the vassal Duchy of Courland and Semigallia.
Era: Poland, Sweden, Courland and the Russian Empire
Sources: Latvia: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Latvia · Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia
- South America
Real Audiencia of Quito created
Philip II establishes the Audiencia of Quito, a royal court and administrative district that gives the region its lasting colonial identity.
Era: Conquest, Colony and the Quito School
Sources: History of Ecuador · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Pressburg the coronation city
Between 1563 and 1830, eleven Hungarian kings and eight royal consorts were crowned at St Martin's Cathedral in Pressburg, including Maria Theresa in 1741, making the city the ceremonial heart of the kingdom.
Era: A Thousand Years in the Kingdom of Hungary
Sources: Bratislava: Coronation City · Visit Bratislava (official city tourism)
- Europe
Union of Lublin and the Commonwealth
The Union of Lublin merged Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, placing the Belarusian lands at the heart of a vast federal state and accelerating the Polonisation of their elites.
Era: The Commonwealth, Partition and the Russian Empire
Sources: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Belarus · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Union of Lublin
Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania united into the federal Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ruled by an elected monarch and a common Sejm, with Lithuania keeping its own laws and institutions.
Era: The Commonwealth, the Partitions and the National Revival
Sources: Union of Lublin · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Lithuania · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Union of Lublin
Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania united into a single federal state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ruled by an elected monarch and a common Sejm, one of Europe's largest powers.
Era: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: Golden Age and Decline
Sources: Union of Lublin · Encyclopaedia Britannica, The Act of the Union of Lublin document · UNESCO Memory of the World
- Europe
Union of Lublin brings Ukraine into the Commonwealth
The union of Poland and Lithuania placed the bulk of the Ukrainian lands within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, intensifying pressures of serfdom and Catholicism on the Orthodox population.
Era: Between Lithuania, Poland and the Steppe
Sources: History of Ukraine · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Peak of Bornu under Idris Alooma
Mai Idris Alooma reformed Bornu's army and administration, extended its control over central Saharan trade routes, and deepened the role of Islamic law at its height of power.
Era: The great precolonial kingdoms: Kanem-Bornu, Hausa, Oyo and Benin
Sources: Idris Alooma · Wikipedia, The Bornu Empire · Lumen Learning, World Civilization
- Europe
Two and a half centuries of the Order
From their new capital the Knights ruled Malta as a sovereign order-state, building auberges, hospitals and the conventual church of St John and shaping a baroque culture until their fall in 1798.
Era: The Knights of St John and the Great Siege
Sources: History of the Order of Malta: 1048 to Present · Order of Malta (British Association), Hospitallers (Knights of Malta) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Iberian Union under Philip II
Philip II of Spain occupied Portugal and was accepted as king by the Cortes at Tomar in 1581, uniting the two crowns for sixty years.
Era: The Iberian Union and the Braganza Restoration
Sources: History of Portugal: Union of Spain and Portugal, 1580-1640 · Encyclopaedia Britannica
Politics & PowerThe 16th century
Politics & Power in the 16th century
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged politics and power — dynasties, constitutions, revolutions and changes of regime, narrowed to the 16th century — 40 of them, drawn from 35 nations, running from 1500 to 1580. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 40
- Nations
- 35
- Earliest
- 1500
- Latest
- 1580
- Europe
- 24
- Asia
- 8
- Africa
- 4
- North America
- 2
- South America
- 2
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.