The 16th century

Africa

1. 🇦🇴AGO

   Angola · Formation · c. 15th–16th centuries

   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.

   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)

2. 🇧🇯BEN

   Benin · Formation · 16th century

   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.

   The Aja migrations and the kingdoms of Allada and Porto-Novo

   Sources: Benin — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of the Kingdom of Dahomey (Wikipedia)

3. 🇰🇲COM

   Comoros · Formation · 15th–16th century

   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.

   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)

4. 🇨🇬COG

   Congo · Politics & Power · c. 15th–16th centuries

   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.

   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)

5. 🇸🇿SWZ

   Eswatini · Peoples & Migration · from c. 1500s

   Nguni peoples move south

   Bantu-speaking Nguni groups, among them the ancestors of the Dlamini, migrate southward into south-eastern Africa over the following centuries.

   Nguni Migrations and the House of Dlamini

   Sources: History of Eswatini (Wikipedia) · Eswatini (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

6. 🇳🇪NER

   Niger · War & Rupture · c. 1500–1501

   Songhai pushes into Aïr

   The Songhai emperor Askia Muhammad campaigned into the Aïr mountains and established a Songhai presence at Agadez to control the northern caravan markets, the empire's eastern reach into present-day Niger.

   Aïr, the caravans, and the eastern reach of Songhai

   Sources: Muhammad I Askia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Songhai (Lumen Learning, World Civilization) · History of Niger (Wikipedia)

7. 🇳🇪NER

   Niger · Economy & Trade · 15th–19th centuries

   The salt caravans of Bilma

   The azalai salt caravans carried Bilma and Fachi salt and dates southward to the Hausa markets, making Agadez and the eastern oases pillars of the trans-Saharan trade alongside the traffic in enslaved people.

   Aïr, the caravans, and the eastern reach of Songhai

   Sources: Agadez (Wikipedia) · History of Niger (Wikipedia)

8. 🇳🇬NGA

   Nigeria · Peoples & Migration · 16th century onward

   The Atlantic slave trade

   European demand drew the Bights of Benin and Biafra into the transatlantic slave trade; ports such as Bonny and Old Calabar became major export points, and vast numbers of people were deported in conditions of extreme violence.

   The Atlantic slave trade and the Sokoto Caliphate

   Sources: Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (Estimates) (SlaveVoyages.org) · Bight of Biafra (Slavery and Remembrance (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)) · Nigeria (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

9. 🇸🇹STP

   São Tomé and Príncipe · Colonisation · c. 1500

   Settlement of Príncipe

   The smaller island of Príncipe was settled under a similar crown arrangement, extending Portuguese control over the archipelago.

   Empty islands and the first plantation society

   Sources: History of São Tomé and Príncipe (Wikipedia)

10. 🇸🇱SLE

    Sierra Leone · Peoples & Migration · before c. 1550

    The Rice Coast chiefdoms

    The Sherbro, Bullom, Temne, and other peoples farmed rice, fished, and traded along the coast and rivers, organised in chiefdoms and ritual societies rather than a single state.

    The Rice Coast peoples and the Mane

    Sources: Sierra Leone (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Sierra Leone (Encyclopaedia Africana)

11. 🇹🇬TGO

    Togo · Peoples & Migration · c. 15th–17th centuries

    The Ewe exodus from Notsé

    Ewe tradition tells of escape from the walled town of Notsé and the tyranny of King Agokoli, after which the people dispersed westward and southward — a foundational narrative of Ewe identity across Ghana, Togo and Benin.

    Peoples, migrations and the land

    Sources: Exodus of the Ewe from Notsé (Wikipedia) · Togo (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇧🇳BRN

   Brunei · War & Rupture · c. 1500

   Empire at its zenith

   Under Bolkiah, Brunei's power extends over the whole of Borneo, the Sulu Archipelago, and into the Philippines, with Bruneian influence reaching as far as Manila.

   The Golden Age of the Maritime Empire

   Sources: History of Brunei (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Country Facts: Brunei Darussalam (Permanent Mission of Brunei Darussalam to the United Nations)

2. 🇮🇩IDN

   Indonesia · Economy & Trade · 16th century

   Spice sultanates of Ternate, Tidore and Aceh flourish

   Muslim sultanates controlling the clove, nutmeg and pepper trade grow rich and powerful, making the archipelago the hub of a global spice economy.

   The Spread of Islam and the Spice-Trade Sultanates

   Sources: History of Indonesia (Islamic influence; Dutch rule) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Spread of Islam in Indonesia (Wikipedia)

3. 🇰🇿KAZ

   Kazakhstan · Politics & Power · 16th–17th centuries

   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.

   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)

4. 🇰🇬KGZ

   Kyrgyzstan · Peoples & Migration · by the 16th–17th c.

   Kyrgyz consolidate in the Tian Shan

   Through the upheavals of the post-Mongol centuries the Kyrgyz tribes settled in the Tian Shan, living as mountain nomads organized in tribes and clans, the homeland they hold to this day.

   The Silk Road, the Tian Shan and the Mongol Age

   Sources: Kyrgyz (people) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Kyrgyzstan: A Country Study (in Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan: Country Studies) (U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

5. 🇲🇾MYS

   Malaysia · Economy & Trade · 15th century

   Malacca, the great entrepot of the strait

   Malacca grows into the most important trade centre in the region, where gold, spices, silk and tea pass between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, and Malay court culture flourishes.

   The Malacca Sultanate, Islam and the Spice Trade

   Sources: Portuguese Malacca (World History Encyclopedia) · Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

6. 🇦🇪ARE

   United Arab Emirates · Colonisation · 16th century

   Portuguese seize control of the coast

   Portuguese naval expansion fortified Gulf ports to dominate the spice and pearl trade, beginning two centuries of European and Omani contest over the region's sea lanes.

   Islam, Julfar and the Maritime Trade

   Sources: History of the United Arab Emirates (UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs) · Persian Gulf States: Country Studies (United Arab Emirates) (Federal Research Division, U.S. Library of Congress)

7. 🇺🇿UZB

   Uzbekistan · Peoples & Migration · c. 1500–1510 CE

   Shaybanid Uzbeks conquer Transoxiana

   Muhammad Shaybani Khan leads the Uzbeks south, expelling the last Timurids from Samarkand and Herat and founding the Shaybanid dynasty ruling from Bukhara.

   The Uzbek Khanates

   Sources: Shaybānid dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Uzbekistan — The early Uzbeks (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇭🇷HRV

   Croatia · Culture & Ideas · Venetian period

   The Dalmatian towns under Venice

   Coastal cities such as Trogir flourished under Venetian rule, acquiring fine Romanesque, Renaissance and Baroque buildings; the historic island town of Trogir is preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Venetian period.

   Venetian Dalmatia, the Republic of Ragusa and the Ottoman Wars

   Sources: Historic City of Trogir (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Croatia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇹PRT

   Portugal · Colonisation · 22 Apr 1500

   Cabral reaches Brazil

   A fleet under Pedro Alvares Cabral, en route to India, made landfall on the coast of Brazil and claimed it for the Portuguese crown.

   The Age of Discovery

   Sources: Pedro Alvares Cabral (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇺🇦UKR

   Ukraine · Peoples & Migration · late 15th–16th c.

   Rise of the Cossacks

   On the southern steppe frontier free men known as Cossacks emerged, evolving by the mid-sixteenth century a democratic military organisation with an assembly, the rada, and elected hetmans.

   Between Lithuania, Poland and the Steppe

   Sources: Ukraine: The Cossacks (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Zaporozhian Sich (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇭🇹HTI

   Haiti · Catastrophe · early 16th c.

   Collapse of the Taino

   Forced labour, violence, and Old World disease devastate the Indigenous population within a generation of contact.

   Quisqueya: The Taino and Spanish Hispaniola

   Sources: History of Haiti (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Columbus and the Taino (Library of Congress)

South America

1. 🇧🇷BRA

   Brazil · Colonisation · April 1500

   Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal

   Pedro Alvares Cabral makes landfall on the coast near present-day Porto Seguro and claims the land for the Portuguese crown.

   Portuguese Colony: Sugar, Slavery, and Gold

   Sources: Pedro Alvares Cabral (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Brazil (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇧🇷BRA

   Brazil · Culture & Ideas · 1500 CE

   Some thousand nations at contact

   On the eve of European arrival, perhaps two to four million people in hundreds of distinct nations inhabit the territory of present-day Brazil.

   Indigenous Peoples Before Contact

   Sources: Brazil (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Indigenous Peoples (Indigenas) (IBGE, Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics)

3. 🇨🇴COL

   Colombia · Religion · by 1500 CE

   The El Dorado tradition

   At Lake Guatavita, Muisca ritual offerings of gold to the waters give rise to the legend of El Dorado that would lure Spanish expeditions inland.

   Goldsmiths and Megalith Carvers

   Sources: Museo del Oro (Gold Museum) (Banco de la Republica de Colombia) · History of Colombia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

4. 🇬🇾GUY

   Guyana · Colonisation · 16th century

   The Wild Coast and El Dorado

   Spanish and other navigators probe the rivers of the 'Wild Coast' in search of the golden kingdom of El Dorado, but find no empire to conquer.

   The First Peoples and the Land of Many Waters

   Sources: Guyana — History (Colonialism, Independence, Culture) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. 🇳🇿NZL

   New Zealand · Peoples & Migration · c. 1300–1550

   Settlement of the Chatham Islands

   Māori reached the remote Chatham Islands (Rēkohu) over 750 km east of the mainland, where the settlers became the distinct Moriori people with their own traditions.

   The Polynesian voyage and the making of the Māori world

   Sources: Pacific voyaging and discovery (NZ History (Manatū Taonga — Ministry for Culture and Heritage)) · Māori arrival and settlement (Te Ara — The Encyclopedia of New Zealand)

Asia

1. 🇦🇿AZE

   Azerbaijan · Religion

   Ismail I and the Safavid empire

   Crowned shah at Tabriz with his base in Azerbaijan, Ismail I founded the Safavid dynasty and made Twelver Shia Islam the state religion, binding the land to Persia.

   Persian khanates and Russian annexation

   Sources: Safavid dynasty (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Ismāʿīl I, shah of Iran (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. 🇮🇷IRN

   Iran · Religion · 1501 CE

   Ismail I founds the Safavid dynasty and Shia Iran

   Ismail I captures Tabriz, proclaims himself shah, and declares Twelver Shia Islam the state religion, setting Iran apart from its Sunni neighbours and shaping its identity to the present day.

   Turkic and Mongol Rule and the Safavids

   Sources: Safavid dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Safavid Iran (Wikipedia)

North America

1. 🇵🇦PAN

   Panama · Colonisation · 1501-1502

   Spanish reach the isthmus

   Rodrigo de Bastidas and then Christopher Columbus explore the Caribbean coast of the isthmus, opening the region to Spanish colonisation.

   Crossroads and Conquest

   Sources: Panama: A Country Study (Library of Congress Country Studies) · Panama (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇸🇨SYC

   Seychelles · Colonisation

   Portuguese navigators sight the islands

   Vasco da Gama's second voyage to India recorded the Amirantes group; further Portuguese sightings followed in the early 1500s, giving Europe its first knowledge of the archipelago.

   Empty Islands and Pirates

   Sources: History of Seychelles (Wikipedia) · Seychelles History — Timeline (SeyVillas Seychelles Travel Guide)

North America

1. 🇨🇷CRI

   Costa Rica · Colonisation · 1502 CE

   Columbus reaches the Rich Coast

   On his fourth voyage Columbus lands on the Caribbean coast; gifts of gold inspire the name Costa Rica, the Rich Coast.

   The Rich Coast: A Poor Colony

   Sources: History of Costa Rica (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇭🇳HND

   Honduras · Colonisation · 1502 CE

   Columbus reaches Honduras

   On his fourth voyage Christopher Columbus makes landfall on the Caribbean coast of Honduras.

   Conquest, Lempira, and Colonial Silver

   Sources: Honduras: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇲🇽MEX

   Mexico · Politics & Power · 1502 CE

   Reign of Moctezuma II

   Moctezuma II ascends as huey tlatoani, ruling the empire at its territorial peak until the Spanish arrival.

   The Mexica (Aztec) Empire

   Sources: Aztec (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇸🇩SDN

   Sudan · Religion · c. 1500–1504

   Fall of Alodia

   The last Christian Nubian kingdom, Alodia, collapses as new Muslim powers rise on the central Nile, ending Nubian Christianity's long ascendancy.

   The Christian Kingdoms of Nubia

   Sources: Funj Sultanate (Wikipedia) · Nubia (Christian kingdoms: Nobatia, Makuria, Alodia) (Wikipedia)

2. 🇸🇩SDN

   Sudan · Formation

   Funj Sultanate founded at Sennar

   Amara Dunqas establishes the Funj Sultanate, a Muslim confederation centred on Sennar on the Blue Nile.

   Islam, Sennar and Darfur

   Sources: Funj Sultanate (Wikipedia) · Sudan — The Funj (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇰🇲COM

   Comoros · Economy & Trade · early 16th century

   Portuguese and European contact

   Portuguese navigators reach the islands in the early sixteenth century; the Comoros become a provisioning station for ships crossing the western Indian Ocean.

   The Swahili-Muslim Sultanates

   Sources: History of the Comoros (Wikipedia) · Comoros: History (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. 🇲🇿MOZ

   Mozambique · Colonisation

   Portuguese occupy Sofala

   The Portuguese seize Sofala and build a fort to capture the gold trade, but find the port in decline and shift their base to the Island of Mozambique.

   Da Gama and the Portuguese Seizure of the Coast

   Sources: Mozambique (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Mozambique (Wikipedia)

3. 🇿🇼ZWE

   Zimbabwe · Colonisation · from c. 1505

   Portuguese intervention in the gold trade

   Portuguese traders based at Sofala and on the Zambezi pressed into the interior, establishing fairs and interfering in Mutapa politics, steadily weakening the empire over the next century.

   Mutapa, Torwa and Rozvi

   Sources: Zimbabwe: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Mutapa Empire (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇱🇰LKA

   Sri Lanka · Colonisation

   Arrival of the Portuguese

   A Portuguese fleet reaches Colombo, opening more than a century of Portuguese control over Ceylon's coasts and its profitable cinnamon trade.

   European Coasts and the Kandyan Kingdom

   Sources: Sri Lanka: The Portuguese in Sri Lanka (1505–1658) (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇻🇦VAT

   Vatican City · Culture & Ideas · 18 Apr 1506

   First stone of the new Saint Peter's

   Pope Julius II laid the foundation stone of an entirely new Saint Peter's Basilica to replace the failing fourth-century church; it was completed in 1626.

   The Renaissance Papacy and the New Saint Peter's

   Sources: St. Peter's Basilica (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇻🇦VAT

   Vatican City · Culture & Ideas

   Origins of the Vatican Museums

   The Vatican Museums trace their founding to 1506, when Julius II displayed the newly excavated ancient sculpture of the Laocoon, beginning the papal collections.

   The Renaissance Papacy and the New Saint Peter's

   Sources: The Vatican Museums (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇲🇺MUS

   Mauritius · Colonisation · c. 1507–1512

   Portuguese chart the Mascarenes

   Portuguese navigators sight and map Mauritius and the neighbouring islands as a provisioning stop, but found no colony.

   The Empty Island & Its First Visitors

   Sources: Mauritius (Wikipedia) · Mauritius (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇴🇲OMN

   Oman · Colonisation

   Albuquerque captures Muscat

   The Portuguese under Afonso de Albuquerque stormed Muscat and other Omani coastal towns, beginning more than a century of Portuguese dominance over the coast.

   The Portuguese, Hormuz and the Yarubid Recovery

   Sources: Oman: The early period (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Ancient Oman: Archaeological Digs and Historical Discoveries in the Sultanate of Oman (Library of Congress)

Europe

1. 🇮🇹ITA

   Italy · Culture & Ideas · 1508–1512

   Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel ceiling

   Commissioned by the papacy in Rome, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling became one of the supreme achievements of High Renaissance art.

   The Renaissance and the City-States

   Sources: Florence and Central Italy, 1400–1600 A.D. (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History) (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

2. 🇻🇦VAT

   Vatican City · Culture & Ideas · 1508–1512

   Michelangelo paints the Sistine ceiling

   Commissioned by Julius II, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel between 1508 and 1512, one of the supreme achievements of Renaissance art.

   The Renaissance Papacy and the New Saint Peter's

   Sources: History of the Sistine Chapel (Vatican Museums (museivaticani.va)) · St. Peter's Basilica (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇵🇷PRI

   Puerto Rico · Colonisation · 1508 CE

   Ponce de León founds Caparra

   Juan Ponce de León establishes the island's first Spanish settlement and becomes its first governor; the colony is soon moved to the islet of San Juan.

   The Spanish Colony and the Fortress City

   Sources: Juan Ponce de León (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Caparra, historical settlement (Encyclopædia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇧🇸BHS

   Bahamas · Peoples & Migration · from c. 1509

   Spanish enslavement of the Lucayans

   Spanish raiders began systematically seizing Lucayans as forced labour for the mines and pearl fisheries of the Greater Antilles and Venezuela, devastating the islands' population.

   The Lucayans and Columbus's landfall

   Sources: How Archaeologists Are Unearthing the Secrets of the Bahamas' First Inhabitants (Smithsonian Magazine) · The Bahamas — British colonization (History) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇯🇲JAM

   Jamaica · Colonisation · 1509 CE

   Sevilla la Nueva founded

   Spain establishes its first permanent settlement on the north coast, beginning a colonial era that all but exterminates the Taino.

   Spanish Colony and English Conquest

   Sources: Jamaica: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇮🇩IDN

   Indonesia · Colonisation

   Portuguese capture of Malacca

   Afonso de Albuquerque seizes the trading city of Malacca, beginning sustained European involvement in the archipelago's spice trade.

   Portuguese and Dutch Colonialism and the VOC

   Sources: Capture of Malacca (1511) (Wikipedia)

2. 🇲🇾MYS

   Malaysia · Colonisation

   Portuguese capture of Malacca

   Afonso de Albuquerque storms Malacca after a siege, ending the independent sultanate and beginning sustained European control of the strait and its trade.

   European Powers and the Making of British Malaya

   Sources: Portuguese Malacca (World History Encyclopedia) · Melaka Falls to the Portuguese (Research Starters: History) (EBSCO)

North America

1. 🇨🇺CUB

   Cuba · Colonisation · 1511 CE

   Spanish conquest begins

   Diego Velazquez leads the conquest of Cuba, founding Baracoa as the first Spanish settlement; further towns follow within a few years.

   The Taino and the Spanish Conquest

   Sources: Cuba: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division) · Cuba (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇺🇿UZB

   Uzbekistan · Formation · 1512 CE

   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.

   The Uzbek Khanates

   Sources: Khanate of Khiva (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Itchan Kala (Khiva) — World Heritage List (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. 🇨🇭CHE

   Switzerland · Formation

   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.

   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)

North America

1. 🇵🇦PAN

   Panama · Colonisation · 25 Sept 1513

   Balboa sights the Pacific

   Vasco Nunez de Balboa crosses the isthmus and becomes the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas, claiming it for Castile.

   Crossroads and Conquest

   Sources: Vasco Nunez de Balboa (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇵🇭PHL

   Philippines · Religion · c. 1515

   Islam consolidates in Maguindanao

   The conversion of ruling families on Mindanao, associated with the missionary Sharif Muhammad Kabungsuwan, founds the Sultanate of Maguindanao, which expands through the 16th and 17th centuries.

   Barangays, Indianised Polities and the Islamic Sultanates

   Sources: Maguindanao people (Sultanate of Maguindanao; Sultan Kudarat) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇹🇱TLS

   Timor-Leste · Colonisation · Early 16th century

   Portuguese arrival and missions

   Portuguese traders seeking sandalwood and Dominican missionaries reach Timor and the Solor archipelago, beginning Catholic conversion and a loose Portuguese presence.

   Portuguese Timor and the Divided Island

   Sources: East Timor (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇨🇭CHE

   Switzerland · War & Rupture · 13–14 Sep 1515

   Battle of Marignano

   A French army under Francis I decisively defeated the Swiss near Milan, the first great Swiss defeat in two hundred years; the Confederates withdrew from Italy, a retreat traditionally seen as the dawn of Swiss neutrality.

   Marignano, the Reformation and the Turn to Neutrality

   Sources: Neutrality (Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (aboutswitzerland.eda.admin.ch)) · Switzerland: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇩🇿DZA

   Algeria · Formation · c. 1516

   Barbarossa brothers seize Algiers

   The corsair Aruj takes Algiers; his brother Hayreddin places it under Ottoman suzerainty, founding the Regency of Algiers.

   The Ottoman Regency of Algiers

   Sources: From Pirate to Admiral: The Tale of Barbarossa (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Regency of Algiers (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇯🇴JOR

   Jordan · War & Rupture · 1516 - 1517

   The Ottomans conquer the region

   After defeating the Mamluks, the Ottoman Turks absorbed the lands east of the Jordan into their empire as part of the province of Syria, ruling for four centuries.

   Islam, the Caliphates and Four Centuries of Ottoman Rule

   Sources: Jordan: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Jordan: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

2. 🇱🇧LBN

   Lebanon · Politics & Power

   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.

   The Emirate of Mount Lebanon

   Sources: History of Lebanon (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇸🇾SYR

   Syria · War & Rupture · 1516 CE

   Ottoman conquest of Syria

   Sultan Selim I defeats the Mamluks and incorporates Syria into the Ottoman Empire, beginning four centuries of Ottoman rule over Damascus, Aleppo and the Syrian lands.

   Saladin, the Mamluks and Ottoman Rule

   Sources: Syria — history (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Mamluk dynasty — rulers of Egypt and Syria (1250–1517) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇲🇪MNE

   Montenegro · Religion · c. 1516

   Rise of the theocratic Prince-Bishopric

   Authority over the free Montenegrin highlands passed to the Orthodox bishops of Cetinje, who combined spiritual and temporal power as vladikas in a theocratic state that renounced Ottoman overlordship.

   The Prince-Bishopric and the Petrovic-Njegos Resistance

   Sources: Vladika: the Montenegrin prince-bishop (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Montenegro: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇦🇷ARG

   Argentina · Colonisation · 1516 CE

   Spanish reach the Rio de la Plata

   European expeditions begin to explore the great estuary of the Rio de la Plata, opening the region to Spanish ambitions.

   Indigenous Peoples and the Spanish Rio de la Plata

   Sources: Argentina (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇺🇾URY

   Uruguay · Colonisation · 1516 CE

   Solis reaches the Rio de la Plata

   The Spanish navigator Juan Diaz de Solis explores the estuary and is killed near its eastern shore; finding no gold, Spain largely ignores the Banda Oriental for nearly two centuries.

   The Charrua and the Banda Oriental

   Sources: Uruguay (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · War & Rupture

   Ottoman conquest of Egypt

   Selim I defeats the Mamluks and incorporates Egypt into the Ottoman Empire as a province governed from Istanbul.

   Ottoman Rule, Muhammad Ali and British Occupation

   Sources: Egypt: Ottoman administration (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇵🇸PSE

   Palestine · Politics & Power · 1516-1517

   Ottoman conquest

   Sultan Selim I defeated the Mamluks and incorporated Palestine into the Ottoman Empire, beginning four centuries of Ottoman rule.

   Ottoman Palestine

   Sources: Palestine - region, history (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇸🇦SAU

   Saudi Arabia · Politics & Power · 1517 CE

   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.

   The Caliphates and the Hejaz under Outside Rule

   Sources: Sharifate of Mecca (Wikipedia)

3. 🇾🇪YEM

   Yemen · Politics & Power · early 16th century

   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.

   Islam and the Long Zaidi Imamate

   Sources: Yemen: History (ancient kingdoms, Islam, the imamate, unification and war) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇧🇾BLR

   Belarus · Culture & Ideas · 6 Aug 1517

   Skaryna prints the first East Slavic book

   Francysk Skaryna, born in Polotsk, issued his Psalter from his press in Prague, the first book printed in an East Slavic language, followed by further biblical books in 1517-1519.

   Heart of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

   Sources: Francysk Skaryna and the First Printed Books in the GDL (Orbis Lituaniae, Vilnius University) · History of Belarus (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇩🇪DEU

   Germany · Religion · 31 Oct 1517

   Luther's Ninety-five Theses

   Martin Luther issued his Ninety-five Theses against the sale of indulgences, sparking the Protestant Reformation that split Western Christianity and reshaped German society and language.

   The Holy Roman Empire and the Reformation

   Sources: Ninety-five Theses (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇩🇿DZA

   Algeria · Politics & Power

   Ottoman suzerainty established

   After Aruj's death, Hayreddin Barbarossa submits Algiers to the Ottoman sultan and is made beylerbey, binding the regency to Istanbul.

   The Ottoman Regency of Algiers

   Sources: From Pirate to Admiral: The Tale of Barbarossa (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Regency of Algiers (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇪🇸ESP

   Spain · Colonisation · 1519–1521

   Conquest of the Aztec Empire

   Hernán Cortés and allied forces overthrew the Aztec empire, a conquest that brought vast wealth to Spain alongside war, subjugation and a catastrophic collapse of Indigenous populations.

   The Catholic Monarchs and the Golden Age Empire

   Sources: Spain (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇨🇭CHE

   Switzerland · Religion

   Zwingli's Reformation in Zürich

   Huldrych Zwingli began preaching reform from the Grossmünster in Zürich, launching the Swiss Reformation; the movement won over several cities while the inner cantons remained Catholic, dividing the Confederation by confession.

   Marignano, the Reformation and the Turn to Neutrality

   Sources: Huldrych Zwingli (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇨🇺CUB

   Cuba · Formation · 1519 CE

   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.

   Spanish Colony: Havana, Sugar, and Slavery

   Sources: Old Havana and its Fortification System (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

2. 🇲🇽MEX

   Mexico · Colonisation · 1519 CE

   Cortes lands in Mexico

   Hernan Cortes arrives on the Gulf coast and marches inland, allying with peoples opposed to Mexica rule.

   Spanish Conquest and New Spain

   Sources: Hernan Cortes (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Battle of Tenochtitlan (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇵🇦PAN

   Panama · Politics & Power

   Balboa executed

   Accused of treason by the governor Pedrarias Davila, Balboa is beheaded, the same year a new Pacific-coast city is founded.

   Crossroads and Conquest

   Sources: Vasco Nunez de Balboa (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

4. 🇵🇦PAN

   Panama · Formation

   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.

   Artery of the Spanish Empire

   Sources: Archaeological Site of Panama Viejo and Historic District of Panama (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Panama (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇸🇹STP

   São Tomé and Príncipe · Economy & Trade · early 16th century

   The first sugar-slavery plantations

   Settlers planted sugar cane worked by enslaved Africans, creating one of the earliest Atlantic plantation economies — a model later exported to Brazil and the Caribbean.

   Empty islands and the first plantation society

   Sources: The Portuguese Colonization of São Tomé and Príncipe (World History Encyclopedia) · São Tomé and Príncipe (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of São Tomé and Príncipe (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇹🇷TUR

   Türkiye · Politics & Power · 1520–1566

   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.

   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

1. 🇧🇾BLR

   Belarus · Culture & Ideas · from the 1520s

   Mir Castle and the Radziwiłł magnates

   The Gothic castle at Mir, begun in the 1520s and rebuilt in Renaissance style under the Radziwiłł family, became one of the great fortified residences of the Grand Duchy and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

   Heart of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

   Sources: Mir Castle Complex (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family at Nesvizh (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

2. 🇩🇰DNK

   Denmark · War & Rupture

   The Stockholm Bloodbath

   King Christian II's execution of Swedish nobles after his coronation in Stockholm inflamed Swedish resistance and helped precipitate the collapse of the Kalmar Union.

   The Medieval Kingdom and the Kalmar Union

   Sources: Kalmar Union (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇸🇪SWE

   Sweden · War & Rupture · 8–10 Nov 1520

   The Stockholm Bloodbath

   After capturing Stockholm and breaking his promise of amnesty, King Christian II of Denmark had some eighty-two Swedish nobles, clergy and citizens condemned as heretics and executed, including Gustav Vasa's father.

   The Kalmar Union, the Bloodbath and the War of Liberation

   Sources: Stockholm Bloodbath (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The Stockholm blood bath (Swedish History Museum (Historiska museet))

North America

1. 🇧🇸BHS

   Bahamas · Catastrophe · c. 1520

   Depopulation of the Bahamas

   By about 1520 enslavement and disease had all but exterminated the Lucayans; the islands were left effectively abandoned for more than a century.

   The Lucayans and Columbus's landfall

   Sources: How Archaeologists Are Unearthing the Secrets of the Bahamas' First Inhabitants (Smithsonian Magazine) · Bahamas: Local History and Genealogy — Research Guide (Library of Congress) · The Bahamas — British colonization (History) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇨🇺CUB

   Cuba · Catastrophe · by c. 1520-1550

   Collapse of the Taino

   Forced labour, starvation, and Old World disease all but extinguish the indigenous Taino, prompting the import of enslaved Africans.

   The Taino and the Spanish Conquest

   Sources: Taino (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇧🇳BRN

   Brunei · Culture & Ideas

   Magellan's expedition reaches Brunei

   The ships of Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation anchor off Brunei and record a wealthy capital ruled by the great Bolkiah, who controls Borneo and neighbouring islands.

   The Golden Age of the Maritime Empire

   Sources: History of Brunei (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Ferdinand Magellan (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇸🇪SWE

   Sweden · War & Rupture · 1521–1523

   The Swedish War of Liberation

   Gustav Vasa raised Dalarna in revolt against Christian II, leading a peasant army that expelled the Danes and was declared regent of Sweden, ending Danish control of the realm.

   The Kalmar Union, the Bloodbath and the War of Liberation

   Sources: Gustav I Vasa (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Sweden: The early Vasa kings (1523–1611) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇲🇽MEX

   Mexico · War & Rupture · 13 Aug 1521

   Fall of Tenochtitlan

   After a siege of some three months, the city falls to Cortes and his indigenous allies, ending the Aztec empire.

   Spanish Conquest and New Spain

   Sources: Battle of Tenochtitlan (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Hernan Cortes (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇲🇿MOZ

   Mozambique · Religion

   Chapel of Nossa Senhora do Baluarte built

   On the Island of Mozambique the Portuguese raise the small chapel of Nossa Senhora do Baluarte, often called the oldest surviving European building in the southern hemisphere.

   Da Gama and the Portuguese Seizure of the Coast

   Sources: Island of Mozambique — World Heritage List (UNESCO) · Island of Mozambique UNESCO World Heritage Site (National Geographic)

Europe

1. 🇧🇾BLR

   Belarus · Culture & Ideas · c. 1520-1522

   A printing press in Vilnius

   Moving his workshop to Vilnius, capital of the Grand Duchy, Skaryna produced the Little Travel Book and later The Apostle, the first books printed within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania itself.

   Heart of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

   Sources: Francysk Skaryna and the First Printed Books in the GDL (Orbis Lituaniae, Vilnius University)

North America

1. 🇳🇮NIC

   Nicaragua · Colonisation · 1522 CE

   First Spanish contact

   The expedition of Gil González Dávila reaches the Pacific coast and encounters the Nicarao, opening the way to Spanish conquest.

   Indigenous Peoples of the Isthmus

   Sources: History of Nicaragua (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Nicaragua (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇩🇰DNK

   Denmark · Politics & Power

   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.

   The Medieval Kingdom and the Kalmar Union

   Sources: Kalmar Union (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Denmark: Margaret I and the Kalmar Union (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇸🇪SWE

   Sweden · Formation · 6 Jun 1523

   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.

   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)

3. 🇸🇪SWE

   Sweden · Politics & Power · 1523–1560

   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.

   The Vasa Monarchy and the Swedish Reformation

   Sources: Gustav I Vasa (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Sweden: The early Vasa kings (1523–1611) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇸🇻SLV

   El Salvador · Colonisation

   Alvarado's conquest begins

   An expedition from Guatemala under Pedro de Alvarado enters the region, meeting fierce Pipil resistance west of the Lempa River as the Spanish conquest of the territory begins.

   Conquest and the Colonial Province

   Sources: History of El Salvador (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · El Salvador: The colonial period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇬🇹GTM

   Guatemala · Colonisation · 1524 CE

   Conquest under Pedro de Alvarado

   Alvarado invades from Mexico, defeats the K'iche', and burns their capital Q'umarkaj, beginning Spanish rule in Guatemala.

   Postclassic Kingdoms and Spanish Conquest

   Sources: Pedro de Alvarado (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Guatemala: History (Postcolonial period and after) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇳🇮NIC

   Nicaragua · Formation · 1524 CE

   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.

   Conquest, León, and the Mosquito Coast

   Sources: Ruins of León Viejo (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · León, Nicaragua (Encyclopædia Britannica) · History of Nicaragua (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇨🇩COD

   DR Congo · Peoples & Migration

   Afonso I protests the slave trade

   King Afonso I (Nzinga Mbemba) writes to João III of Portugal complaining that traders are illegally enslaving his subjects, even as the Atlantic trade expands.

   Kongo & the Savanna Kingdoms

   Sources: Afonso I, king of Kongo kingdom (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Kingdom of Kongo (Wikipedia) · Kingdoms of the Savanna: the Luba and Lunda Empires (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Asia

1. 🇮🇳IND

   India · War & Rupture

   Babur founds the Mughal Empire

   Babur defeats Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat, ending the Delhi Sultanate and establishing the Mughal Empire, which would rule much of the subcontinent for over two centuries.

   The Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire

   Sources: Delhi Sultanate (Wikipedia) · Mughal dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇰PAK

   Pakistan · War & Rupture

   Babur founds the Mughal Empire

   Babur's victory ends the Delhi Sultanate and establishes the Mughal Empire, which makes Lahore one of its great capitals.

   Islam, the Sultans and the Mughals

   Sources: Mughal dynasty (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Pakistan: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

Europe

1. 🇨🇿CZE

   Czechia · Politics & Power

   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.

   Habsburg Bohemia: White Mountain, Counter-Reformation and National Revival

   Sources: Czechoslovak history (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇭🇺HUN

   Hungary · War & Rupture · 29 Aug 1526

   Battle of Mohács

   Süleyman the Magnificent destroyed the Hungarian army and killed King Louis II, ending the medieval kingdom and opening Hungary to Ottoman and Habsburg domination.

   Mohács and the Three-Part Kingdom

   Sources: Battle of Mohács (1526) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇭🇷HRV

   Croatia · Politics & Power

   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.

   Venetian Dalmatia, the Republic of Ragusa and the Ottoman Wars

   Sources: Croatia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇸🇪SWE

   Sweden · Religion

   The Reformation at Västerås

   At the Riksdag of Västerås, Gustav Vasa broke with Rome, transferred the Catholic Church's property to the crown and took control of church administration, beginning Sweden's transformation into a Lutheran state.

   The Vasa Monarchy and the Swedish Reformation

   Sources: Gustav Vasa and the Reformation (Swedish History Museum (Historiska museet)) · Decisions that have changed Sweden 1523–2023 (Sveriges Riksdag (Swedish Parliament)) · Sweden: The early Vasa kings (1523–1611) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇻🇪VEN

   Venezuela · Formation · 1527 CE

   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.

   Indigenous Peoples and the Encounter of 1498

   Sources: Coro and its Port (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Venezuela (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇸🇻SLV

   El Salvador · Formation

   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.

   Conquest and the Colonial Province

   Sources: History of El Salvador (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇩🇯DJI

   Djibouti · War & Rupture

   Adal's invasion of the highlands

   Adal forces under Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi ('Gran') invade Christian Ethiopia, the high point of the coastal Muslim states' power before Adal's later decline.

   The Afar, the Issa and the Muslim Sultanates

   Sources: Djibouti (country and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Djibouti (New World Encyclopedia)

2. 🇪🇹ETH

   Ethiopia · War & Rupture

   Invasion of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi

   Forces of the Adal Sultanate under Ahmad 'Gran' invade the highlands, devastating churches and nearly destroying the Christian kingdom before being repelled with Portuguese aid in the 1540s.

   The Zagwe Kings, Lalibela and the Solomonic Restoration

   Sources: Ethiopia's Enduring Cultural Heritage (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

3. 🇸🇴SOM

   Somalia · War & Rupture · 1529–1543

   Wars of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi

   From the Adal Sultanate, Imam Ahmad 'Gurey' launches the Futuh al-Habasha campaigns against Christian Ethiopia, conquering much of the highlands before his defeat and death in 1543 with Portuguese intervention.

   Islam, the Coastal City-States and the Adal Sultanate

   Sources: Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Adal Sultanate (Wikipedia) · Ethiopian–Adal War (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇹🇷TUR

   Türkiye · War & Rupture

   First Siege of Vienna

   Ottoman armies under Süleyman besieged Vienna, marking the high-water mark of Ottoman expansion into central Europe before withdrawing.

   The Ottoman Empire: Height and Decline

   Sources: Ottoman Empire (Encyclopædia Britannica) · The Age of Süleyman 'the Magnificent' (r. 1520–1566) (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Europe

1. 🇦🇹AUT

   Austria · War & Rupture

   First Ottoman siege of Vienna

   The army of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent besieged Vienna for three weeks in the autumn of 1529 before withdrawing, the first great Ottoman assault on the Habsburg capital.

   The Rise of the Habsburgs and the Ottoman Wars

   Sources: The first Turkish siege of Vienna, 1529 (Die Welt der Habsburger (The World of the Habsburgs))

South America

1. 🇵🇪PER

   Peru · War & Rupture · c. 1529-1532

   Inca civil war

   A ruinous war of succession between the half-brothers Atahualpa and Huascar divides the empire just as the Spanish appear on its coasts.

   The Inca Empire of Tawantinsuyu

   Sources: Atahuallpa (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇲🇹MLT

   Malta · Politics & Power

   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.

   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)

South America

1. 🇧🇷BRA

   Brazil · Economy & Trade · 1530s onward

   The sugar economy

   Sugar plantations and mills worked by enslaved labour rise in Pernambuco and Bahia, making Brazil a leading producer and the colony's chief source of wealth.

   Portuguese Colony: Sugar, Slavery, and Gold

   Sources: Brazil (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇪🇨ECU

   Ecuador · War & Rupture · early 1532

   Atahualpa defeats Huascar

   Atahualpa's northern armies crush those of his half-brother Huascar near Cuzco, leaving him master of the Inca empire as the Spanish arrive.

   The Inca Conquest and the Last Emperor

   Sources: Atahuallpa (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇪PER

   Peru · War & Rupture · 16 Nov 1532

   Capture of Atahualpa at Cajamarca

   Francisco Pizarro's small force seizes the Inca emperor Atahualpa at Cajamarca after massacring his escort, a decisive stroke in the conquest of Peru.

   Conquest and the Viceroyalty of Peru

   Sources: Battle of Cajamarca (1532) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Francisco Pizarro (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇪🇨ECU

   Ecuador · War & Rupture · 1533 CE

   Capture and execution of Atahualpa

   Seized by Pizarro at Cajamarca in November 1532 and ransomed, the last Inca emperor is tried and executed in 1533, shattering Inca authority.

   The Inca Conquest and the Last Emperor

   Sources: Atahuallpa (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Sebastian de Benalcazar (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇪PER

   Peru · War & Rupture · 29 Aug 1533

   Execution of Atahualpa

   After paying a vast ransom in gold and silver, Atahualpa is executed by the Spanish; with the emperor dead, Pizarro advances on Cusco, taken later that year.

   Conquest and the Viceroyalty of Peru

   Sources: Atahuallpa (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Francisco Pizarro (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇬🇧GBR

   United Kingdom · Religion

   Act of Supremacy and the break with Rome

   Parliament declared Henry VIII Supreme Head of the Church of England, ending papal authority in England and launching the English Reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries.

   Tudors, the Reformation, and the first empire

   Sources: Henry VIII (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The Reformation in England (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇨🇦CAN

   Canada · Colonisation

   Jacques Cartier explores the St. Lawrence

   Jacques Cartier explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence and claimed the region for France, opening the way for later French interest in the fur trade and settlement.

   New France and the fur trade

   Sources: Canada (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Samuel de Champlain (The Canadian Encyclopedia)

South America

1. 🇪🇨ECU

   Ecuador · Colonisation · 6 Dec 1534

   Spanish founding of Quito

   Sebastian de Benalcazar founds San Francisco de Quito on the ruins of the Inca city burned by Rumiñahui, establishing Spanish rule over the highlands.

   Conquest, Colony and the Quito School

   Sources: Sebastian de Benalcazar (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇲🇽MEX

   Mexico · Colonisation · 1535 CE

   Viceroyalty of New Spain established

   Spain formalises colonial government under a viceroy, with Mexico City as the capital of a vast realm.

   Spanish Conquest and New Spain

   Sources: Hernan Cortes (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇵🇪PER

   Peru · Formation · 18 Jan 1535

   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.

   Conquest and the Viceroyalty of Peru

   Sources: Viceroyalty of Peru (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Francisco Pizarro (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇩🇰DNK

   Denmark · Religion

   The Reformation under Christian III

   After winning the Count's War, Christian III dissolved the authority of the Catholic bishops and established a Lutheran state church, making Denmark-Norway a Protestant realm and strengthening the crown.

   Reformation, Denmark-Norway and the Wars with Sweden

   Sources: Christian III, king of Denmark and Norway (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Denmark: Reformation and war (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇸🇰SVK

   Slovakia · Politics & Power

   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.

   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))

3. 🇨🇭CHE

   Switzerland · Religion

   Calvin and the Reformation in Geneva

   John Calvin began the work that made Geneva the international centre of Reformed Protestantism, deepening the confessional division between the Protestant west and Catholic centre of Switzerland.

   Marignano, the Reformation and the Turn to Neutrality

   Sources: John Calvin (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇦🇷ARG

   Argentina · Formation · 1536 CE

   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.

   Indigenous Peoples and the Spanish Rio de la Plata

   Sources: Pedro de Mendoza (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Buenos Aires: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇨🇱CHL

   Chile · Colonisation · 1536-1537

   Almagro's expedition turns back

   Diego de Almagro leads the first Spanish entry into Chile as far as the Maule River; finding no gold or empire, the expedition returns to Peru, but the Spanish first clash with the Araucanians.

   Indigenous Peoples and the World of Rapa Nui

   Sources: Diego de Almagro (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Chile (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇳🇴NOR

   Norway · Politics & Power

   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.

   The Black Death, the Kalmar Union and the Danish Centuries

   Sources: Kalmarunionen (Store norske leksikon) · Norway: The Treaty of Kiel (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇭🇳HND

   Honduras · War & Rupture · 1537 CE

   Lempira's resistance

   The Lenca chief Lempira unites more than two hundred communities against the Spanish before his revolt is crushed.

   Conquest, Lempira, and Colonial Silver

   Sources: Honduras: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Lenca (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇵🇾PRY

   Paraguay · Formation · 15 Aug 1537

   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.

   The Guarani World and the Founding of Asuncion

   Sources: Asuncion (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Paraguay (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇲🇩MDA

   Moldova · War & Rupture · 16th century

   Moldavia becomes an Ottoman tributary

   Following the death of Stephen the Great, Moldavia was reduced to a tributary vassal of the Ottoman Empire, keeping its princes, church and laws but paying tribute and following the sultan's lead in foreign affairs.

   Ottoman Vassalage and the Phanariot Century

   Sources: Moldavia (historical principality) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Moldova: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇩🇴DOM

   Dominican Republic · Culture & Ideas · 1538 CE

   First university in the Americas

   A royal charter establishes the University of Santo Domingo, the first university in the New World, in a city already home to its first cathedral and hospital.

   Quisqueya, Columbus, and the First Colony

   Sources: Santo Domingo (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Colonial City of Santo Domingo (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

South America

1. 🇧🇴BOL

   Bolivia · Colonisation · 1538-1559

   Spanish conquest of Charcas

   Spanish forces subdue the highlands of Upper Peru, organising them as the Audiencia of Charcas within the Viceroyalty of Peru.

   Conquest, the Silver of Potosi, and Charcas

   Sources: Bolivia: Early period (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bolivia: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

2. 🇧🇷BRA

   Brazil · Peoples & Migration · 16th-19th c.

   Transatlantic slave trade

   Brazil becomes the largest single destination of the Atlantic slave trade, receiving roughly 4.8-5 million enslaved Africans over more than three centuries.

   Portuguese Colony: Sugar, Slavery, and Gold

   Sources: Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (SlaveVoyages, Emory University) · Brazil (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇨🇴COL

   Colombia · Colonisation · 6 Aug 1538

   Founding of Bogota

   Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada founds Santa Fe de Bogota after subduing the Muisca, establishing the capital of the New Kingdom of Granada.

   Conquest and the Viceroyalty of New Granada

   Sources: History of Colombia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bogota (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇵🇷PRI

   Puerto Rico · War & Rupture · from 1539

   El Morro and the fortification of San Juan

   Spain begins the great harbour castle of El Morro; with La Fortaleza and a city wall completed by 1678, San Juan becomes a key Caribbean stronghold.

   The Spanish Colony and the Fortress City

   Sources: El Morro, San Juan National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) · La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Africa

1. 🇸🇹STP

   São Tomé and Príncipe · Peoples & Migration · c. mid-16th century

   The Angolar maroon community

   Escaped slaves formed independent communities in the forested interior; the Angolares, of disputed origin, settled the rugged south and lived by fishing, rejecting plantation labour.

   Sugar, the slave trade and the revolt of Rei Amador

   Sources: Forros (people) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The Angolares of São Tomé and Príncipe (São Tomé Expert) · History of São Tomé and Príncipe (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇭🇺HUN

   Hungary · Politics & Power

   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.

   Mohács and the Three-Part Kingdom

   Sources: Battle of Mohács (1526) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇸🇪SWE

   Sweden · Culture & Ideas

   The complete Swedish Bible

   The first full Bible in Swedish, the work of the reformers Olaus and Laurentius Petri, was printed, advancing the Lutheran cause and shaping the Swedish written language and popular literacy.

   The Vasa Monarchy and the Swedish Reformation

   Sources: Gustav Vasa and the Reformation (Swedish History Museum (Historiska museet))

South America

1. 🇨🇱CHL

   Chile · Formation · 12 February 1541

   Founding of Santiago

   Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago de Nueva Extremadura in the central valley, the nucleus of Spanish Chile and its future capital.

   Conquest, Santiago, and the Long Arauco War

   Sources: Pedro de Valdivia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Santiago, Chile (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇾PRY

   Paraguay · Colonisation · 1541 CE

   Asuncion becomes the Spanish base

   After the first Buenos Aires is abandoned, its survivors flee to Asuncion, which becomes the headquarters of Spanish colonial activity in eastern South America.

   The Guarani World and the Founding of Asuncion

   Sources: Asuncion (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇵🇪PER

   Peru · Colonisation · 1542 CE

   Viceroyalty of Peru established

   Spain creates the Viceroyalty of Peru, second of its American viceroyalties, governing most of Spanish South America from Lima for nearly three centuries.

   Conquest and the Viceroyalty of Peru

   Sources: Viceroyalty of Peru (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇸🇴SOM

   Somalia · War & Rupture

   Death of Ahmad and decline of Adal

   Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi is killed in battle against an Ethiopian–Portuguese force, halting the Muslim conquest of the highlands and beginning the decline of the Adal Sultanate.

   Islam, the Coastal City-States and the Adal Sultanate

   Sources: Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Adal Sultanate (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇯🇵JPN

   Japan · Peoples & Migration · c. 1543 CE

   Arrival of Europeans and firearms

   Portuguese traders reach Japan, introducing firearms and, soon after, Christianity, adding new pressures to the Sengoku wars.

   Sengoku and Edo: Unification and the Long Peace

   Sources: Sengoku period (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Japan (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇳🇱NLD

   Netherlands · Politics & Power

   The Seventeen Provinces united

   Charles V's acquisition of Guelders completes the union of the Seventeen Provinces under a single Habsburg ruler.

   Burgundian and Habsburg Rule

   Sources: Netherlands (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇱POL

   Poland · Culture & Ideas

   Copernicus publishes 'On the Revolutions'

   The Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus published his heliocentric theory, placing the Sun rather than the Earth at the centre of the cosmos and helping to launch modern astronomy.

   The Piast and Jagiellonian Kingdom

   Sources: Nicolaus Copernicus (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇬🇹GTM

   Guatemala · Colonisation · 1543 CE

   Santiago de los Caballeros re-founded

   After a flood destroys the earlier capital, the colonial seat of the Captaincy General is established at present-day Antigua Guatemala.

   Postclassic Kingdoms and Spanish Conquest

   Sources: Antigua Guatemala (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Antigua Guatemala (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. 🇸🇪SWE

   Sweden · Politics & Power

   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.

   The Vasa Monarchy and the Swedish Reformation

   Sources: Sweden: The early Vasa kings (1523–1611) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇧🇴BOL

   Bolivia · Economy & Trade · 16th-17th century

   Potosi feeds the Spanish empire

   Potosi's silver becomes the principal source of bullion for the Spanish crown, financing its empire while consuming the lives of indigenous mitayos.

   Conquest, the Silver of Potosi, and Charcas

   Sources: City of Potosi (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Bolivia: Early period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇧🇴BOL

   Bolivia · Economy & Trade · 1545 CE

   Silver discovered at Cerro Rico

   The discovery of immense silver deposits in the mountain above Potosi sets off a boom that makes the city one of the largest and richest in the world.

   Conquest, the Silver of Potosi, and Charcas

   Sources: City of Potosi (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Bolivia: Early period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇵🇪PER

   Peru · Economy & Trade · 1545 CE

   The silver of Potosi

   The opening of the great silver mountain of Potosi makes Peru the crown's richest American realm, worked through the forced-labour mita that consumes Indigenous lives.

   Conquest and the Viceroyalty of Peru

   Sources: Viceroyalty of Peru (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Peru: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇷🇺RUS

   Russia · Politics & Power · 16 January 1547

   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.

   Muscovy and the Tsardom of Russia

   Sources: Russia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Ivan the Terrible (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇫🇮FIN

   Finland · Culture & Ideas

   Mikael Agricola and written Finnish

   The Reformation-era bishop Mikael Agricola created written Finnish, translating the New Testament in 1548 and laying the foundation of Finnish literary culture.

   The Finnic Peoples and Six Centuries as Part of Sweden

   Sources: Main outlines of Finnish history (thisisFINLAND (Finland Promotion Board))

Europe

1. 🇳🇱NLD

   Netherlands · Politics & Power

   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.

   Burgundian and Habsburg Rule

   Sources: Netherlands (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇨🇴COL

   Colombia · Politics & Power · 1549 CE

   Audiencia of Bogota

   The crown establishes a royal court and administrative tribunal at Bogota, opening the formal colonial era in New Granada.

   Conquest and the Viceroyalty of New Granada

   Sources: History of Colombia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇦🇴AGO

   Angola · Formation · c. 16th–17th centuries

   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.

   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)

2. 🇨🇻CPV

   Cape Verde · Peoples & Migration · 16th century

   A sorting-house of the slave trade

   Ribeira Grande became a major entrepôt where enslaved Africans from the Upper Guinea coast were held, baptised, taxed and re-exported to the Americas, with thousands passing through annually by mid-century.

   Entrepôt of the slave trade — and its decline

   Sources: History of Cabo Verde (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The Portuguese Colonization of Cape Verde (World History Encyclopedia) · History of Cape Verde (Wikipedia) · The small island nation of Cabo Verde was once a hub for slave trading (NPR)

3. 🇨🇬COG

   Congo · Formation · c. 16th century

   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.

   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)

4. 🇸🇹STP

   São Tomé and Príncipe · Economy & Trade · by 1550

   São Tomé a leading sugar producer

   The number of sugar mills grew to around sixty, making São Tomé Africa's foremost sugar exporter and for a time one of the world's largest producers.

   Sugar, the slave trade and the revolt of Rei Amador

   Sources: The Portuguese Colonization of São Tomé and Príncipe (World History Encyclopedia) · São Tomé and Príncipe (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

5. 🇸🇱SLE

   Sierra Leone · War & Rupture · c. 1540s–1560s

   The Mane incursions

   Mande-speaking Mane raiders pushed to the coast and by the 1550s had subdued the Temne and other peoples, imposing a new ruling elite in a contested episode that reshaped the region's politics.

   The Rice Coast peoples and the Mane

   Sources: Mane people (Wikipedia) · History of Sierra Leone (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇧🇦BIH

   Bosnia and Herzegovina · Religion · 16th c.

   Islamization and a multi-confessional society

   Over generations much of Bosnia's Slavic population converted to Islam, creating, alongside Orthodox, Catholic and Jewish communities, the uniquely interwoven multi-confessional society that defines the country.

   Ottoman Bosnia and the Making of a Multi-Confessional Land

   Sources: Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ottoman Bosnia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇮🇸ISL

   Iceland · Religion · 7 Nov 1550

   Execution of Bishop Jón Arason

   Jón Arason, bishop of Hólar and the last Catholic bishop in Iceland, was beheaded with his two sons at Skálholt for resisting the Danish-imposed Reformation, after which Iceland became fully Lutheran.

   Under Norway and Denmark: Reformation, Monopoly and Famine

   Sources: Jón Arason (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Iceland: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇸🇮SVN

   Slovenia · Culture & Ideas

   First books printed in Slovene

   Primoz Trubar published the Catechismus and Abecedarium, the first printed books in the Slovene language, founding the literary language as a product of the Protestant Reformation.

   The Habsburg Duchies and the Birth of Written Slovene

   Sources: Primoz Trubar (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Protestantism and the First Slovene Books (Culture.si) · Tracing the Slovenian Reformation (Slovenian Tourist Board (slovenia.info))

South America

1. 🇨🇱CHL

   Chile · Colonisation · 1550 CE

   Conquest reaches the Biobio

   Valdivia extends Spanish rule south of the Biobio and founds Concepcion, pushing into the Mapuche heartland and igniting lasting resistance.

   Conquest, Santiago, and the Long Arauco War

   Sources: Pedro de Valdivia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Araucanian wars (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇱🇾LBY

   Libya · War & Rupture

   Ottomans capture Tripoli

   Ottoman admirals Sinan Pasha and Turgut Reis take Tripoli, establishing the Regency of Tripoli within the Ottoman Empire.

   Ottoman Rule and the Karamanli Dynasty

   Sources: Ottoman Tripolitania (Wikipedia) · Libya (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇲🇲MMR

   Myanmar · War & Rupture · 1551-1581 CE

   Reign of Bayinnaung

   Bayinnaung of the Toungoo dynasty reunifies Myanmar and conquers the Shan states and Siam, building the most powerful empire in mainland Southeast Asia.

   Empires Reborn: Toungoo and Konbaung

   Sources: Bayinnaung (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Toungoo dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇷🇺RUS

   Russia · War & Rupture

   Conquest of the Khanate of Kazan

   Ivan IV captures Kazan, and in 1556 Astrakhan, destroying the successor states of the Golden Horde on the Volga and opening the river and the route to Siberia to Russian colonization.

   Muscovy and the Tsardom of Russia

   Sources: Russia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Ivan the Terrible (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇨🇱CHL

   Chile · War & Rupture · December 1553

   Mapuche defeat and kill Valdivia

   At Tucapel, Mapuche forces led by Lautaro destroy a Spanish column and capture Valdivia, who is executed; the disaster opens the long Arauco War.

   Conquest, Santiago, and the Long Arauco War

   Sources: Lautaro (Mapuche leader) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Araucanian wars (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇬🇹GTM

   Guatemala · Culture & Ideas · c. 1554-1558

   The Popol Vuh set down

   The K'iche' creation epic, the Popol Vuh, is written in alphabetic K'iche', preserving Maya mythology and dynastic history.

   Postclassic Kingdoms and Spanish Conquest

   Sources: Popol Vuh (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇧🇪BEL

   Belgium · Politics & Power

   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.

   The Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands

   Sources: Belgium: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇩🇪DEU

   Germany · Religion · 25 Sep 1555

   Peace of Augsburg

   The imperial diet established the first lasting legal coexistence of Lutheranism and Catholicism, letting each prince set his territory's religion under the principle cuius regio, eius religio.

   The Holy Roman Empire and the Reformation

   Sources: Peace of Augsburg (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇳🇱NLD

   Netherlands · Politics & Power

   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.

   Burgundian and Habsburg Rule

   Sources: Netherlands (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Eighty Years' War (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇸🇳SEN

   Senegal · War & Rupture · c. 1556

   Cayor breaks from Jolof

   The coastal province of Cayor rebels and wins independence, and Baol and Waalo follow, fracturing the empire into rival kingdoms.

   The Jolof Empire and Its Successor Kingdoms

   Sources: Wolof Empire (World History Encyclopedia) · Cayor (Wikipedia) · Baol (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇮🇳IND

   India · Politics & Power

   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.

   The Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire

   Sources: Mughal dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇪🇸ESP

   Spain · Politics & Power · 1556–1598

   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.

   The Catholic Monarchs and the Golden Age Empire

   Sources: Spain (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇺🇦UKR

   Ukraine · Formation · 16th century

   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.

   Between Lithuania, Poland and the Steppe

   Sources: Zaporozhian Sich (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Ukraine: The Cossacks (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇪🇷ERI

   Eritrea · Politics & Power

   Ottoman Habesh province established

   After taking Massawa, the Ottomans organise their Red Sea holdings as the province of Habesh, ruling the coast through local agents.

   Ottomans, Egyptians and the Contested Coast

   Sources: Massawa (Wikipedia) · Massawa (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇪🇷ERI

   Eritrea · War & Rupture

   Ottomans capture Massawa

   Ottoman forces under Ozdemir Pasha take Massawa from the highland kingdom, bringing the Eritrean coast under the Ottoman Empire and ending local dynastic control.

   The Beja, the Dahlak Sultanate and the Muslim Coast

   Sources: Massawa (Wikipedia) · Massawa (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇲🇿MOZ

   Mozambique · War & Rupture · 1558 – c. 1620

   Fort São Sebastião is built

   Construction begins on Fort São Sebastião on the Island of Mozambique, the largest Portuguese fortress in East Africa and the oldest complete fort still standing in sub-Saharan Africa.

   Da Gama and the Portuguese Seizure of the Coast

   Sources: Island of Mozambique — World Heritage List (UNESCO) · Fort São Sebastião (Mozambique) (Wikipedia) · Island of Mozambique UNESCO World Heritage Site (National Geographic)

Europe

1. 🇪🇪EST

   Estonia · War & Rupture · 1558–1583

   The Livonian War

   A twenty-five-year struggle for Livonia pitted Russia against Sweden, Denmark and Poland-Lithuania, shattering the old crusader confederation as the towns and provinces sought new protectors.

   Hanseatic Reval, Danish and Swedish Estonia

   Sources: Livonian War (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Estonia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇨🇺CUB

   Cuba · Colonisation · begun 1558

   The fortifications of Havana

   Construction of the Castillo de la Real Fuerza and, later, the Morro and La Cabana fortresses makes Havana the fortified key to the Indies.

   Spanish Colony: Havana, Sugar, and Slavery

   Sources: Old Havana and its Fortification System (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. 🇬🇧GBR

   United Kingdom · Religion

   The Elizabethan Religious Settlement

   Elizabeth I's settlement re-established royal headship of the Church and a Protestant order, ending decades of religious upheaval and shaping the Church of England for centuries.

   Tudors, the Reformation, and the first empire

   Sources: Elizabeth I (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇱🇦LAO

   Laos · Politics & Power · 1560 CE

   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.

   The Kingdom of Lan Xang

   Sources: Setthathirat I (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Vientiane (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇪🇪EST

   Estonia · Politics & Power

   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.

   Hanseatic Reval, Danish and Swedish Estonia

   Sources: Livonian War (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Estonia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇱🇻LVA

   Latvia · Politics & Power

   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.

   Poland, Sweden, Courland and the Russian Empire

   Sources: Latvia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Latvia (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia)

Africa

1. 🇸🇱SLE

   Sierra Leone · Economy & Trade · 16th century

   The coast enters the Atlantic trade

   European ships drew the rivers of the Sierra Leone coast into the transatlantic slave trade, exchanging goods and firearms for captives seized in raids and wars across the region.

   The Atlantic slave trade and Bunce Island

   Sources: Sierra Leone (Slavery and Remembrance (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)) · Sierra Leone (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇩🇰DNK

   Denmark · War & Rupture · 1563–1720

   The long wars with Sweden

   From the Northern Seven Years' War onward, Denmark and Sweden fought repeatedly for control of the Baltic and the Sound, a rivalry that steadily eroded Danish power in the region.

   Reformation, Denmark-Norway and the Wars with Sweden

   Sources: Denmark: Reformation and war (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Treaty of Roskilde (1658) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇸🇰SVK

   Slovakia · Politics & Power · 1563–1830

   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.

   A Thousand Years in the Kingdom of Hungary

   Sources: Bratislava: Coronation City (Visit Bratislava (official city tourism))

North America

1. 🇨🇷CRI

   Costa Rica · Colonisation · 1563 CE

   Founding of Cartago

   The Spanish establish Cartago in the Central Valley as the colonial capital, which it remains until 1823.

   The Rich Coast: A Poor Colony

   Sources: History of Costa Rica (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Cartago (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇪🇨ECU

   Ecuador · Politics & Power · 1563 CE

   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.

   Conquest, Colony and the Quito School

   Sources: History of Ecuador (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇵🇭PHL

   Philippines · Colonisation

   Legazpi founds the first Spanish settlement at Cebu

   Miguel Lopez de Legazpi establishes Spain's first permanent settlement in the islands at Cebu, beginning more than three centuries of Spanish colonial rule.

   Spanish Colonisation, Catholicism and the Galleon Trade

   Sources: Philippines: The Spanish period (Legazpi; Manila; the Church) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇭PHL

   Philippines · Economy & Trade · 1565-1815

   The Manila-Acapulco galleon trade

   For 250 years Spanish galleons exchange Chinese silks for Mexican silver across the Pacific, making Manila a hub of global commerce and an economic lifeline for the colony.

   Spanish Colonisation, Catholicism and the Galleon Trade

   Sources: Manila galleon (Acapulco trade) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇲🇹MLT

   Malta · War & Rupture · 18 May – 8 Sep 1565

   The Great Siege of Malta

   An Ottoman army sent by Suleiman the Magnificent besieged the Knights and Maltese for nearly four months; under Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette the defenders held out until a Sicilian relief force compelled the Ottomans to withdraw.

   The Knights of St John and the Great Siege

   Sources: Siege of Malta (1565) (New World Encyclopedia) · Siege of Malta (1565) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Jean Parisot de la Valette (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇧🇦BIH

   Bosnia and Herzegovina · Culture & Ideas · 1566–1577

   The Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge, Višegrad

   The eleven-arch Ottoman bridge over the Drina at Višegrad was built to designs by the imperial architect Sinan; it was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage in 2007.

   Ottoman Bosnia and the Making of a Multi-Confessional Land

   Sources: Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge in Višegrad (inscribed 2007) (WorldAtlas)

2. 🇧🇦BIH

   Bosnia and Herzegovina · Culture & Ideas

   The Old Bridge at Mostar (Stari Most)

   The single-arch Old Bridge over the Neretva, a masterpiece of Ottoman engineering, gave Mostar its name; the Old City of Mostar was inscribed by UNESCO in 2005 after the bridge's wartime destruction and reconstruction.

   Ottoman Bosnia and the Making of a Multi-Confessional Land

   Sources: Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar (inscribed 2005) (World Heritage Travel)

3. 🇲🇹MLT

   Malta · Formation

   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.

   The Knights of St John and the Great Siege

   Sources: Valletta, Malta's historic capital (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Siege of Malta (1565) (New World Encyclopedia)

4. 🇳🇱NLD

   Netherlands · Religion

   The Beeldenstorm (Iconoclasm)

   Calvinist crowds destroy religious images in churches across the Low Countries, provoking a harsh Spanish crackdown and pushing the provinces toward revolt.

   The Dutch Revolt and the Birth of the Republic

   Sources: Eighty Years' War (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇻🇪VEN

   Venezuela · Formation · 1567 CE

   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.

   Colonial Venezuela and the Captaincy General

   Sources: Venezuela (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Venezuela: A Country Study (U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

Europe

1. 🇳🇱NLD

   Netherlands · War & Rupture

   Eighty Years' War begins

   Open revolt against Spanish rule breaks out under William of Orange, beginning a struggle for independence that will last eighty years.

   The Dutch Revolt and the Birth of the Republic

   Sources: Eighty Years' War (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Oceania

1. 🇸🇧SLB

   Solomon Islands · Colonisation

   Mendaña reaches and names the islands

   Álvaro de Mendaña becomes the first European to reach the archipelago; rumoured gold leads to the name 'Solomon Islands' after the biblical king.

   Mendaña and the King's Gold

   Sources: History of Solomon Islands (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇹🇭THA

   Thailand · War & Rupture

   First Burmese conquest of Ayutthaya

   Burmese forces capture Ayutthaya and reduce it to vassalage; the kingdom later recovers its full independence under King Naresuan.

   The Kingdom of Ayutthaya

   Sources: Thailand (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇧🇾BLR

   Belarus · Politics & Power

   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.

   The Commonwealth, Partition and the Russian Empire

   Sources: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Belarus (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇱🇹LTU

   Lithuania · Politics & Power · 1 Jul 1569

   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.

   The Commonwealth, the Partitions and the National Revival

   Sources: Union of Lublin (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Lithuania (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇵🇱POL

   Poland · Politics & Power · 1 Jul 1569

   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.

   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)

4. 🇺🇦UKR

   Ukraine · Politics & Power · 1 Jul 1569

   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.

   Between Lithuania, Poland and the Steppe

   Sources: History of Ukraine (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇳🇬NGA

   Nigeria · Politics & Power · c. 1570–1603

   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.

   The great precolonial kingdoms: Kanem-Bornu, Hausa, Oyo and Benin

   Sources: Idris Alooma (Wikipedia) · The Bornu Empire (Lumen Learning, World Civilization)

Asia

1. 🇨🇾CYP

   Cyprus · War & Rupture · 1570–1571

   Ottoman conquest of Cyprus

   An Ottoman army invaded in 1570, taking Nicosia, and after a long siege captured Famagusta in 1571, ending Venetian rule and beginning more than three centuries of Ottoman administration.

   Crusader Kingdom, Venetian Colony and Ottoman Conquest

   Sources: Cyprus: Ottoman rule (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Cyprus: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇭🇳HND

   Honduras · Economy & Trade · 1570s

   Silver strike and rise of Tegucigalpa

   A highland silver discovery draws prospectors and gives rise to Tegucigalpa, long a rival to Comayagua.

   Conquest, Lempira, and Colonial Silver

   Sources: Honduras: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division) · Honduras: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇹🇩TCD

   Chad · War & Rupture · late 16th c.

   Golden age under Idris Alooma

   Mai Idris Alooma modernised the army with Ottoman firearms and advisers and promoted Islamic law, leading Kanem-Bornu to its second peak.

   Kanem and Kanem-Bornu

   Sources: Kanem-Bornu Empire (Wikipedia) · Bornu Empire (Lumen Learning, World Civilization)

Asia

1. CYN

   Northern Cyprus · War & Rupture · 1570-1571

   Ottoman conquest of Cyprus

   An Ottoman army took Cyprus from Venice, capturing Nicosia and Famagusta and beginning more than three centuries of Ottoman rule that settled a Muslim Turkish-Cypriot community on the island.

   Ancient Cyprus and the Ottoman Inheritance

   Sources: Cyprus - Ottoman rule (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Cyprus: A Country Study (U.S. Library of Congress (Federal Research Division))

2. 🇵🇭PHL

   Philippines · Colonisation

   Founding of Manila

   Legazpi establishes Manila as the capital of the Spanish colony; by the century's end most lowland Luzon and the Visayas are under Spanish control.

   Spanish Colonisation, Catholicism and the Galleon Trade

   Sources: Philippines: The Spanish period (Legazpi; Manila; the Church) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇲🇹MLT

   Malta · Politics & Power · 1571–1798

   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.

   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)

Asia

1. 🇨🇾CYP

   Cyprus · Religion · after 1571

   Two communities take shape

   Under Ottoman rule the Orthodox Church was restored and its archbishop made leader of the Greek Cypriots, while Muslim settlement established the Turkish Cypriot community alongside it.

   Crusader Kingdom, Venetian Colony and Ottoman Conquest

   Sources: Cyprus: Ottoman rule (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. CYN

   Northern Cyprus · Peoples & Migration · 16th-17th centuries

   Emergence of the Turkish-Cypriot community

   Muslim settlers, many from Anatolia, established a distinct Turkish-Cypriot community alongside the Greek-Cypriot majority, while the Orthodox Church regained authority over Greek Cypriots under the millet system.

   Ancient Cyprus and the Ottoman Inheritance

   Sources: Cyprus - Ottoman rule (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Cyprus: A Country Study (U.S. Library of Congress (Federal Research Division))

South America

1. 🇧🇴BOL

   Bolivia · Economy & Trade · 1570s

   Toledo systematises the mita

   Viceroy Francisco de Toledo organises the mita, a forced labour draft that compels indigenous men across the Andes to work the deadly mines and mercury refineries of Potosi.

   Conquest, the Silver of Potosi, and Charcas

   Sources: Bolivia: Early period (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · City of Potosi (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Africa

1. 🇹🇳TUN

   Tunisia · War & Rupture

   Ottoman conquest of Tunis

   The Ottomans take Tunis from Spain, making Tunisia an autonomous province of the empire.

   Ottoman Rule & the Husaynid Beys

   Sources: Ottoman Tunisia (Wikipedia) · Husaynid dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇦🇴AGO

   Angola · Colonisation

   Portuguese found Luanda

   Paulo Dias de Novais established São Paulo da Assunção de Loanda on the Angolan coast, creating the base from which Portuguese power and the slave trade would expand.

   Luanda, Queen Njinga and the Atlantic slave trade

   Sources: Luanda, Angola (1576– ) (BlackPast.org) · Portuguese Angola (Wikipedia) · Portuguese Angola (World History Encyclopedia)

Asia

1. 🇧🇩BGD

   Bangladesh · War & Rupture

   Mughal conquest of Bengal

   Akbar's forces defeat the last independent sultan at the Battle of Rajmahal, ending the Bengal Sultanate and absorbing the delta into the Mughal Empire.

   The Bengal Sultanate and the Spread of Islam

   Sources: History of Bangladesh (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Islam, Bengal (Banglapedia (Asiatic Society of Bangladesh))

Africa

1. 🇲🇦MAR

   Morocco · War & Rupture · 4 August 1578

   Battle of the Three Kings

   The Saadian sultan Abd al-Malik annihilates the invading Portuguese army of King Sebastian near Ksar el-Kebir; three kings die, and Morocco's independence is preserved.

   Marinids, Saadians and the Three Kings

   Sources: Battle of the Three Kings (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Battle of Ksar el-Kebir (EBSCO Research Starters)

Asia

1. 🇧🇳BRN

   Brunei · War & Rupture

   Spanish attack on the capital

   A Spanish expedition from the Philippines briefly captures Brunei's capital during a war with the sultanate before being forced to withdraw, signalling the new European challenge.

   The Golden Age of the Maritime Empire

   Sources: History of Brunei (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇭🇷HRV

   Croatia · War & Rupture · 16th–18th c.

   The Military Frontier

   To hold the line against the Ottomans the Habsburgs created the Military Frontier, a militarised border zone settled by free soldier-peasants, including many Serb and Vlach refugees, who served in exchange for land and privileges.

   Venetian Dalmatia, the Republic of Ragusa and the Ottoman Wars

   Sources: Croatia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇹PRT

   Portugal · War & Rupture

   Disaster at Alcacer Quibir

   King Sebastian was killed leading a crusade into Morocco, triggering the succession crisis that opened the way to Spanish rule.

   The Iberian Union and the Braganza Restoration

   Sources: History of Portugal: Union of Spain and Portugal, 1580-1640 (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇧🇪BEL

   Belgium · Religion

   Union of Arras and the split of the Low Countries

   The Catholic southern provinces reaffirmed loyalty to Spain in the Union of Arras while the northern provinces formed the Union of Utrecht, beginning the permanent division of the Low Countries into Belgium and the Netherlands.

   The Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands

   Sources: Belgium: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇳🇱NLD

   Netherlands · Formation · 23 Jan 1579

   Union of Utrecht

   The northern provinces sign a defensive alliance that becomes the constitutional foundation of the Dutch Republic.

   The Dutch Revolt and the Birth of the Republic

   Sources: Union of Utrecht (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇸🇱SLE

   Sierra Leone · Peoples & Migration · late 16th century

   Emergence of the Mende

   Out of the mingling of Mane aristocrats with indigenous Bullom and other populations the Mende identity and language took shape, spreading as a lingua franca and becoming one of Sierra Leone's largest ethnic groups.

   The Rice Coast peoples and the Mane

   Sources: Mane people (Wikipedia) · History of Sierra Leone (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇵🇹PRT

   Portugal · Politics & Power · 1580-1581

   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.

   The Iberian Union and the Braganza Restoration

   Sources: History of Portugal: Union of Spain and Portugal, 1580-1640 (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇦🇷ARG

   Argentina · Formation · 1580 CE

   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.

   Indigenous Peoples and the Spanish Rio de la Plata

   Sources: Buenos Aires: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇳🇱NLD

   Netherlands · Independence · 26 Jul 1581

   Act of Abjuration

   The States General formally renounce allegiance to Philip II of Spain, a de facto declaration of independence giving rise to the Republic of the Seven United Provinces.

   The Dutch Revolt and the Birth of the Republic

   Sources: Eighty Years' War (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Union of Utrecht (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇸🇮SVN

   Slovenia · Culture & Ideas

   Dalmatin's Bible and Bohoric's grammar

   Jurij Dalmatin published a complete Slovene translation of the Bible and Adam Bohoric the first Slovene grammar, proving the new written language fit for the most demanding texts.

   The Habsburg Duchies and the Birth of Written Slovene

   Sources: History of Slovenia (Government of Slovenia (gov.si)) · Tracing the Slovenian Reformation (Slovenian Tourist Board (slovenia.info))

Africa

1. 🇨🇻CPV

   Cape Verde · War & Rupture

   Drake sacks Ribeira Grande

   The English privateer Sir Francis Drake attacked and sacked the wealthy port of Ribeira Grande, one of several corsair raids that beset the islands during the era of the Iberian Union.

   Entrepôt of the slave trade — and its decline

   Sources: History of Cape Verde (Wikipedia) · Cidade Velha (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇧🇪BEL

   Belgium · War & Rupture · 17 Aug 1585

   Fall of Antwerp

   After a siege of over a year, the Spanish commander Alessandro Farnese took the great Protestant port of Antwerp, confirming Spanish control of the southern Netherlands and driving its merchants and craftsmen north.

   The Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands

   Sources: Fall of Antwerp (1585) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇩🇴DOM

   Dominican Republic · War & Rupture · 1586 CE

   Drake sacks Santo Domingo

   The English privateer Francis Drake captures and ransoms the decayed capital, a sign of how far the once-central colony had fallen as imperial wealth moved to the mainland.

   Quisqueya, Columbus, and the First Colony

   Sources: Santo Domingo (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇬🇼GNB

   Guinea-Bissau · Economy & Trade · c. 1588

   Cacheu fortified as a slaving station

   The Portuguese established a fortified post at Cacheu, which became the principal slave-trading centre on the rivers; captives were funnelled through it to Cape Verde and across the Atlantic.

   The Rivers of Guinea and the Atlantic slave trade

   Sources: Portuguese Guinea (Wikipedia) · A Guide to the History of Recognition: Guinea-Bissau (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian) · History of Guinea-Bissau (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇬🇧GBR

   United Kingdom · War & Rupture

   Defeat of the Spanish Armada

   England repelled the Spanish Armada sent by Philip II, a decisive check to Spanish ambitions that bolstered English naval confidence and national identity.

   Tudors, the Reformation, and the first empire

   Sources: Spanish Armada (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇯🇵JPN

   Japan · War & Rupture · 1590 CE

   Hideyoshi completes unification

   Toyotomi Hideyoshi brings the last domains under central control, finishing the reunification of Japan begun by Oda Nobunaga.

   Sengoku and Edo: Unification and the Long Peace

   Sources: Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Azuchi-Momoyama period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇱🇧LBN

   Lebanon · Formation · c. 1590s–1633

   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.

   The Emirate of Mount Lebanon

   Sources: Fakhr al-Din II (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Lebanon (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇬🇳GIN

   Guinea · War & Rupture

   Fall of Songhai to a Moroccan army

   A Moroccan expeditionary force defeats the Songhai at Tondibi, ending the era of the great Sahelian empires that had embraced the Guinea region.

   The Mande Heartland and the Sahelian Empires

   Sources: Songhai Empire (World History Encyclopedia) · Songhai Empire (EBSCO Research Starters)

2. 🇲🇱MLI

   Mali · War & Rupture · April 1591

   Battle of Tondibi ends the Songhai Empire

   Moroccan forces under Judar Pasha, armed with firearms, rout the Songhai army at Tondibi near Gao, collapsing the last of the great Niger empires.

   The Songhai Empire and Its Fall

   Sources: Fall of the Songhai Empire (EBSCO Research Starters) · Moroccan invasion of the Songhai Empire (Wikipedia)

3. 🇲🇦MAR

   Morocco · War & Rupture

   Saadian conquest of Songhai

   Ahmad al-Mansur sends an army across the Sahara that defeats the Songhai Empire at Tondibi, extending Saadian reach toward the gold of the Niger.

   Marinids, Saadians and the Three Kings

   Sources: Battle of Ksar el-Kebir (EBSCO Research Starters) · Battle of the Three Kings (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇰🇷KOR

   South Korea · War & Rupture · 1592-1598 CE

   Japanese (Imjin) invasions repelled

   Toyotomi Hideyoshi's forces invade Korea; resistance led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin and his turtle ships, with Ming Chinese aid, ultimately drives them out.

   The Joseon Dynasty

   Sources: Joseon dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Korea (history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇹🇹TTO

   Trinidad and Tobago · Colonisation

   Spain founds San José de Oruña

   Antonio de Berrio took possession of Trinidad and founded San José de Oruña (St Joseph), establishing the first effective Spanish settlement on an island the crown had claimed but long neglected.

   Spanish neglect and the Cédula de Población

   Sources: Trinidad and Tobago: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · T&T History Timeline (National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago)

South America

1. 🇫🇰FLK

   Falkland Islands · Colonisation

   First recorded sighting

   The English navigator John Davis is credited with the first recorded European sighting of the uninhabited islands; the territory marks Falklands Day on 14 August in commemoration.

   Empty Shores and Competing Claims

   Sources: Our History (Falkland Islands Government) · Falkland Islands — History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇰🇪KEN

   Kenya · Colonisation · 1593–1596

   Portuguese build Fort Jesus

   The Portuguese construct Fort Jesus at Mombasa to a Renaissance design by Giovanni Battista Cairati, anchoring their control of the coast and the Indian Ocean trade routes.

   Portuguese and Omani Rule on the Coast

   Sources: Fort Jesus, Mombasa (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Fort Jesus Museum (National Museums of Kenya)

Africa

1. 🇸🇹STP

   São Tomé and Príncipe · War & Rupture · 9 July 1595

   The revolt of Rei Amador

   Rei Amador united maroons and plantation slaves in a great revolt that overran much of São Tomé, one of the largest slave uprisings of the Atlantic world.

   Sugar, the slave trade and the revolt of Rei Amador

   Sources: Rei Amador (Wikipedia) · The Portuguese Colonization of São Tomé and Príncipe (World History Encyclopedia) · History of São Tomé and Príncipe (Wikipedia)

North America

1. 🇵🇷PRI

   Puerto Rico · War & Rupture · 1595 CE

   El Morro repels Francis Drake

   The new fortifications withstand an attack by the English privateer Sir Francis Drake, proving San Juan's defences.

   The Spanish Colony and the Fortress City

   Sources: El Morro, San Juan National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)

2. 🇹🇹TTO

   Trinidad and Tobago · War & Rupture

   Raleigh raids the Spanish settlement

   Sir Walter Raleigh attacked the Spanish settlement while searching for El Dorado, underscoring how weak and exposed the Spanish colony on Trinidad remained.

   Spanish neglect and the Cédula de Población

   Sources: T&T History Timeline (National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago)

Oceania

1. 🇸🇧SLB

   Solomon Islands · Colonisation

   Mendaña's failed colony

   A second Spanish expedition attempts a settlement in the Santa Cruz islands but collapses amid disease and conflict; Mendaña dies there.

   Mendaña and the King's Gold

   Sources: Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira (Encyclopædia Britannica) · History of Solomon Islands (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇸🇹STP

   São Tomé and Príncipe · War & Rupture

   Capture and execution of Rei Amador

   After his forces had held much of the island, Amador was captured and executed by the Portuguese; he endured as a hero of resistance and is now honoured as a national figure.

   Sugar, the slave trade and the revolt of Rei Amador

   Sources: Rei Amador (Wikipedia) · The Portuguese Colonization of São Tomé and Príncipe (World History Encyclopedia)

North America

1. 🇵🇦PAN

   Panama · Economy & Trade

   Trade shifts to Portobelo

   Spain moves its Caribbean treasure port to Portobelo, whose fairs and fortifications anchor the trans-isthmus gold and silver route.

   Artery of the Spanish Empire

   Sources: Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Panama: A Country Study (Library of Congress Country Studies)

Africa

1. 🇲🇺MUS

   Mauritius · Colonisation

   The Dutch name the island Mauritius

   Admiral Wybrand van Warwijck claims the island and names it for Maurice of Nassau, stadtholder of the Dutch Republic.

   The Dutch & the Dodo

   Sources: Mauritius (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Explore Mauritius — Republic of Mauritius (Government of Mauritius) · Mauritius (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇮🇷IRN

   Iran · Culture & Ideas · 1598 CE

   Shah Abbas moves the capital to Isfahan

   At the height of Safavid power, Shah Abbas the Great relocates the capital to Isfahan and builds the grand Naqsh-e Jahan (Imam) Square, a UNESCO World Heritage masterpiece of urban design.

   Turkic and Mongol Rule and the Safavids

   Sources: Meidan Emam, Esfahan — UNESCO World Heritage List (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Safavid dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇫🇷FRA

   France · Religion

   Edict of Nantes

   Henry IV grants toleration to Protestants, ending the Wars of Religion.

   The Medieval & Early-Modern Kingdom

   Sources: Edict of Nantes (Encyclopædia Britannica)

2. 🇷🇺RUS

   Russia · War & Rupture · 1598-1613

   The Time of Troubles

   After the Rurikid line dies out, Russia descends into the Time of Troubles, a period of famine, civil war, pretenders, and Polish occupation of Moscow that nearly destroys the Russian state.

   Muscovy and the Tsardom of Russia

   Sources: Russia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)