16th Century

Early modern history comprises the time between the end of the Middle Ages and the contemporary era. The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582).

It is regarded by historians as the century in which the rise of the West occurred. During the 16th century, Spain and Portugal explored the world's seas and opened world-wide oceanic trade routes. Large parts of the New World became Spanish and Portuguese colonies, and while the Portuguese became the masters of Asia's and Africa's Indian Ocean trade, the Spanish opened trade across the Pacific Ocean, linking the Americas with Asia.

1500s

1500: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain was born.
1500: Guru Nanak the beginning and spreading of the 5th largest Religion in the World Sikhism.
1500: Spanish navigator Vicente Yáñez Pinzón encounters Brazil but is prevented from claiming it by the Treaty of Tordesillas.
1500: Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal.
1500: The Ottoman fleet of Kemal Reis defeats the Venetians at the Second Battle of Lepanto.
1501: Michelangelo returns to his native Florence to begin work on the statue David.
1501: Safavid dynasty reunified Iran and ruled over it until 1736. Safavids adopt a Shia branch of Islam.
1502: First reported African slaves in The New World
1503: Foundation of the Sultanate of Sennar by Amara Dunqas, in what is modern Sudan
1503: Spain defeats France at the Battle of Cerignola. Considered to be the first battle in history won by gunpowder small arms.
1503: Leonardo da Vinci begins painting the Mona Lisa and completes it three years later.
1503: Nostradamus was born on either December 14, or December 21.
1504: A period of drought, with famine in all of Spain.
1504: Death of Isabella I of Castile, Joanna of Castille became the Queen.
1505: Zhengde Emperor ascended the throne of Ming Dynasty.
1505: King Sultan Trenggono built the first Moslem kingdom in Java, called Demak, in Indonesia . Many other small kingdoms were established in other islands to fight against Portuguese. Each kingdom introduced local language as a way of communication and unity.
1506: Leonardo da Vinci completes the Mona Lisa.
1506: King Afonso I of Kongo wins the battle of Mbanza Kongo, resulting in Catholicism becoming Kongo's state religion.
1506: At least two thousand converted Jews are massacred in a Lisbon riot, Portugal.
1506: Christopher Columbus dies in Valladolid, Spain.
1506: Poland is invaded by Tatars from the Crimean Khanate.
1507: The first recorded epidemic of smallpox in the New World on the island of Hispaniola. It devastates the native Taíno population.
1507: Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Hormuz and Muscat, among other bases in the Persian Gulf, taking control of the region at the entrance of the Gulf.
1508–1512: Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
1509: The Battle of Diu marks the beginning of Portuguese dominance of the Spice trade and the Indian Ocean.
1509: The Portuguese king sends Diogo Lopes de Sequeira to find Malacca, the eastern terminus of Asian trade. After initially receiving Sequeira, Sultan Mahmud Syah captures and/or kills several of his men and attempts an assault on the four Portuguese ships, which escape. The Javanese fleet is also destroyed in Malacca.

1510s

1509–10: The 'great plague' in various parts of Tudor England.
1511: Afonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers Malacca, the capital of the Sultanate of Malacca in present-day Malaysia.
1512: Copernicus writes Commentariolus, and proclaims the sun the center of the solar system.
1512: The southern part (historical core) of the Kingdom of Navarre is invaded by Castile and Aragon.
1512: The first Portuguese exploratory expedition was sent eastward from Malacca (in present-day Malaysia) to search for the 'Spice Islands' (Maluku) led by Francisco Serrão. Serrao is shipwrecked but struggles on to Hitu (northern Ambon) and wins the favour of the local rulers.
1513: Machiavelli writes The Prince, a treatise about political philosophy
1513: The Portuguese mariner Jorge Álvares lands at Macau, China, during the Ming Dynasty.
1513: Henry VIII defeats the French at the Battle of the Spurs.
1513: The Battle of Flodden Field in which invading Scots are defeated by Henry VIII's forces.
1513: Sultan Selim I ("The Grim") orders the massacre of Shia Muslims in Anatolia (present-day Turkey).
1513: Vasco Núñez de Balboa, in service of Spain arrives at the Pacific Ocean (which he called Mar del Sur) across the Isthmus of Panama. He was the first European to do so.
1514: The Battle of Orsha halts Muscovy's expansion into Eastern Europe.
1514: Dózsa rebellion (peasant revolt) in Hungary.
1514: The Battle of Chaldiran, the Ottoman Empire gains decisive victory against Safavid dynasty.
1515: The Ottoman Empire wrests Eastern Anatolia from the Safavids after the Battle of Chaldiran.
1516–1517: The Ottomans defeat the Mamluks and gain control of Egypt, Arabia, and the Levant.
1517: The Sweating sickness epidemic in Tudor England.
1517: The Protestant Reformation begins when Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses in Saxony.
1518: Mir Chakar Khan Rind leaves Baluchistan and settled in Punjab.
1518: Leo Africanus, also known as al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi), an Andalusian Berber diplomat who is best known for his book Descrittione dell’Africa (Description of Africa) describing the geography of North Africa, is captured by Spanish pirates; he will be taken to Rome and presented to Pope Leo X.
1518: The Dancing Plague of 1518 begins in Strasbourg, lasting for about one month.
1519: Leonardo da Vinci dies of natural causes on May 2.
1519: Wang Yangming, the Chinese philosopher and governor of Jiangxi province, describes his intent to use the firepower of the fo-lang-ji, a breech-loading Portuguese culverin, in order to suppress the rebellion of Prince Zhu Chen-hao.
1519: Barbary pirates led by Hayreddin Barbarossa a Turk appointed to ruling position in Algiers by the Ottoman Empire, raidProvence and Toulon in southern France.
1519: Charles I of Spain becomes Emperor of Holy Roman Empire as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (ruled until 1556).
1519–1522: Spanish expedition commanded by Magellan and Elcano first to circle Earth
1519–1521: Hernán Cortés leads the Spanish conquest of Mexico.

1520s

1520–1566: The reign of Suleiman the Magnificent marks the zenith of the Ottoman Empire.
1520: The first European diplomatic mission to Ethiopia, sent by the Portuguese, arrives at Massawa 9 April, and reaches the imperial encampment of Emperor Dawit II in Shewa 9 October.
1520: The Yousafzais defeat Dilazaks at the battle of Katlang to found the Yousafzai dynasty in Pakhtunkhwa in modern-day Pakistanand Afghanistan.
1520: The Portuguese established a trading post in the village of Lamakera on the eastern side of Solor (in present-day Indonesia) as a transit harbour between Maluku and Malacca.
1520: Sultan Ali Mughayat Shah of Aceh begins an expansionist campaign capturing Daya on the west Sumatran coast (in present-day Indonesia), and the pepper and gold producing lands on the east coast.
1521: Belgrade (in present-day Serbia) is captured by the Ottoman Empire.
1521: After building fortifications at Tuen Mun, the Portuguese attempt to invade Ming Dynasty China, but are expelled by Chinese naval forces.
1521: Philippines encountered by Ferdinand Magellan. He was later killed in battle in central Philippines in the same year.
1521: Jiajing Emperor ascended the throne of Ming Dynasty, China.
1521: November, Ferdinand Magellan's expedition reaches Maluku (in present-day Indonesia) and after trade with Ternate returns to Europe with a load of cloves.
1521: Pati Unus led invasion of Malacca (in present-day Malaysia) against the Portuguese occupation. Pati Unus was killed in this battle, and was succeeded by his brother, king Trenggana.
1522: Rhodes falls to the Ottoman Turks of Suleiman the Magnificent.
1522: The Portuguese ally themselves with the rulers of Ternate (in present-day Indonesia) and begin construction of a fort.
1522: August, Luso Sundanese Treaty signed between Portugal and Sunda Kingdom granted Portuguese permit to build fortress inSunda Kelapa
1523: Sweden gains independence from the Kalmar Union.
1523: The cacao bean was introduced to Spain by Hernán Cortés
1524–1525: German Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire.
1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano is the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between South Carolina andNewfoundland.
1524 - Ismail I, the founder of Safavid dynasty, dies and Tahmasp I becomes king.
1525: Spain and Germany defeat France at the Battle of Pavia, Francis I of France is captured.
1526: The Ottomans defeat the Kingdom of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács.
1526: Mughal Empire, founded by Babur, rules India until 1857.
1527: Sack of Rome, which is considered the end of the Italian Renaissance.
1527: Protestant Reformation begins in Sweden.
1527: The last ruler of Majapahit falls from power. This state (located in present-day Indonesia) was finally extinguished at the hands of the Demak. A large number of courtiers, artisans, priests, and members of the royalty moved east to the island of Bali; however, the power and the seat of government transferred to Demak under the leadership of Pangeran, later Sultan Fatah.
1527: June 22, The Javanese Prince Fatahillah of the Cirebon Sultanate successfully defeated the Portuguese armed forces at the site of the Sunda Kelapa Harbor. The city was then renamed Jayakarta, meaning "a glorious victory." This eventful day came to be acknowledged as Jakarta's Founding Anniversary, and Fatahillah Park was named after the heroic prince.
1529: The Austrians defeat the Ottoman Empire at the Siege of Vienna.
1529: Treaty of Zaragoza defined the antimeridian of Tordesillas attributing the Moluccas to Portugal and Philippines to Spain.
1529: Imam Ahmad Gragn defeats the Ethiopian Emperor Dawit II in the Battle of Shimbra Kure, the opening clash of the Ethiopian–Adal War

1530s

1531–32: The Church of England breaks away from the Roman Catholic Church and recognizes King Henry VIII as the head of the Church.
1531: The Inca Civil War is fought between the two brothers, Atahualpa and Huáscar.
1532: Francisco Pizarro leads the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
1533: Anne Boleyn becomes Queen of England.
1533: Elizabeth Tudor is born.
1534: Jacques Cartier claims Quebec for France.
1534: The Ottomans capture Baghdad.
1534: Affair of the Placards – Francis becomes more active in repression of French Protestants.
1535: The Münster Rebellion, an attempt of radical, millennialist, Anabaptists to establish a theocracy ends in bloodshed.
1535: The Portuguese in Ternate depose Sultan Tabariji (or Tabarija) and send him to Portuguese Goa where he converts to Christianity and bequeaths his Portuguese godfather Jordao de Freitas the island of Ambon.
1536: Katherine of Aragon dies in Kimbolton Castle, in England.
1536: In England, Anne Boleyn is beheaded for adultery and treason.
1536: Establishment of the Inquisition in Portugal
1536: Foundation of Buenos Aires (in present-day Argentina) by Pedro de Mendoza
1537: Portuguese establishes Recife in Pernambuco, north-east of Brazil.
1537: William Tyndale's partial translation of the Bible into English is published, which would eventually be incorporated into the King James Bible.
1538: Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada founds Bogotá.
1538: Spanish–Venetian fleet is defeated by the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Preveza.
1539: Hernando de Soto explores inland North America.

1540s

1540: Sher Shah Suri founds Suri dynasty in South Asia, an ethnic Pashtun (Pathan) of the house of Sur, who supplanted the Mughal dynasty as rulers of North India during the reign of the relatively ineffectual second Mughal emperor Humayun. Sher Shah decisively defeats Central Asian invader Humayun in the Battle of Bilgram (May 17, 1540).
1541: Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago de Chile.
1541: An Algerian military campaign by Charles V of Spain (Habsburg) is unsuccessful.
1541: Amazon River is encountered and explored by Francisco de Orellana.
1541: Capture of Buda and the absorption of the major part of Hungary by the Ottoman Empire.
1541: Sahib I Giray of Crimea invades Russia.
1542: War resumes between Francis I of France and Emperor Charles V. This time Henry VIII is allied with the Emperor, while James V of Scotland and Sultan Suleiman I are allied with the French.
1542: Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the island of Samar and Leyte Las Islas Filipinas honoring Philip II of Spainand became the official name of the archipelago.
1543: Ethiopian/Portuguese troops decisively defeat the Adal-Ottoman Muslim army at the Battle of Wayna Daga; Imam Ahmad Gragnkilled.
1543: Copernicus publishes his theory that the Earth and the other planets revolve around the Sun
1543: The Nanban trade period begins after Portuguese traders make contact with Japan.
1544: The French defeat an Imperial–Spanish army at the Battle of Ceresole.
1544: Battle of the Shirts in Scotland. The Frasers and Macdonalds of Clan Ranald fight over a disputed chiefship; reportedly, 5 Frasers and 8 Macdonalds survive.
1545: Songhai forces sack the Malian capital of Niani
1545: The Council of Trent meets for the first time in Trent (in northern Italy).
1546: Michelangelo Buonarroti is made chief architect of St. Peter's Basilica.
1546: Francis Xavier works among the peoples of Ambon, Ternate and Morotai (Moro) laying the foundations for a permanent mission. (to 1547)
1547: Henry VIII dies in the Palace of Whitehall on 28 January at the age of 55.
1547: Edward VI becomes King of England and Ireland on 28 January and is crowned on 20 February at the age of 9.
1547: Emperor Charles V decisively dismantles the Schmalkaldic League at the Battle of Mühlberg.
1547: Grand Prince Ivan the Terrible is crowned tsar of (All)Russia, thenceforth becoming the first Russian tsar.
1548: Battle of Uedahara: Firearms are used for the first time on the battlefield in Japan, and Takeda Shingen is defeated byMurakami Yoshikiyo.
1548 Askia Daoud, who reigned from 1548 to 1583, establishes public libraries in Timbuktu (in present-day Mali).
1548: The Ming Dynasty government of China issues a decree banning all foreign trade and closes down all seaports along the coast; these Hai jin laws came during the Wokou wars with Japanese pirates.
1549: Tomé de Souza establishes Salvador in Bahia, north-east of Brazil.
1549: Arya Penangsang with the support of his teacher, Sunan Kudus, avenged the death of Raden Kikin by sending an envoy named Rangkud to kill Sunan Prawoto by Keris Kyai Satan Kober (in present-day Indonesia).

1550s

1550: The architect Mimar Sinan builds the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul.
1550: Mongols led by Altan Khan invade China and besiege Beijing.
1550–1551: Valladolid debate concerning the human rights of the Indigenous people of the Americas
1551: Fifth outbreak of sweating sickness in England. John Caius of Shrewsbury writes the first full contemporary account of the symptoms of the disease.
1551: North African pirates enslave the entire population of the Maltese island Gozo, between 5,000 and 6,000, sending them to Libya.
1552: Russia conquers the Khanate of Kazan in central Asia.
1553: Mary Tudor becomes the first queen regnant of England and restores the Church of England under Papal authority.
1553: Portuguese found a settlement at Macau.
1554: Portuguese missionaries José de Anchieta and Manuel da Nóbrega establishes São Paulo, southeast Brazil.
1554: Princess Elizabeth is imprisoned in the Tower of London upon the orders of Mary I for suspicion of being involved in the Wyatt rebellion.
1555: The Muscovy Company is the first major English joint stock trading company.
1556: Publication in Venice of Delle Navigiationi et Viaggi (terzo volume) by Giovanni Battista Ramusio, secretary of Council of Ten, with plan La Terra de Hochelaga, an illustration of the Hochelaga.
1556: The Shaanxi earthquake in China is history's deadliest known earthquake during the Ming dynasty.
1556: Georgius Agricola, the "Father of Mineralogy", publishes his De re metallica.
1556: Akbar the Great defeats the Sultan of Bengal at the Second battle of Panipat
1556: Russia conquers the Astrakhan Khanate.
1556–1605: During his reign, Akbar expands the Mughal Empire in a series of conquests (in the Indian subcontinent).
1556: Mir Chakar Khan Rind captured Delhi with Emperor Humayun.
1556: Pomponio Algerio, radical theologian, is executed by boiling in oil as part of the Roman inquisition.
1557: Habsburg Spain declares bankruptcy. Philip II of Spain had to declare four state bankruptcies in 1557, 1560, 1575 and 1596.
1557: The Portuguese settle in Macau (on the western side of the Pearl River Delta across from present-day Hong Kong).
1557: The Ottomans capture Massawa, all but isolating Ethiopia from the rest of the world.
1558 Elizabeth Tudor becomes Queen Elizabeth I at age 25.
1558–1603: The Elizabethan era is considered the height of the English Renaissance.
1558–1583: Livonian War between Poland, Grand Principality of Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark and Russia.
1558: After 200 years, the Kingdom of England loses Calais to France.
1559: With the Peace of Cateau Cambrésis, the Italian Wars conclude.
1559: Sultan Khairun of Ternate (in present-day Indonesia) protests the Portuguese's Christianisation activities in his lands. Hostilities between Ternate and the Portuguese.

1560s

1560: Ottoman navy defeats the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Djerba.
1560: Elizabeth Bathory is born in Nyirbator, Hungary.
1560: By winning the Battle of Okehazama, Oda Nobunaga becomes one of the pre-eminent warlords of Japan
1561: Sir Francis Bacon is born in London.
1561: Guido de Bres draws up the Belgic Confession of Protestant faith.
1562: Mughal leader Akbar reconciles the Muslim and Hindu factions by marrying into the powerful Rajput Hindu caste.
1562–98: French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots.
1562: Massacre of Wassy and Battle of Dreux in the French Wars of Religion.
1562: Portuguese Dominican priests build a palm-trunk fortress which Javanese Muslims burned down the following year. The fort was rebuilt from more durable materials and the Dominicans commenced the Christianisation of the local population.
1563: Plague outbreak claimed 80,000 people in Elizabethan England. In London alone, over 20,000 people died of the disease.
1564: Galileo Galilei born on February 15
1564: William Shakespeare baptized 26 April
1565: Battle of Talikota fought between the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar and the Deccan sultanates.
1565: Mir Chakar Khan Rind died age of 97.
1565: Estácio de Sá establishes Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
1565: The Hospitallers, a Crusading Order, defeat the Ottoman Empire at the Siege of Malta (1565).
1565: Miguel López de Legazpi establishes in Cebu the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines starting a period of Spanish colonization that would last over three hundred years.
1565: Spanish navigator Andres de Urdaneta discovers the maritime route from Asia to the Americas across the Pacific Ocean, also known as the tornaviaje.
1566 Suleiman the Magnificent, ruler of the Ottoman Empire, dies on September 7.
1566–1648: Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Netherlands.
1567: After 45 years' reign, Jiajing Emperor died in the Forbidden City, Longqing Emperor ascended the throne of Ming Dynasty.
1567: Mary, Queen of Scots, is imprisoned by Elizabeth I.
1568: The Transylvanian Diet, under the patronage of the prince John Sigismund Zápolya, the former King of Hungary, inspired by the teachings of Ferenc Dávid, the founder of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania, promulgates the Edict of Torda, the first law ofFreedom of religion and of conscience in the World.
1568–1571: Morisco Revolt in Spain.
1568–1600: The Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan.
1568: Hadiwijaya sent his adopted son and son in-law Sutawijaya, who would later become the first ruler of the Mataram dynasty of Indonesia, to kill Aryo Penangsang.
1569: Rising of the North in England.
1569: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is created with the Union of Lublin which lasts until 1795.
1569: Peace treaty signed by Sultan Khairun of Ternate and Governor Lopez De Mesquita of Portuguese.

1570s

1570: Ivan the Terrible, tsar of Russia, orders the massacre of inhabitants of Novgorod.
1570: Pope Pius V issues Regnans in Excelsis, a papal bull excommunicating all who obeyed Elizabeth I and calling on all Roman Catholics to rebel against her.
1570: Sultan Hairun of Ternate (in present-day Indonesia) is killed by the Portuguese. The reign of Sultan Baabullah.
1571: Pope Pius V completes the Holy League as a united front against the Ottoman Turks.
1571: The Spanish-led Holy League navy destroys the Ottoman Empire navy at the Battle of Lepanto.
1571: Crimean Tatars attack and sack Moscow, burning everything but the Kremlin.
1571: American Indians kill Spanish missionaries in what would later be Jamestown, Virginia.
1571: Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi establishes Manila, Philippines as the capital of the Spanish East Indies.
1572: Brielle is taken from Habsburg Spain by Protestant Watergeuzen in the Capture of Brielle, in the Eighty Years' War.
1572: Spanish conquistadores apprehend the last Inca leader Tupak Amaru at Vilcabamba, Peru, and execute him in Cuzco.
1572: Catherine de' Medici instigates the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre which takes the lives of Protestant leader Gaspard de Coligny and thousands of Huguenots. The violence spreads from Paris to other cities and the countryside.
1572: First edition of the epic The Lusiads of Luís Vaz de Camões, three years after the author returned from the East.
1572: The 9 years old Taizi, Zhu Yijun ascended the throne of Ming Dynasty, known as Wanli Emperor.
1573: After heavy losses on both sides the Siege of Haarlem ends in a Spanish victory.
1574: in the Eighty Years' War the capital of Zeeland, Middelburg declares for the Protestants.
1574: After a siege of 4 months the Siege of Leiden ends in a comprehensive Dutch rebel victory.
1575: Oda Nobunaga finally captures Nagashima fortress.
1575: Following a five-year war, the Ternateans under Sultan Baabullah defeated the Portuguese.
1576: Tahmasp I, Safavid king, died.
1576: Sack of Antwerp by badly paid Spanish soldiers.
1577–80: Francis Drake circles the world.
1577: Ki Ageng Pemanahan built his palace in Pasargede or Kotagede.
1578: King Sebastian of Portugal is killed at the Battle of Alcazarquivir.
1578:The Portuguese establish a fort on Tidore but the main centre for Portuguese activities in Maluku becomes Ambon.
1579: The Union of Utrecht unifies the northern Netherlands, a foundation for the later Dutch Republic.
1579: The Union of Arras unifies the southern Netherlands, a foundation for the later states of the Spanish Netherlands, the Austrian Netherlands and Belgium
1579: The British navigator Sir Francis Drake passes through Maluku and transit in Ternate on his circumnavigation of the world. The Portuguese establish a fort on Tidore but the main centre for Portuguese activities in Maluku becomes Ambon

1580s

1580: Drake's royal reception after his attacks on Spanish possessions influences Philip II of Spain to build up the Spanish Armada. English ships in Spanish harbours are impounded.
1580: Spain unifies with Portugal under Philip II. The struggle for the throne of Portugal ends the Portuguese Empire. The Spanish and Portuguese crowns are united for 60 years, i.e. until 1640.
1582: Oda Nobunaga is assassinated by his general, Akechi Mitsuhide.
1582: Pope Gregory XIII issues the Gregorian calendar. The last day of the Julian calendar was Thursday, 4 October 1582 and this was followed by the first day of the Gregorian calendar, Friday, 15 October 1582
1582: Yermak Timofeyevich conquers the Siberia Khanate on behalf of the Stroganovs.
1583: Death of Sultan Baabullah of Ternate.
1584–85: After the Siege of Antwerp, many of its merchants flee to Amsterdam. According to Luc-Normand Tellier, "At its peak, between 1510 and 1557, Antwerp concentrated about 40% of the world trade...It is estimated that the port of Antwerp was earning the Spanish crown seven times more revenues than the Americas."
1584 : Ki Ageng Pemanahan died. Sultan Pajang raised Sutawijaya, son of Ki Ageng Pemanahan as the new ruler in Mataram, titled "Loring Ngabehi Market" (because his home in the north of the market).
1585 : Colony at Roanoke founded in North America
1585–1604: The Anglo-Spanish War is fought on both sides of the Atlantic.
1587 - The reign of Abbas I marks the zenith of the Safavid dynasty.
1587 : troops that would invade Pajang Sultanate of Mataram storm ravaged the eruption of Mount Merapi. Sutawijaya and his men survived.
1588 : Mataram into the kingdom with Sutawijaya as Sultan, titled "Senapati Ingalaga Sayidin Panatagama" means the warlord and cleric Manager Religious Life.
1588: England repulses the Spanish Armada.
1589: Spain repulses the English Armada.

1590s

1590: Siege of Odawara the Go-Hojo clan surrendered to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Japan was unified (1590).
1591: Gazi Giray leads a huge Tatar expedition against Moscow.
1591: In Mali, Moroccan forces of the Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur led by Judar Pasha defeat the Songhai Empire at the Battle of Tondibi.
1592–1593: John Stow reports 10,675 plague deaths in London, a city of approximately 200,000 people.
1592–1598: Korea, with the help of Ming Dynasty China, repels two Japanese invasions.
1593–1606: The Long War between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Turks.
1595: First Dutch expedition to Indonesia sets sail for the East Indies with two hundred and forty-nine men and sixty-four cannons led by Cornelis de Houtman.
1596: Birth of René Descartes.
1596: June, de Houtman’s expedition reaches Banten the main pepper port of West Java where they clash with both the Portuguese and Indonesians. It then sails east along the north coast of Java losing twelve crew to a Javanese attack at Sidayu and killing a local ruler in Madura.
1597: de Houtman’s expedition returns to the Netherlands with enough spices to make a considerable profit.
1598: The Edict of Nantes ends the French Wars of Religion.
1598: Abbas I moved Safavids capital from Qazvin to Isfahan in 1598.
1598–1613: Russia descends into anarchy during the Time of Troubles.
1598: The Portuguese require an armada of 90 ships to put down a Solorese uprising. (to 1599)
1598: More Dutch fleets leave for Indonesia and most are profitable.
1599: The Mali Empire is defeated at the Battle of Jenné
1599: The van Neck expedition returns to Europe. The expedition makes a 400 per cent profit. (to 1600)
1599: March, Leaving Europe the previous year, a fleet of eight ships under Jacob van Neck was the first Dutch fleet to reach the ‘Spice Islands’ of Maluku.
1600: Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake for heresy in Rome.
1600: Battle of Sekigahara in Japan. End of the Warring States period and beginning of the Edo period.
1600: The Portuguese win a major naval battle in the bay of Ambon. Later in the year, the Dutch join forces with the local Hituese in an anti-Portuguese alliance, in return for which the Dutch would have the sole right to purchase spices from Hitu.
1600: Elizabeth I grants a charter to the British East India Company beginning the English advance in Asia.