16th century

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Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1503–1506, one of the world's most well-known paintings.
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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).[1]

The 16th century 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 worldwide 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.

This era of colonialism established mercantilism as the leading school of economic thought, where the economic system was viewed as a zero-sum game in which any gain by one party required a loss by another.[2] The mercantilist doctrine encouraged the many intra-European wars of the period and arguably fueled European expansion and imperialism throughout the world until the 19th century or early 20th century.

In Europe, the Protestant Reformation gave a major blow to the authority of the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church. European politics became dominated by religious conflicts, with the groundwork for the epochal Thirty Years' War being laid towards the end of the century. In Italy, Luca Pacioli published the first work ever on accounting and Galileo Galilei made the first thermometer. In England, the Italian Alberico Gentili wrote the first book on public international law and divided secularism from canon law and Roman Catholic theology.

In the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire continued to expand, with the Sultan taking the title of Caliph, while dealing with a resurgent Persia. Iran and Iraq were caught by major popularity of the Shiite sect of Islam under the rule of the Safavid dynasty of warrior-mystics, providing grounds for a Persia independent of the majority-Sunni Muslim world.

China evacuated the coastal areas, because of Japanese piracy. Japan was suffering a severe civil war at the time, known as the Sengoku period. Elsewhere in Asia, Mughal Emperor Akbar extended the power of the Mughal Empire to cover most of the southern lands of the continent. His rule significantly influenced arts and culture in the region.

Copernicus proposed the heliocentric universe, which was met with strong resistance, and Tycho Brahe refuted the theory of celestial spheres through observational measurement of the 1572 appearance of a Milky Way supernova. These events directly challenged the long-held notion of an immutable universe supported by Ptolemy and Aristotle, and led to major revolutions in astronomy and science.

Events[edit]

For timelines of earlier events, see 15th century and Timeline of the Middle Ages.

Undated[edit]

1500s[edit]

Dr Alberico Gentili, The Father of international law.
Battle of Cerignola: El Gran Capitan finds the corpse of Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours
Afonso de Albuquerque
Vasily III, Grand Duke of Moscow by André Thévet.
Gun-wielding Ottoman Janissaries and defending Knights of Saint John at the Siege of Rhodes in 1522, from an Ottoman manuscript

.

Spanish conquistadors with their Tlaxcallan allies fighting against the Otomies of Metztitlan in present-day Mexico, a 16th-century codex

1510s[edit]

Ferdinand Magellan led the first expedition that circumnavigated the globe in 1519–1522.
Hernan Cortes

1520s[edit]

Francis I of France
Sack of Rome by Charles V forces.

1530s[edit]

Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1536 – 1537, Henry VIII, King of England and Ireland.
Portrait of Ivan the Terrible

1540s[edit]

Nicolaus Copernicus

1550s[edit]

Akbar the Great
Philip II of Spain

1560s[edit]

William the Silent
Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo

1570s[edit]

Oda Nobunaga.
The Battle of Lepanto.
Sir Francis Drake.

1580s[edit]

The fall of Spanish Armada

1590s[edit]

Significant people[edit]

Charles V
Suleiman the Magnificent
Elizabeth I of England
Ignatius of Loyola
Martin Luther
John Calvin

Exploration[edit]

See also: Exploration
Vasco de Gama
Francisco Pizarro

Visual artists[edit]

See also: Artists of the Tudor court, Renaissance painting, Italian Renaissance painting, and Renaissance sculpture
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Raphael
Albrecht Dürer
Andrea Palladio
Titian
El Greco

Musicians and composers[edit]

See also: List of Baroque composers
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Literature[edit]

See also: Renaissance, 16th century in literature, 16th century in poetry, Elizabethan literature, Renaissance literature, Early Modern literature, and Dutch Renaissance and Golden Age literature
Miguel de Cervantes
William Shakespeare
Michel de Montaigne

Science and philosophy[edit]

See also: Scientific revolution
Niccolò Machiavelli
Erasmus of Rotterdam
Sir Thomas More
Paracelsus

Inventions, discoveries, introductions[edit]

Related article: List of 16th century inventions.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Modern reference works on the period tend to follow the introduction of the Gregorian calendar for the sake of clarity; thus NASA's lunar eclipse catalogue states "The Gregorian calendar is used for all dates from 1582 Oct 15 onwards. Before that date, the Julian calendar is used." For dates after 15 October 1582, care must be taken to avoid confusion of the two styles.
  2. ^ Ekelund & Tollison 1981, p. 9.
  3. ^ Polybius: "The Rise Of The Roman Empire", Page 36, Penguin, 1979.
  4. ^ "16th Century Timeline (1501 to 1600)". fsmitha.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2009. 
  5. ^ "History of Smallpox – Smallpox Through the Ages". Texas Department of State Health Services.
  6. ^ Ricklefs (1991), p.23
  7. ^ "A LIST OF NATIONAL EPIDEMICS OF PLAGUE IN ENGLAND 1348–1665". Archived from the original on 2009-05-04. Retrieved 2009-04-25. 
  8. ^ a b Ricklefs (1991), page 24
  9. ^ The Sweating Sickness. Story of London.. Accessed 2009-04-25. Archived 2009-05-03.
  10. ^ Sandra Arlinghaus. "Life Span of Suleiman the Magnificent 1494–1566". Personal.umich.edu. Retrieved 2013-05-05. 
  11. ^ a b c d e Ricklefs (1991), page 25
  12. ^ "La Terra De Hochelaga – Jaques Cartier a Hochelaga". jacquescarter.org. Archived from the original on December 23, 2008. 
  13. ^ "The Lusiads". World Digital Library. 1800–1882. Retrieved 2013-08-31. 
  14. ^ Miller, George (ed.) (1996). To The Spice Islands and Beyond: Travels in Eastern Indonesia. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. xv. ISBN 967-65-3099-9. 
  15. ^ Luc-Normand Tellier (2009). "Urban world history: an economic and geographical perspective". PUQ. p.308. ISBN 2-7605-1588-5
  16. ^ a b c d e f Ricklefs (1991), page 27
  17. ^ a b Ricklefs (1991), page 28
  18. ^ Stoica, Vasile (1919). The Roumanian Question: The Roumanians and their Lands. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Printing Company. p. 18. 
  19. ^ Drake (1978, p.1). The date of Galileo's birth is given according to the Julian calendar, which was then in force throughout the whole of Christendom. In 1582 it was replaced in Italy and several other Catholic countries with the Gregorian calendar. Unless otherwise indicated, dates in this article are given according to the Gregorian calendar.

External links[edit]

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