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16th century
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As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century lasted from 1501 through 1600.
Events
1500s
1510s- 1511: Alfonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers Malacca, the capital of the Sultanate of Malacca.
- 1512: Copernicus writes Commentariolus, and moves the sun to the center of the solar system.
- 1512: The southern part (historical core) of the Kingdom of Navarre is invaded by Castile and Aragon.
- 1513: Machiavelli writes The Prince a novel about political philosophy
- 1513: The Portuguese mariner Jorge Álvares lands at Macau, China, during the Ming Dynasty.
- 1513: Henry VIII crush 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.
- 1514: The Battle of Orsha halts Muscovy's expansion into Eastern Europe.
- 1515: The Ottoman Empire wrests Eastern Anatolia from the Safavids after the Battle of Chaldiran.
- 1516-17: The Ottomans defeat the Mamluks and gain control of Egypt, Arabia, and the Levant.
- 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.
- 1519: Leonardo da Vinci dies of natural causes at May 2.
- 1519: Wang Yangming, the Chinese philosopher and governor of Jiangxi province, describes his intent to use the fire power 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 raid Provence 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).
- 1519-22: Spanish expedition commanded by Magellan and Elcano first to circle Earth
- 1519-21: Hernán Cortés leads the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
1520s
1530s
1540s
1550s- 1550: Mongols led by Altan Khan invade China and besiege Beijing.
- 1550-1551: Valladolid debate concerning the existence of souls in Amerindians
- 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.
- 1553: Portuguese found a settlement at Macau.
- 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 Indian village Hochelaga. See
- 1556: The Shaanxi Earthquake in China is history's deadliest known earthquake.
- 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.
- 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: The Portuguese settle in Macau.
- 1557: Spain became the first sovereign nation in history to declare bankruptcy. Philip II of Spain had to declare four state bankruptcies in 1557, 1560, 1575 and 1596.
- 1558-1603: The Elizabethan era is considered the height of the English Renaissance.
- 1558-83: 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.
1560s
1570s
- 1570: Ivan the Terrible orders to massacre inhabitants of Novgorod.
- 1571: Pope Pius V completes the Holy League as a united front against the Ottoman Turks.
- 1571: The Holy League defeats a force of Ottoman galleys in the Battle of Lepanto.
- 1571: Crimean Tatars attack and sack Moscow, burning everything but the Kremlin.
- 1571: Spanish missionaries are murdered by Indians at the later Jamestown Settlement, Virginia.
- 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.
- 1573: After heavy losses on both sidee the Siege of Haarlem ends in a Spanish victory.
- 1574: in the Eighty Years' War the capital of Zeeland, Middelburg declares for the Protestans.
- 1574: After a siege of 4 months the Siege of Leiden ends in a comprehensive Dutch victory.
- 1575: Oda Nobunaga finally captures Nagashima fortress.
- 1576: Sack of Antwerp by badly paid Spanish soldiers.
- 1577-80: Francis Drake circles the World.
- 1578: King Sebastian of Portugal is killed at the Battle of Alcazarquivir.
- 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
- 1580: Drake's royal reception after his attacks on Spanish possessions, influences Philip II of Spain to build up the Spanish Armada
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