The major developments of world-historical importance in 1577 CE stemmed from the decisions England’s Queen Elizabeth I made to support two significant– and, she must have hoped, potentially very profitable– transoceanic “voyages of exploration”. By this time, Elizabeth had been on the throne for 19 years. She had done well consolidating her rule at home. … Continue reading 1577: Queen Elizabeth “explores” empire-building
Here’s 1578 CE, the headlines then the stories: Portugal’s king dies in battle; succession chaos unfolds Ottomans start lengthy war against Safavids Explorers Humphrey Gilbert, Walter Raleigh set out from Plymouth Portugal’s king dies in battle; succession chaos unfolds Portugal’s King Sebastian had assumed the throne in 1557, aged three; and obviously the country had … Continue reading 1578: Portugal, Ottomans, Safavids, English…
The biggest– or at least, the most interesting– thing that happened in world history in 1579 CE was the assassination by hands unknown of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, the super-wily official who had been Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire since 1565. This fact prompted me to delve into Sokollu Mehmed’s biography on English-WP, where the … Continue reading 1579: Sokollu Mehmed Pasha & the Ottoman way of ruling
The main development of world-historical impact in 1580 CE was the eruption of Portugal’s succession crisis. Before we look at that, here were a couple of other non-trivial developments: England signed a commercial treaty with the Ottoman Empire. Francis Drake returned to Plymouth after his circumnavigation. Jesuit missionaries arrived at the court of the Mughal … Continue reading 1580: Portugal’s succession crisis erupts, etc
The Spanish/Habsburgs had been facing a lot of dissent for some years by now, in the morphologically crumbly portions of the North Sea coast known generically as the Netherlands (the “lowlands”; note that this designation covered an area broader than that of today’s state of the Netherlands.) A large part of this dissent was theological, … Continue reading 1581: Netherlands secedes from the Spanish Empire
Lots of not-huge things happening in 1582 CE, but together they give a good glimpse into the world of that era: Ming dynasty’s Zhang Juzheng dies Matteo Ricci enters China Ivan sends Cossacks under Yermak to conquer Siberia Pope Gregory introduces new calendar Conquistadoring continues Ming dynasty’s Zhang Juzheng dies Zhang Juzheng, born in 1525 … Continue reading 1582: Zhang Juzheng, Matteo Ricci, Cossacks in Siberia, & more
England, I know, is waiting impatiently in the wings before truly making a big debut onto the “stage” of global empire-building. In 1583 CE, 44-year-old Humphrey Gilbert (the anti-Irish sadist whom we’ve met before) set out with five ships to go out and “claim” Newfoundland for Queen Elizabeth. His crews were “made up of misfits, … Continue reading 1583: Mainly Portuguese India
Here were the events of 1584 CE that were most relevant to the emergence of “Western” domination of the world: Queen Elizabeth asks Raleigh to found England’s second settlement in the Americas. A succession crisis looms in France. Spain intervenes. Ivan the Terrible dies after a 51-year reign. Spain gives Philippines its own administration, no … Continue reading 1584: Raleigh, Ivan, and more
For a change here, I’ll describe the year’s main events first, then come to the Akbar/Mughal sidebar later. War between Spain and England Different (and all well-sourced) Wikipedia pages give different accounts of the “precipitating event” for this war that would, over the 19 years to follow, do so much to shape the emergence of … Continue reading 1585: Anglo-Spanish war erupts (also some Akbar here)
It’s 1586 CE. The Ottomans and Safavids are still fighting (deep inside terrain previously held by the Safavids.) Russia’s new-ish tsar, Feodor I, founds three new cities, pushing the area of Russian control further to the south and east. But the main action of the year is clearly the Battle Royal between the English and … Continue reading 1586: Elizabeth’s spymaster scores a big win
