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
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
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 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
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 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
Well, we’ve recently taken a bit of a peek at the state of two capable non-Christian Empires that were growing and doing significant things in the mid-16th century CE: the Ottoman and Mughal empires. Today, with the 1576 CE passing of Shah Tahmasp in Safavid Iran it is time to look at the empire he … Continue reading Key developments of 1576 (& notes on Safavid Iran)
I’ll start with a couple of short items about the state of the world in 1575 CE, then move to the main action, which concerned the still-growing Mughal Empire. (Of course, in Europe meantime, numerous Catholic-Protestant battles, etc, were going on.) Iberian conquistadors consolidate rule in Americas, West Africa In “New Spain”, the Spanish settlers … Continue reading Key developments of 1575
All the usual things were happening in the world of 1574 CE: Mughal Emperor Akbar consolidating his growing territories; Protestants and Catholics contending over broad areas of Europe; Portuguese and Spanish conquistadors doing their transnational thing, and so on. The main development of world-historical importance that year, however, was the Ottoman navy’s final conquest of … Continue reading Key developments of 1574 (mainly, Ottoman)
Here they are: Akbar takes Gujarat for the Mughals Spanish ship full of S. American silver reaches Manila Ottomans and Venetians conclude peace treaty Maldivian nationalists expel Portuguese Wars of religion (still) in France and Netherlands; News of women’s role in defense of Haarlem Spanish conquistadors establish new cities in today’s Peru, Argentina Akbar takes … Continue reading Key developments of 1573
