Last December 31, I made a “New Year’s Resolution” that for the next 500 days, each day I would write and publish something– it could be short– that would summarize the key events of one year in world history, sequentially, starting in 1520 CE. I explained some of my motivation in doing this, here. So … Continue reading Project 500 Years: Communique #1
In 1543 CE, of course the Spanish depradations in the “New World” continued. Back home in Seville, King Charles V may, the previous year, have signed the “New Laws” that sought to restrain the violence the conquistadores/settlers used against the indigenes. But over there (here) in the Americas, the settlers and their military bosses paid … Continue reading Key developments of 1543
In my 1541 post, I noted the centennial of Portugal’s introduction of the practice of European slave-raiding into sub-Saharan Africa. This year, 1542 CE, marks the first half-century of Spain/Castile’s massive empire-building project in the Americas. (See a rough map of its extent in 1542, above.) This year also marked some significant stirrings of conscience … Continue reading Key developments of 1542, and Spain’s conquista of the Americas at 50
In 1541 CE, of course Spain’s cruelly swashbuckling conquistadores continued their depradations in the Americas– from the Mississippi River down to southern Chile. Several other world-historically interesting things were happening too: Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Jesuit order, left Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies. I guess each empire-building … Continue reading Key developments of 1541 (and centennial of European slave-raiding into Africa)
Probably the most world-historical development of 1540 CE was something that happened in the north of the Indian subcontinent. But elsewhere, lots of interesting things were happening, too: In May, an Afghan leader called Sher Shah Suri swept out of the highlands and in a battle at Chausa in Bengal he vanquished the armies of … Continue reading Key developments of 1540
These were the main developments in 1539 CE that impacted the development of the “West”‘s domination of world affairs: In January, the Catholic kings of Spain and France set aside the rivalry they had pursued for many years to reach agreement that neither would make further alliances with England, where King Henry VIII had now … Continue reading Key developments of 1539
1538 CE was a huge year for the Ottoman navy– in both the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. It also saw the usual kinds of things going on, on land, in Europe and the Americas, and some tragic things happening in China: Diu is a coastal city in Gujarat in northwest India. In the early … Continue reading Key developments of 1538
Lots of things going on in 1537 CE, both in the Americas and in the empire-builders’ European heartland: In both Norway and England, attempted counter-revolutions by local Catholic forces were crushed, and the state’s Dissolution of the Monasteries continued in both both countries. Quite a lot going on in Peru. The Incan emperor Manco Inca … Continue reading Key developments of 1537
The main themes of 1536 CE that had a bearing on the continuing emergence of European-origined empires were as follows: In January, the Spanish-backed Franciscans established the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, in Mexico City. It was described as “the oldest European school of higher learning in the Americas.” The Franciscans, it turns out, … Continue reading Key developments of 1536
So 1535 CE was another busy year in the emergence of European-origined empires: Spanish conquistadores in “the New World” founded the settler-city today known as Lima, Peru and imprisoned the Inca leader they had installed as their puppet in the country just a year or so earlier. But in Yucatán, the fierce resistance of the … Continue reading Key developments of 1535
