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…
Here were the main developments of world-historical impact that happened in 1572 CE: Protestant “Sea Beggars” in Netherlands establish first land base in Brielle China’s Longqing Emperor dies; experienced Mandarin oversees succession Ivan the Terrible routs the Tartar-Ottoman invaders Yet another War of Religion in France Conquistador capture of Túpac Amaru ends the Neo-Inca State … Continue reading Key developments of 1572
In 1571 CE, by far the major development– from the perspective of “Western” Christian powers– was the Battle of Lepanto, in which an alliance of Christian navies dealt a big defeat to the Ottoman navy in the Mediterranean. Most of this post will be about that. Scroll on down. But I also want to note … Continue reading Key developments of 1571 (mainly, Lepanto)
I’ll interrupt my normal procedure here of picking out a few bullet-points (or headlines) from the events of the year, to focus on a single theater of world affairs in which two big things happened simultaneously in 1566 CE. This was Szigetvár, a fortified city in the south of today’s Hungary, which was captured– after … Continue reading The key development of 1566
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 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)
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
