1547 CE saw the deaths of three key actors– or anyway, two key actors and a leading second-string player– in the drama of European proto-imperialism that we’ve been following in Project 500 Years thus far. They were: England’s King Henry VIII, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, and France’s King Francis I. We’ll come down to more … Continue reading Key developments of 1547
There were not many new developments of world-historical importance in 1546 CE. Just these: The Italian War of 1542-46 was ended with a peace signed in Ardre (northern France.) This had been the fighting– principally between the Habsburg/Spanish King/Emperor Charles V and King Francis I of France that had roiled much of western Europe, and … Continue reading Key developments of 1546
In 1545 CE, we’ll look quickly at some of the usual story-lines but then take a deeper dive into a Portuguese-controlled zone in West Africa. The usual story-lines: King Henry VIII of England was fighting both the Scots (who won a battle) and the French (whose short-lived capture of the Isle of Wight the English … Continue reading Key developments of 1545, & the Portuguese in West Africa
In 1544 CE, most of what was happening empire-wise in the world was sort of “same-old-same-old”. So beneath the bullet points here I’ll make a quick early assessment of what emerges for me as the bigger picture. First, the bullet-points: The King/Emperor Charles V of Spain stepped up his confrontation against France’s King Francis I, … Continue reading Key developments of 1544, & notes on empires, states, and nations
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
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
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
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
1534 CE was a pretty interesting interesting year in the development of European-origined imperialism. Scroll on down for a quick visit to the history of printing. But here were the main global-political events of the year: In March, Portugal’s King John II established the first system to organize and promote permanent settlement and control in … Continue reading Key developments of 1534
Perhaps because of the bias of English-Wikipedia’s editors, their list of the notable events of 1533 CE seems dominated by details in the English monarch’s moves against Papal authority. England’s emergence as an aspirant to global-imperial power will come along some time later but one of its key roots undoubtedly lay in Henry VIII’s leading … Continue reading Key developments of 1533
