Last year, 1566, one main big thing of world-historical importance happened. This year, 1567 CE, lots of things happened! I shall try to bring order out of a degree of global chaos: In China, the Jiajing Emperor dies Uproar & uprising in the Spanish Netherlands Conquistadores found key settlements in Americas Many adventures for Mary … Continue reading Key developments of 1567
Well, lots of things happening in 1560 CE. Today’s survey will take us to many of that era’s empires! Here we go: Spain’s king Philip II had assembled a coalition of Christian naval powers with the goal of retaking Tripoli, in today’s Libya, from the Ottomans, who had captured it in 1551. The Christian fleet, … Continue reading Key developments of 1560
Here were the main developments of world-historical impact, in 1559 CE: England’s Queen Elizabeth I got crowned and immediately enacted two laws central to the Protestant supremacy there. These were the Act of Uniformity, which laid down the order of service in the Church of England and forced all subjects to go to church once … Continue reading Key developments of 1559
1548 CE was another quietish year in the story of the development of Western imperialism. No matter. It gave me the chance to learn more about the Ming Empire in China, by virtue of the fact that during this year a rather interesting Ming official carried out notable actions against “pirates” of Portuguese and other … Continue reading Key developments of 1548, & a dispatch from the Chinese coast
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 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
