In the year 1579, the Union of Utrecht unites the northern Netherlands in a confederation called the United Provinces (Jan 23), Francis Drake lands in what is now California, and claims it for Queen Elizabeth I - that and the claim in Newfoundland becomes the basis for English colonial charters which will claim all land from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from “sea to sea” (Jun 17) - and all these fine people were born:

1579-0209 Johannes Meursius* scholar/antiquary - Loosduinen, Spanish Netherlands (1639/60)

1579-0323 Francis Mansell (B) Welsh academic - Muddlescombe, Carmarthenshire, Wales, Kingdom of England (1665/86)

1579-0501 Wolfert Gerritse van Couwenhoven* a founder of the New Netherland colony/an active role in founding the communities of Manhattan, Albany and Brooklyn - Amersfoort, Spanish Netherlands (1662/c.83)
1579-0502 Tokugawa Hidetada* 徳川 秀忠 the second shōgun of the Tokugawa dynasty - Japan (1632/52)

1579-0603 Jens Munk* navigator/explorer/attempted to find the Northwest Passage to India - Arendal, Denmark-Norway (1628/49)
1579-0618 Afonso Mendes* Jesuit theologian/Patriarch of Ethiopia - Santo Aleixo, Kingdom of Portugal (1659/80)

1579-0713 Arthur Dee* physician/alchemist - Mortlake, London, England (1651)

1579-1018 Anthony Abdy (B) merchant with the East India Company/ Sheriff of London - London, England (1640/60)

1579-1107 Juan de Peñalosa* painter of altarpieces/poet - San Bartolome de Baena, Spain (1633/c.53)
1579-1111 Frans Snyders* Flemish painter - Antwerp, Union of Utrecht, Spanish Netherlands (1657/77)

Updated 14.11.2021
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