In the year 1557, Spanish forces launch a surprise attack against the indigenous Mapuche in present-day Chile (Apr 30), Mary I of England joins her husband Philip II of Spain in his war against France (Jun 7), Spain becomes bankrupt, throwing the German banking houses into chaos, the Portuguese settle permanently in Macau with the permission of the Ming dynasty government, the Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde publishes The Whetstone of Witte, containing the first recorded use of the equals sign and also the first use in English of plus and minus signs - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1581, the English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism (Jan 16), Francis Drake is knighted by Elizabeth I (Apr 4), the Northern Netherlands (Union of Utrecht) proclaim their independence from Spain (Jul 26), Russia begins the conquest of Siberia (summer), Sweden captures Narva from Russia (Sep), Finland, part of Sweden since 1154, becomes a Grand Duchy - and all these fine people were born: 1581-xxxx Robert Shirley* traveler/adventurer/helped to modernize the Persian army - Wye, Kent, England (1628/c. Continue reading

Mary, Queen of Scots, at Madame Tussauds in London In the year 1586, the deposed and imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, recognizes Philip II of Spain as her heir (Jun 16), English explorer Thomas Cavendish begins the first deliberately planned circumnavigation of the globe (Jul 21), Mary, Queen of Scots, is placed on treason trial, and then sentenced to death (Oct 15-25), Flemish mathematician Simon Stevin publishes a study showing that two objects of different weight fall with the same speed – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Christ the Redeemer (1931) overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro In the year 1565, Ivan the Terrible starts the repression of the aristocrats (Jan 3), the city of Rio de Janeiro is founded (Mar 1), St. Augustine in Florida is established, becoming the oldest surviving European settlement in the modern-day United States (Sep 8), the first recorded naval battle between Japan and the West is fought in Fukuda Bay (Oct 18), the pencil is first documented, and becomes common in England - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1537, Pope Paul III declares in his Sublimis Deus that the natives of the New World are rational beings with souls who mustn’t be enslaved or robbed (Jun 2), the Catholic rebellion in Norway ends with the Siege of Hamar (Jun 23), the Spanish conquistador Rodrigo Orgóñez occupies and sacks the Inca center of Vitcos, but Manco Inca Yupanqui escapes and establishes the independent Neo-Inca State (Jul), and the Spaniards bring the potato to Europe - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1590, Henry IV of France unsuccessfully attempts to besiege Paris (May), Anne of Denmark is crowned queen consort of Scotland (May 17), two women are burned as witches after witch trials in Kronberg, Denmark (Sep) which prompts the North Berwick witch trials in Scotland, confessions extracted by torture in Old Tolbooth in Edinburgh (Dec 7), compound microscope is invented, Japan is united by Toyotomi Hideyoshi - and and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1504, Svante Nilsson is elected Regent of Sweden (Jan 21), Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse this night, to convince the indigenous Jamaican people to provide him with supplies (Feb 29), Michelangelo’s sculpture of David is erected in Florence (Sep 8), Isabella of Castille dies, ending her patronage for Columbus (Nov 26), Venetian ambassadors suggest to Turkey the construction of a Suez Canal, Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli become involved in a scheme to divert the Arno River, cutting the water supply to Pisa to force its surrender – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1506, the classical statue of Laocoön and His Sons is unearthed in Rome, and placed on public display in the Vatican a month later (Jan 14), the Swiss Guard arrives at the Vatican, to serve as permanent ceremonial and palace guards (Jan 22), Pope Julius II lays the foundation stone of the new St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome (Apr 18), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate (Aug 6), Leonardo da Vinci completes the Mona Lisa (according to Louvre) – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1517, Cairo is captured by the Ottoman Empire, and the Mamluk Sultanate falls (Feb 3), xenophobic riots break out in London (May 1), Egypt becomes a province of the Ottoman Empire (Aug 25), Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, and thus begins the Reformation (Oct 31) - and all these fine people were born: 1517-0117 Antonio Scandello* Italian composer – Bergamo, Republic of Venice (1580/63) Continue reading

In the year 1510, Afonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers Goa (Feb 27), the Holy League defending the Italian states attacks the French-occupied Genoa (Jul), Goa becomes a Portuguese colony (Nov 23), the first pocket watch is built, sunflowers are brought to Europe - and all these fine people were born: 1510 -xxxxx Mikael Agricola* Finnish Lutheran clergyman/founder of literary Finnish/prominent proponent of the Protestant Reformation - Pernå, Finland, Sweden-Finland (1557/c. Continue reading

Metz Cathedral in Metz, Lorraine, France In the year 1552, the privileges of the Hanseatic League are abolished in England (Feb 24), Metz Cathedral is consecrated (Apr 11), Ivan the Terrible conquers Khanate of Kazan (Oct 15), King Edward VI of England founds 35 grammar schools by royal charter, Bartolomeo Eustachi presents his discoveries in Tabulae anatomicae on the structure of the inner ear and heart (but the fear of the Inquisition delays its publication until 1714) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The Rialto Bridge in Venice, Italy In the year 1591, Japanese tea-master Sen no Rikyū commits seppuku on the order of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Apr 21), Ivan the Terrible’s son Tsarevich Dimitriis is found dead, perhaps murdered by his rival Boris Godunov who becomes tsar (May 15), the Portuguese invasion of Jaffna Kingdom in Sri Lanka begins (Oct 26), the Rialto Bridge in Venice is completed – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Old lottery tickets In the year 1569, the first recorded lottery in England is performed nonstop until May, with the proceeds going to public works (Jan 11), the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania become the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (Jul 1), Siam becomes a vassal of Burma (Aug 2), three northern earls lead a unsuccessful rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I in an attempt to place Mary, Queen of Scots, on the English throne (Nov-Dec) – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Equestrian portrait of Henry IV of France in Paris. Photo credit Jastrow In the year 1594, the Polish king Sigismund is crowned King of Sweden (Feb 19), Henry IV is crowned King of France after converting to Catholicism (Feb 27), Willem Barents makes his first voyage to the Arctic Ocean, in search of the Northeast Passage (Jun 5), the city of Groningen submits to Dutch troops, bringing the whole northern Netherlands under the Dutch Republic (Jul 22), Jesuits found St. Continue reading

In the year 1558, French troops take Calais, the last continental possession of the Kingdom of England (Jan 7), the Livonian War begins as the Russian tsar Ivan IV attacks Livonia (Jan 22), the city of Pori is founded on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia (Mar 8), King Sigismund II Augustus appoints an Italian merchant to organise a consolidated postal service in Poland, the origin of Poczta Polska (Oct 17), the Elizabethan era begins in England as Catholic Queen Mary dies and is succeeded by her younger Protestant half-sister Elizabeth, who will rule for 44 years (Nov 17) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

A traffic sign in Spitsbergen: “Applies to the whole of Svalbard” In the year 1596, the Dutch navigator Willem Barents begins his third and final Arctic voyage (May 18), Willem Barents discovers Spitsbergen (Jun 17), the German lay astronomer David Fabricius discovers Mira (Aug), Diego de Montemayor founds the city of Monterrey, Mexico (Sep 20), the Cudgel War begins in Finland, when poor peasants rise up against the Swedish troops, nobles and cavalry who taxed them (Nov 25), Elizabeth I of England decrees that all Africans should be removed from the British realm, in reaction to the food crisis - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Monument for Jaakko Ilkka, the Finnish leader in the Cudgel War (Nuijasota in Finnish, 1596-1597) in Ilmajoki, Finland. Photo credit to Antti Helin In the year 1597, Bali is discovered by the Dutch explorer Cornelis Houtman (Feb), the last battle of the Cudgel War is fought on the Santavuori Hill in Ilmajoki, Ostrobothnia (Feb 24), a Dutch expedition returns to Amsterdam after having successfully reached Java, breaking the Portuguese monopoly on Spice trade (Aug 14), Alchemia, a pioneering chemistry textbook, is published by the German polymath Andreas Libavius, Jacopo Peri writes Dafne, now recognised as the first opera - and all these fine people were born: 1597-0112 François Duquesnoy* Flemish Baroque sculptor/active in Rome - Brussels (1643/46) Continue reading

The Persian polymath Avicenna (980-1037) In the year 1527, Ferdinand I of Austria becomes King of Croatia (Jan 1), Spanish and German troops led by the Duke of Bourbon sack Rome (May 6), the Narváez expedition to conquer Florida sets sail from Spain , and the Protestant Reformation begins in Sweden whereby Lutheranism is adopted as the state religion, in place of Roman Catholicism (Jun 17), Jakarta is founded (Jun 22), in a display of his contempt for conventional medicine, Paracelsus burns Canon of Medicine by the Persian polymath Avicenna (Jun 23), the first known letter in English is sent from North America (Aug 3) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Old Swedish medicin bottles In the year 1575, William I of Orange founds Leiden University in the Netherlands (Feb 8), Oda Nobunaga defeats Takeda Katsuyori in Japan’s first modern battle in Nagashino (Jun 28), captains of vessels flying the Spanish flag are legally required to maintain a logbook, the Dutch pharmacist Anthonius Busenius is authorized to sell some of the medicin at the Royal Castle to the people of Stockholm (the first time such happens), the bubonic plague decimates Venice - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Flag of San Diego In the year 1542, Guadalajara in Mexico is finally founded by the Spaniards after aggressive opposition from local tribes (Feb 14), Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo mistakes California for an island and claims it for Spain (Jun 27), Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo lands in what is now San Diego Bay, and names it “San Miguel”; it will later become the city of San Diego (Sep 28), the earliest written example of the Romani language appears - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading