| 1526 AD Babur Control India -Babar the leader of the Mughal crossed the Kybur pass with 12,000 troops. Although his forces were outnumber ten to one his superior tactics as well as advanced artillery allowed him to overcome an army ten time his size. Babar soon gained control of Delhi and the Northern Plains of India. |
| 1526 AD First Battle of Panipat - On April 19th 1526 Zahir-ud-din Babar defeats a much larger force led by Delhi's sultan. Babar then goes on to take control of much of India. He founds the Mughal dynasty that goes on to rule India for over 200 years. |
| 1527 AD Guatemala City Founded -The Spanish found Guatemala City. They created the Spanish capitaincy general of Guatemala. It comprised present day Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. |
| 1529 AD Algeria– Vassal State - The Ottomans expelled Spain from Algeria with the help of the pirate Barbarossa II. Algeria became a vassal state of the Ottomans. |
| 1529 AD Treaty of Cambrai -France's Francois I renounced the Treaty of Madrid, once he was released from captivity, claiming he had been coerced into signing it. He then declared war on Charles V and once again invading Italy after he had entered into an alliance with William of England. Francois managed to lay seige to Naples, but due to a typhus epidemic that was ravaging Italy, 19,000 out of 25,000 of Francois army was lost to the disease. The French are forced to withdraw. In August 1529 Francois agreed once agains to a treaty where he renounced all claims to Italy and agreed to pay a ransom of 2,000,000 crowns. The ongoing wars for Italy effectively ended the Italian Renaissance. |
| 1531 AD Pizarro Conquers Peru - In 1531 Pizarro began his conquest of Peru. He arrived from Panama with 300 men and 100 horses. By August 1533 Pizzaro completed his conquest of the Incas. His conquest was greatly aided by dissension within the Incas. The Incan leader Atahualpa was taken prisoner while coming to dinner with Pizzaro. His 40,000 men did not attack believing he would be ransomed. A ransom was collected, but he was executed and the Incan Empire ended. |
| 1532 AD Ottomans Invade Hungary - The Ottomans led by Suleiman II invaded Hungary and marched towards Vienna. He was stopped by the forces of Charles V and the Protestant League. The Protestant League and Charles were able to ally with each other as a result of the Peace of Nuremberg which permited the Protestants their free exercise of religion. |
| 1533 AD Henry VIII Marries Anne Boleyn - Henry the VIII secretly married Anne Boleyn with whom he had been living for 5 years. Thomas Cranmer performed the marriage advising him that his previous marriage was null and void. |
| 1533 AD Suleiman Makes peace With Ferdinand I - Suleiman signed a peace treaty with Ferdinand of Hungary that divided the country. Under its terms Ferdinand, who was the brother of the Holy Roman Emperor, ruled part of Hungary while Joan Zapoya, a puppet of Suleiman, ruled the rest. |
| 1533 AD Pizarro Kills Inca Chief -Spanish governor, Francisco Pizarro, killed the Inca Indian Chief Atahualpa. Atahualpa was executed, despite the fact that his people had paid Pizarro a $15 million ransom for his freedom. |
| 1534 AD England Breaks With Church in Rome- After the Church of Rome canceled his annulment to Catherine, and had Henry VIII excommunicated for marrying Anne Boylen, Henry breaks with Rome. He has the parliament pass the Act of Supremacy which states that the King is the supreme head of the English church, and he is the one to appoint all clergy. Henry goes on to break up England monstaries. This results in unforseen economic consequences with more land is enclosed and less common land for peasants to graze their animals. |
| 1534 AD Cartier Claims Canada - Jacques Cartier, sailing under the patronage of King Frances I of France, arrived at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. After exploring the area, he claimed the area for France. |
| 1536 AD Anne Boleyn Beheaded -Ann Boleyn is beheaded at the request of her husband Henry VIII on the charge of adultery. Henry goes on to marry her lady in waiting Jane Seymour. |
| 1536 AD John Calvin Publishes Institution Chretienne -In 1536 John Calvin published his treatise Institutes of Christian Religion. The treatise was 532 pages in length and its preamble was addressed to the King of France. The book became a roadmap of Protestant thought. |
| 1540 AD First Known Native American Composition A Native American singer from the city of Tlaxcala, Mexico composes a mass. |
| 1540 AD Thomas Cromwell Executed - Thomas Cromwell who was King Henry VIII closest advisor was beheaded in 1540. He was at the forefront of the Kings efforts to break the power of the Catholic church. Cromwell lost some of the confidence of Henry when he selected Anne duke of Cleves as Henry's new wife after the death of Jane Seymour. Henry on meeting her stated " she had no looks, spoke no English and was no better then a Flander mare". When Cromwell was accused of being a herectic Henry went along with his beheading in the Tower of London. |
| 1540 AD Ethiopian Music Notation Developed -According to traditional belief, the musical notational signs used in Ethiopian Coptic chant were developed during the reign of King Claudius (1540-1559) by two priests, Azza Gera and Azza Ragwel. The oldest surviving noted manuscripts in Ethiopia date from the 16th century. The notation consists of markings in the margins and between the lines of text. |
| 1541 AD Henry VIII, King of England Becomes King of Ireland - 1541 was another busy year for Henry VIII. In February Henry had his fifth wife Catherine beheaded for committing adultery. In June he became King of Ireland |
| 1542 AD Westerner in Japan -The first European visitors arrive in Japan aboard a shipwrecked Chinese ship. The Portuguese travelers have muskets, which they sold to the Japanese, who soon duplicate them. |
| 1542 AD DeSoto Discovers Mississippi - On May 8, 1541, Hernando de Soto's expedition in the New World discovered the Mississippi River. The expedition had started out in Florida, in April 1538. It ended in September 1542, when the remnants of the expedition arrived in Mexico. The expedition left behind a trail of slain Indians. De Soto himself died of fever three weeks after arriving on the Mississippi. The expedition had actually crossed the River upstream earlier but had not realized it. |
| 1543 AD Copernicus Claims Earth Circles the Sun In 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus published De revolutionbu orbium coelestiium. This work set out to prove that the earth and the other planets circle around the sun. This was in direct contrast to the accepted theory that everything circled the earth. |
| 1543 AD First Illustrated Study of Human Body - In 1543 Adreas Vesalius published De fabricaq corporis humani. It was the first illustrated systematic study of the human anatomy, and revived the concept of scientific study of the human body |
| 1546 AD Peace of Andres -The Peace of Ardres was signed in 1546 between England and France. It ended a two year war between the two. Under its terms England received indemnity from France and was allowed to retain the French port of Boulogne for eight years. |
| 1547 AD Ivan the Terrible Czar of all the Russians -On January 17th Ivan IV had himself crowned the czar of all of Russia. He was the first Russian ruler to be crowned czar. |
| 1550 AD The Peace of Boulogne -Peace is once again restored between England and France with the signing of the peace treaty of Boulogne. Under its terms England withdrew from Scotland, France also regained Boulogne in return for an indemnity. |
