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The negotiations were concluded before the Pope: it was proposed to launch 200 galleys, half from the Catholic King and half from Venice. The costs would be borne half by Spain, one-third by Venice, and one-sixth by the Papacy.

The Venetian island of Tinos, Greece, is attacked by the Ottomans, after capturing Chios from the Genoese. After a ten-day siege and burning everything they could, the enraged Turks abandon the island with nothing. In retaliation for the damage suffered, the Venetians hang several captured

Venice orders the provveditore Giacomo Celsi and his naval commanders to “treat Turkish subjects and things” as declared enemies whenever the opportunity arises.

Venice. The Council of Ten decides to arm a fleet of 150 galleys within two months for the war against the Ottoman fleet.

Bartolomeo Scappi, chef at the papal court of two popes, publishes L’Opera, a book of 1,022 recipes. It will go through countless editions until 1643, when the Middle Ages ended for European cuisine and the modern era began. He finds the time to write L’Opera

The Portuguese abolished their total commercial monopoly on the spice trade with the Indies, to have more money to advance before the missions. In 1575, they even outsourced the entire business.

The Silver Age. Silver was mined in South America and paid for slaves arriving from Africa, thanks to the Dutch West Indian Company (WIC), which used silver to pay for Chinese porcelain, selling it on European markets in exchange for gold. A typical location for

Manila. Francisco Sande, governor of the Philippines, requests 4,000 to 6,000 soldiers to invade China, plus the support of a Japanese armada. In 1579, the proposal increases to 10,000-12,000 Spanish soldiers, 5,000-6,000 Filipinos, and as many Japanese as possible. King Philip will deny this support.

Muslim armies under Suleiman the Magnificent unsuccessfully besiege and attack the Christian stronghold of Malta

Rome. Death of Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (known as Michelangelo), Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet. He was, albeit unspecified, a member of the Spiritualist school of thought, which advocated a reform of the Catholic Church along lines not far from Calvinist writings.

The West, one might say in hindsight, was in the midst of an intellectual boom. Michelangelo died in Rome, Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, and William Shakespeare was born in England.

In France, religious wars

Venetian commander Da Canal dies of wounds sustained during an attack on a pirate fleet. The Venetian Senate awards his family a lifelong pension in recognition of Da Canal’s dedication to the Republic, a service he performed without enriching himself.

France, Catherine de’ Medici issues the Edict of Saint Germain granting the Huguenots freedom of worship; civil war breaks out between Catholics and Huguenots.

The Portuguese expel the French and the Tamoio Indians from the Rio de Janeiro area.

Elizabeth (daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn) becomes Queen of England and will reign for more than 40 years; this period will be remembered as the Golden Age and England will become the greatest world power.

Robert Recorde of Oxford invents the equals sign “=”.

Jubilee organized by Paul III but celebrated by Julius III

Martin Luther dies in Wittenberg. He will be buried in the cathedral on February 22nd. His figure and legacy are the focus of attention throughout Europe.

Typhus epidemic among the Aztecs in Mexico

Battle of Solway Moss. King James V of Scotland suffers a terrible defeat at the hands of Henry VIII. James V then suffers a complete mental and physical collapse and dies shortly thereafter at the age of only thirty. His daughter Mary is only a

In 1542, some Portuguese sailors, having just landed in Japan, shot ducks with their muskets. The shock among the Japanese was enormous. Until 1542, no European cultural or technological influence had reached Japan (in the famous Cantino map, Portuguese and stolen by the Modenese, from

Martin Luther writes his will, in which he defines himself as “a person publicly known in heaven, on earth, and also in hell.”

Michelangelo, at 60, painted over 600 square meters of the rear wall of the Sistine Chapel: the Last Judgement.

The Jesuits receive papal approval. In Rome, Pope Paul III delivers the papal bull “Regiminis militanti” to the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic missionary organization. The order was founded in 1534 by Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish soldier who became a priest. In the

Francisco de Ulloa (Spain) explores the Gulf of California

The first African slaves arrived in Brazil. They arrived in the United States in 1619.

Menno Simmons founded the religious sect of the Mennonites from which the Amish would derive

Second Inca revolt in Peru, led by Manco Capac, this time on a much larger scale than the previous year.

Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded after being accused of adultery, incest, and witchcraft. Not only did she have 11 fingers, but also three nipples (although the third “nipple,” which is said to be the one the devil attaches to, was actually a

Jacques Carter was the first European to taste tobacco in America. He compared it to pepper in sensation, which in fact belongs to the same family as tobacco. But Christopher Columbus was probably the first European to see someone smoking. These were the local Native

Founding of Canada

Francisco Pizarro refounds the Inca city of Cuzco

In 10,000 BC, the world was home to thousands of civilizations, all but or completely isolated from one another. By 1450 AD, their numbers had declined dramatically, and more than 90% of the world’s population lived in a single macro-civilization in Afro-Eurasia. The remaining 10%

Cortes has boats, the brigantines, built to attack the island of Tenochtitlan

Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães) killed in the Philippines. After circumnavigating three-quarters of the globe, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan was killed during a tribal skirmish on the island of Mactan. The navigator was aiding a local chieftain fighting a rival group when he was wounded and

In 10,000 BC, the world was home to thousands of civilizations, all but or completely isolated from one another. By 1450 AD, their numbers had declined dramatically, and more than 90% of the world’s population lived in a single macro-civilization in Afro-Eurasia. The remaining 10%

The Portuguese dominated the pepper market, replacing the Venetians in this respect. However, their attitude was the opposite of the free market of Venetian rule: the Portuguese followed the lead of the Mamluk sultans by imposing a monopoly, selling pepper at the highest price they

Spanish Revolt in Arab Spain

First passage of the Strait of Magellan (by Magellan)

Pope Leo X condemns 41 of Luther’s articles, and then excommunicates him after Luther burns the papal bull of condemnation.

Luther responds theatrically to the papal bull Exsurge Domine: he solemnly burns a copy of it and also burns a copy of the canon law.

Montezuma dies in the presence of Cortes, to whom he leaves his three sons.

Hernandez Cortes left Spain for Mexico with approximately 600 men and 16 horses; after only two years, the Aztec capital Tecnochtitlan fell into ruin, marking the end of one of the greatest civilizations in history.

Second Spanish expedition to Central America, this time led by Juan de Grijalva, clashes with the Maya, and, going north, with the Aztecs

Venice recovered most of the Italian mainland territories it had owned almost a century earlier, including Padua, Treviso, Brescia, and Verona.

Thomas More (English: Thomas More) writes Utopia, in which he outlines a democratic communist society.

Before winter makes the Alps impassable, Leonardo da Vinci leaves Italy, coming from Rome, for France. He had never been outside of Italy before. He stops for a few days in Milan, where his student Salai decides to stay.

Leonardo da Vinci in France with his disciple Francesco Melzi, under the protection of the King of France, Francis I

The Peace of Noyon (signed between Francis I and Charles of Habsburg) put an end to the wars for dominance in Italy by recognizing the South to Spain and the Milanese to France.

A decree from Sultan Selim I condemned anyone discovered using the printing press to death. This failure to reconcile Islam with scientific progress would have disastrous consequences for the Ottoman Empire.

Emmanuel I of Portugal sends an embassy to Pope Leo X, partly to express his triumph and partly to reaffirm his rights to the East. The embassy turns into an exotic spectacle: panthers, leopards, parrots, and even a white elephant, which bows before the pope

Leonardo da Vinci in Rome, protected by Giuliano de Medici

Nicolo’ Machiavelli writes ‘The Prince,’ a manual for the politician

Rome. Giovanni De Medici becomes pope under the name Leo X. Giovanni is the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent De Medici, and is the last pope to reach the papacy without having been a priest.

Selim the Bloody ascends the throne of the Ottoman Empire; to do so, he strangles two brothers, five nephews, various caliphs, and viziers; his son will be Suleiman the Magnificent.

The slave Henry the Black (aka Enrique of Malacca) is captured by Magellan in Malaysia. He will take him to Lisbon. A few years later, he will set sail on his famous circumnavigation of the world, again heading west. His return to the Far East

Martin Luther enters the University of Wittenberg as a baccalaureus biblicus. It is the real turning point in his life.

Henry VIII becomes King of England, marries Catherine of Aragon and then Anne Boleyn

Henry VIII marries his first wife. King Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon, the first of his six wives. The union with Catherine does not produce a male heir, and Henry divorces her against the will of the Catholic Church, thus accelerating the

After the Venetian defeat at Agnadello in the Ghiara d’Adda, the Venetian dominions’ lack of national patriotism was revealed in all its gravity: in one city after another, from Brescia to Padua, the local nobles declared themselves for the King of France or the German

Leonardo da Vinci compiled what would later be known as the Hammer Codex or Leicester Codex

The Latin version of Ptolemy’s atlas is republished in Rome by Bernardino Veneto de Vitalibus: it is the first version to include the voyages to the New World.

Leonardo da Vinci in Milan paid by Louis XII, King of France

The Venetian Sebastiano Caboto, son of Giovanni, returns to the vicinity of Newfoundland and then continues north in search of the Northwest Passage, but is stopped by the ice of Hudson Bay.

Leonardo da Vinci compiled the Codex Leicester. It was named after the Earl of Leicester, who purchased it in 1717. In 1980, it was purchased by Armand Hammer, becoming the Codex Hammer. Finally, in 1994, Bill Gates purchased it and retitled it to its original

Rome. The statue of Laocoon was found during excavations in a vineyard on the Oppian Hill, owned by Felice de Fredis, near Nero’s Domus Aurea. The excavation, of astonishing magnitude according to contemporary accounts, was personally witnessed, among others, by the sculptor Michelangelo and the

Venice. Giovanni Soro is appointed secretary of ciphers. He is the first European expert cryptanalyst. Before him, in the 9th century in Baghdad, Abu Yusuf Qub ibn Is-haq ibn as-Sabbah ibn Omran ibn Ismail al-Kindi (or simply al-Kindi) had developed encryption and decryption techniques.

Pope Julius II calls the Swiss Guards to Rome; they have been serving under the papacy ever since.

Suez. The Venetians, reviving an ancient attempt made centuries earlier to build a canal that had subsequently filled with sand, attempted to convince the Mamluk sultan to undertake the undertaking, which would radically change the global military and commercial balance. Work began in 1530 but

Michelangelo Buonarroti creates David in Florence

In a treaty with the Turks, Venice renounced its ambitions over many cities in Albania and Greece. This marked a secular turning point in Venetian policy, which for the first time turned more toward the mainland. This treaty thus marked the beginning of the decline

Tuscany. Francesco del Giocondo hired Leonardo in Vinci to paint a portrait of his wife, 24-year-old Lisa Gherardini, later Lisa del Giocondo. Lisa would later be portrayed by Leonardo da Vinci in the famous painting “La Gioconda” (Mona Lisa). Leonardo likely accepted because he was

Cesare Borgia commits one of his trademark acts of brutality: He had previously appointed a tyrant, Ramiro de Lorca, to govern Cesena. When the population revolts against him, he has him cut in two in the central square, to demonstrate that he, not Ramiro de

Martin Luther enters the University of Erfurt.

The consuls of the wool guild and the Opera del Duomo of Florence commissioned Michelangelo to create a statue of King David, to be placed in one of the external buttresses of the Cathedral of Santa Maria in Fiore. The enormous block of marble had

Persia. The Safavid dynasty begins, lasting until 1736. This dynasty will adopt Shi’ism as the state doctrine. The Shi’ite nature of the Safavid family cannot be separated from its Sufi character, that is, the substantial rejection of Sunni orthodoxy (sunna, or tradition/orthodoxy), which characterized the

Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, reconquered the territories of Romagna, defeating various local lords, including the famous Caterina Sforza, later receiving the title of Duke of Romagna from his father. He conquered Imola, Forlì, Pesaro, Faenza, Rimini, and Cesena, and in May 1501

Niccolo’ Tartaglia and Scipione Ferro, independently, claim to have succeeded in solving third-degree equations

The Spanish conquistadors rage in South and Central North America: Cortes in North America and Pizarro in South America