It is difficult to unambiguously characterize the span of a century. The 16th century is no exception. Even obvious achievements can have a double bottom. The conquest of America marked the beginning of the genocide of the Indians. The desire to put the Catholic Church at least in some kind of framework turned into millions of victims of the wars of the Reformation. Even the seemingly innocent fascination of the nobility with fashion meant, above all, new hardships for the tax-paying estates.
Compared to the following centuries, when history rushes by leaps and bounds, erasing states and overthrowing monarchs, the 16th century can even be called patriarchal. They fought - but there were no epidemics and terrible famine. European cities stretched upward, and monarchs changed only according to the dynastic principle. Is that Spain seized Portugal, so she grabbed a colonial piece out of order. Just another century in history ...
1. Wars, wars, wars ... There are only about 30 wars worthy of the attention of modern historians. Considering that wars lasting for a couple of years are few in number, it can be argued that at any moment there was some kind of war in Europe, otherwise and not one. However, how often it was different?
2. The 16th century continued the era of the great geographical discoveries. Europeans first saw the Pacific Ocean, perhaps discovered Australia and explored America. The Russians went deep into Siberia.
3. In 1519 - 1522 the expedition, initiated and led by Fernand Magellan, for the first time circled the globe. Of the three ships, one survived, out of almost 300 people survived 18. Magellan himself was killed. But, the chronicles note, the expedition made a profit - the spices were still delivered.
Magellan's expedition route
4. In the 16th century, Europe was struck by the first epidemic of syphilis. Perhaps the disease came from America with pioneer sailors.
5. Elizabeth I ruled England for 55 years. Under her, England became the Lady of the Seas, the arts and sciences flourished, and 80,000 people were executed for vagrancy.
6. Spain in less than a century managed to become a superpower after the discovery and robbery of America, and to lose this status after the British fleet defeated the "Invincible Armada". In passing, the Spaniards, having captured Portugal, remained the only state in the Pyrenees.
7. In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus finishes 40 years of work on the treatise "On the rotation of the heavenly spheres." Now the center of the Universe is not the Earth, but the Sun. Copernicus' theory is wrong, but it gave a huge boost to the scientific revolution.
Copernicus universe
8. In the 16th century the Nikon Chronicle was compiled - the main and largest Russian historical source. Patriarch Nikon has nothing to do with the creation of the chronicle - he just owned one of the copies. The chronicle itself was compiled from the annals of Daniel, supplemented by other materials.
9. In the second half of the 16th century, a correspondence between Ivan the Terrible and the Queen of England was started. The Russian tsar, according to some hypotheses, proposed to Elizabeth I to marry. Having received a refusal, Ivan the Terrible called the queen a "vulgar girl" and declared that England was ruled by "merchant little people".
10. At the end of the 16th century, the first plays by William Shakespeare were published. At least these were the first books with his name. They were published in quarto - 4 sheets of the play on one sheet of the book.
11. In 1553 in the American colonies, and in 1555 in Spain itself, knightly romances were banned. In the rest of Europe at the time, it was the most popular genre of literature.
12. In the middle of the century, an earthquake in China killed hundreds of thousands of people. In the coastal regions of the rivers, the Chinese lived right in the coastal caves, which collapsed at the first shock.
13. The Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel (the Elder) painted several dozen paintings, among which there are no portraits and images of nudity.
14. A little before he reached his 89th birthday (an almost unheard-of figure for those times), Michelangelo died in 1564. The great master of painting, sculpture and architecture left behind works that influenced the entire world culture.
Michelangelo. "David"
15. In Russia in the 16th century, printing appeared. The debut book of Russian typography was The Apostle, published by Ivan Fedorov. Although there is information that even before Fedorov, 5 or 6 books were printed anonymously.
16. The Russian state was united and grew very intensively. The Pskov Republic and the Ryazan principality ceased to exist. Ivan the Terrible conquered Kazan and Astrakhan, annexed the Siberian and Don lands, increasing the territory of the country by 100%. In terms of area, Russia has surpassed all of Europe.
17. In addition to the record expansion of Russia, Ivan the Terrible holds another still unbeaten record - he ruled for over 50 years. For so long no one ruled Russia either before or after him.
18. In 1569 the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were united. “Poland from sea to sea” and so on - this is just everything from there. From the north, the new state was bounded by the Baltic, from the south by the Black Sea.
19. In the 16th century, the Reformation began - a struggle to improve the Catholic Church. Wars and uprisings for and against the improvement continued for nearly a century and a half and claimed the lives of millions of people. Only on the territory of present-day Germany has the population decreased by three times.
20. Despite the death of millions, Bartholomew's Night is considered to be almost the main atrocity of the Reformation. In 1572, Catholics and Huguenots gathered in Paris on the occasion of the princess's marriage. Catholics attacked ideological opponents and killed about 2,000 of them. But these victims were from the noble class, so St. Bartholomew's Night is considered a terrible massacre.
St. Bartholomew's night by a contemporary brush
21. The response to the Reformation was the establishment of the Jesuit Order. Many times slandered in progressive literature, the brothers actually made titanic efforts to spread Christianity and enlightenment to the most remote corners of the globe.
22. Many novels by Alexandre Dumas are dedicated to the events of the 16th century. Caution! Historians denote the amateurism of colleagues with the expression "I learned the history of France according to Dumas!" D'Artagnan was actually a supporter of the cardinal, and Athos hid his name not because of his nobility, but because his father simply bought the title.
23. In the second half of the century, trade between Europeans and Japan began. First the Portuguese, and then the Spaniards, began to bring various goods to Japan. Tomatoes and tobacco appeared in the Land of the Rising Sun, and half a million ducats, taken away by Europeans, began to disappear annually (this was the estimated turnover).
24. At the end of the century, many (but not all) European countries switched to the Gregorian calendar (we still use it). There was a discrepancy in the dating of events, the concepts of “old style” and “new style”, which were not related to fashion, appeared.
25. Fashion by the end of the century has become a real fetish of the nobility. In describing the number of costumes, Porthos Dumas showed the historical truth: the courtiers were required to have at least a couple of dozen costumes, and the fashion changed every year.
Mini, heels and ripped jeans are still a long way off
