16th century

The Italian Renaissance reaches its zenith; Michelangelo sculpts "David"
and Leonardo Da Vinci paints "The Mona Lisa."

The Protestant Reformation wracks Europe, leading to the Counter-Reformation
and eventually, religious wars across Europe.

The Age of Discovery and the Scientific Revolution overturn accepted notions of the world and the cosmos;
Magellan and Drake sail around the world, and Copernicus and Galileo redraw the Heavens.

The dawn of Colonialism and Imperialism, as Spanish conquistadores overrun the Americas
and the Spice Trade heats up in Asia.

The Mughal Empire in India and the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East have their golden ages
under Akbar the Great and Suleiman the Magnificent

China and Japan descend into chaos and division, but the seeds are sown for eventual reunification and peace.

The English Renaissance gets underway; William Shakespeare writes his sonnets, and many of his greatest plays.

The 16th Century is the stage for countless events that shaped the way the world is today. In the nodes indexed below, I and others have tried to place many of them in their chronological context, and provide access to further nodes that explain them in-depth.

How I Made the Year Nodes is long enough to be off in its own writeup; follow the link.

You will notice that the year 1500 has been included as part of the sixteenth century, as it is hard to have much patience with pedantic statements about a year-counting system which missed the event it supposedly starts from by about four years. But if you insist, here's a link to the year 1600.

17th century	15th century	1541	1575
1587	City of Death	1599	1574
1588	1586	Nicholas Ridley	1595
1500s	Music and Sweet Poetry Agree	Hand Mortar	Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
Wisent	638	1568	1569
bear-baiting	1543	1500	1594

The 1500-oughts

The 1510s

The 1520s

The 1530s

The 1540s

The 1550s

The 1560s

The 1570s

The 1580s

The 1590s