Historical
1548: China, Japan - The Ming Dynasty government of China Issues a decree banning all foreign trade and closes down all seaports along the coast, these Hai jin laws came during the Wokou wars with Japanese pirates
1548: Japan - Battle of Uedahara, firearms are used for the first time on the battlefield in Japan, and Takeda Shingen is defeated by Murakami Yoshikiyo
1549: El Salvador, Brazil - Tome de Souza establishes Salvador in Bahia, northeast of Brazil
1550-1551: Spain, Americas - Valladolid debate concerning the existence of souls in AmerIndians
1550: Mongolia, China - Mongols led by Altan Khan Invade China and besiege Beijing
1551: England - Fifth outbreak of sweating sickness in England, John Caius of Shrewsbury writes the first full contemporary account of the symptoms of the disease
1551: Malta, Libya - North African pirates enslave the entire population of the Maltese Island Gozo, between 5,000 and 6,000, sending them to Libya
1552: Russia, Bulgaria - Russia conquers the Khanate of Kazan
1553: England - Mary Tudor becomes the first queen regnant of England
1554: Brazil - Portuguese missionaries Jose de Anchieta and Manuel da Nobrega establishes Sao Paulo, southeast Brazil
1555: England, Russia - The Muscovy Company is the first major English joint stock trading company
1556-1605: India - During his reign, Akbar expands the Mughal Empire in a series of conquests
1556: China - The Shaanxi Earthquake in China is the deadliest known earthquake in history
1556: Germany - Georgius Agricola of Germany, the "Father of Mineralogy", publishes his De re metallica
1556: India - Mir Chakar Khan Rind captured Delhi with Emperor Humayun
1556: India - Second Battle of Panipat, Akbar the Great defeats the Sultan of Bengal
1556: Italy - Pomponio Algerio, radical theologian, is executed by boiling in oil as part of the Roman Inquisition
1556: Italy - Publication in Venice of Delle Navigiationi et Viaggi (terzo volume) by Giovanni Battista Ramusio, secretary of Council of Ten, with plan La Terra de Hochelaga, an Illustration of Indian village Hochelaga
1556: Russia - Russia conquers the Astrakhan Khanate
1557: Portugal, China - The Portuguese settle in Macau in China
1557: Spain - Spain became the first sovereign nation in history to declare bankruptcy, Philip II of Spain had to declare four state bankruptcies in 1557, 1560, 1575 and 1596
1557: Turkey, Ethiopia - The Ottomans capture Massawa, all but Isolating Ethiopia from the rest of the world
1558-1583: Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark, Russia - Livonian War between Poland, Grand Principality of Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark and Russia
1558-1603: England - The Elizabethan era is considered the height of the English Renaissance
1558: England, France - After 200 years, the Kingdom of England loses Calais to France
1558: England - Elizabeth Tudor becomes Queen Elizabeth I at age 25
1559: Italy - With the Peace of Cateau Cambresis, the Italian Wars conclude
1560: Hungary - Erzsebet Bathory is born in Nyirbator, Hungary
1560: Japan - By winning the Battle of Okehazama, Oda Nobunaga becomes one of the pre-eminent warlords of Japan
1560: Turkey, Spain - Battle of Djerba, Ottoman navy defeats the Spanish fleet
1561: western Europe - Guido de Bres draws up the Belgic Confession of Protestant faith
1562-1598: France - French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots
1562: France - Massacre of Wassy and Battle of Dreux in the French Wars of Religion
1562: India - Mughal leader Akbar reconciles the Muslim and Hindu factions by marrying into the powerful Rajput Hindu caste
1563: England - Plague outbreak claimed 80,000 people in Elizabethan England, in London alone, over 20,000 people died of the disease
1564: England - William Shakespeare baptized 26 April
1564: Italy - Galileo Galilei born on February 15
1565: Bazil - Estacio de Sa establishes Rio de Janeiro in Brazil
1565: India - Battle of Talikota fought between the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar and the Deccan sultanates
1565: Israel, Turkey - Siege of Malta, Hospitallers defeat the Ottoman Empire
1565: Pakistan - Mir Chakar Khan Rind dies at age of 97
1566–1648:: Spain, Netherlands - Eighty Years War between Spain and the Netherlands
1567: England, Scotland - Mary, Queen of Scots, is Imprisoned by Elizabeth I
1568-1570: Russia, Turkey - Russo-Turkish War (first of ten over the next 310 years), Russian victory, they were victorious in eight of the ten wars
1568-1571: Spain - Morisco Revolt in Spain
1568-1600: Japan - The Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan
1569: England - Rising of the North in England, also called the Revolt of the Northern Earls, and, Northern Rebellion, It is an unsuccessful attempt by Catholic noblemen from northern England to depose Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots
1569: Poland, Lithuiana - The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is created with the Union of Lublin, It lasts until 1795
1570: Russia - Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Ivan the Terrible) orders the massacre of Inhabitants of Novgorod
1571: Italy, Turkey - Battle of Lepanto )off Greece), The Holy League destroys the Ottoman Empire navy in a five-hour battle
1571: Italy, Turkey - Pope Pius V completes the Holy League as a united front against the Ottoman Turks
1571: Ukraine, Russia - Crimean Tatars (or Tartars) attack and sack Moscow, burning everything but the Kremlin
1571: United States - Spanish missionaries are murdered by Indians at the later Jamestown Settlement, Virginia
1572: France - Catherine de Medici Instigates the St. Bartholomew Day massacre which takes the lives of Protestant leader Gaspard de Coligny and thousands of Huguenots, the violence spreads from Paris to other cities and the countryside
1572: Peru - Spanish conquistadores apprehend the last Inca leader Tupak Amaru at Vilcabamba, Peru, and execute him in Cuzco
1572: Portugal - First edition of the epic The Lusiads of Luis Vaz de Camoes, three years after the Portugese author returns from the East
1572: Spain, Netherlands, Austria - Brielle is taken from the House of Habsburg (also called the House of Austria) Spain by Protestant Watergeuzen in the Capture of Brielle during the Eighty Years War
1573: Spain, Netherlands - Siege of Haarlem, after heavy losses on both sides, the Spanish gain a victory
1574: Netherlands, Spain - After a siege of four months the Siege of Leiden ends in a comprehensive Dutch victory
1574: Spain, Netherlands - In the Eighty Years War the capital of Zeeland, Middelburg declares for the Protestants
1575: Japan - Oda Nobunaga finally captures Nagashima fortress in Japan
1576: Spain, Netherlands - Sack of Antwerp by badly paid Spanish soldiers
1577-1580: globe - Francis Drake circles the world