Explore 151 historical events from 1540–1549.
Philip IV of Nassau-Weilburg, also known as Philip III of Nassau-Saarbrücken was Count of Nassau-Weilburg from 1559 until his death and since 1574 also Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken.…
Philip IV, Count of Nassau-Weilburg (died 1602)
Princess Isabella Romola de' Medici, Duchess of Bracciano, was a Tuscan noblewoman, daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Eleanor of Toledo. She was ref…
Isabella de' Medici, Italian princess (died 1576)
Akbar, also known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the …
Akbar, Mughal emperor (died 1605)
Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador, who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's…
Hernando de Soto, Spanish-American explorer (born 1496)
Leo Jud, known to his contemporaries as Meister Leu, was a Swiss reformer who worked with Huldrych Zwingli in Zürich.
Leo Jud, Swiss theologian and reformer (born 1482)
Lisa del Giocondo was an Italian noblewoman and member of the Gherardini family of Florence and Tuscany. Her name was given to the Mona Lisa, her portrait commissioned by her husba…
Lisa del Giocondo, subject of Leonardo da Vinci's painting Mona Lisa (born 1479)
Gasparo Contarini was an Italian diplomat, cardinal, and Bishop of Belluno. He advocated for dialogue with Protestants during the Reformation. Born in Venice, he served as the Repu…
Gasparo Contarini, Italian cardinal (born 1483)
Cristóvão da Gama, anglicised as Christopher da Gama, was a Portuguese military commander who led an army of 400 musketeers on a crusade in Ethiopia (1541–1543) against the Muslim …
Cristóvão da Gama, Portuguese commander (born 1516)
Sir Thomas Wyatt was a 16th-century English politician, ambassador, and lyric poet credited with introducing the sonnet to English literature. He was born at Allington Castle near …
Thomas Wyatt, English poet and diplomat (born 1503)
The Ottoman–Portuguese conflicts also known as the Ottoman–Portuguese War, were a period of conflict during the Ottoman–Portuguese confrontations and series of armed military encou…
Ottoman–Portuguese conflicts: During the Battle of Wofla, the Portuguese commander Cristóvão da Gama was captured by…
Henry VIII was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. After the Pope refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry passed legislation that severe…
King Henry VIII orders English-language Bibles be placed in every church
Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador, who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's…
Hernando de Soto stops near present-day Walls, Mississippi, and sees the Mississippi River (then known by the Spanish as
Francisco Pizarro was a Spanish conquistador, best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
Francisco Pizarro is assassinated in Lima by the son of his former companion and later antagonist, Diego de Almagro the
Jacques Cartier was a French maritime explorer from Brittany. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawr…
French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.
The Ottoman Turks were an Oghuz Turkic ethnic group in Anatolia. Originally from Central Asia, they migrated to Anatolia in the 13th century and founded the Ottoman Empire, in whic…
The Ottoman Turks capture Buda, the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom.
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, was an English nobleman and general. From 1573 until his death he fought in Ireland in connection with the Plantations of Ireland, most notably …
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, English nobleman (died 1576)
Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury, was the only surviving daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, and his wife Isabel Neville. As a result of Margaret's marriag…
Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (born 1473)
Francisco Pizarro was a Spanish conquistador, best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
Francisco Pizarro, Spanish explorer and politician, Governor of New Castile (born c
Pedro de Alvarado was a Spanish conquistador, adelantado, governor and captain general of Guatemala. He participated in the conquest of Cuba, in Juan de Grijalva's exploration of t…
Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish general and explorer (born 1495)
Santiago, also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. Located in the Chilean Central Valley within the …
Santiago, Chile, is attacked by indigenous warriors, led by Michimalonco, to free eight indigenous chiefs held captive…
Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador, who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's…
Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his forces enter Tula territory in present-day western Arkansas,…
Simon Grynaeus was a German scholar and theologian of the Protestant Reformation.
Simon Grynaeus, German theologian and scholar (born 1493)
Vincenzo Cappello was a Venetian nobleman and statesman, best known as the admiral of the Venetian navy in the Battle of Preveza.
Vincenzo Cappello, Venetian admiral and statesman (born 1469)
Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim, known as Paracelsus, was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance.
Paracelsus, German-Swiss physician, botanist, and chemist (born 1493)