Early Modern
Great Siege of Malta (1565): The Knights Against Suleiman
The Knights Hospitaller and Maltese defenders held out until a Spanish relief force arrived, and the Ottoman expedition withdrew.
Era · c. 1500 – 1800
Early Modern
Voyages of exploration, the Reformation and the age of revolutions that reshaped Europe and the wider world.
Early Modern
Manila Galleon Trade (1565-1815): Ships Linking Asia and America
For 250 years the galleons carried American silver to Asia and Asian goods to the Americas and Europe, creating the first regular trans-Pacific trade route.
Early Modern
Founding of St. Augustine (1565): Oldest City in the US
Spain established a permanent settlement in Florida, destroyed the French Huguenot colony at Fort Caroline and held St. Augustine as the capital of Spanish Florida for most of the next 256 years.
Early Modern
Beeldenstorm (1566): The Iconoclastic Fury in the Netherlands
Churches across the Netherlands were stripped of images, and Philip II responded by sending the Duke of Alba with an army, a step towards the Dutch Revolt.
Early Modern
Siege of Szigetvár (1566): Zrínyi's Last Stand and Suleiman
The Ottomans took Szigetvár after Zrinski's garrison died in a final sortie, but Suleiman died during the siege and the campaign ended without further gains.
Early Modern
Murder of Lord Darnley (1567): The Kirk o' Field Explosion
Darnley was killed; suspicion fell on Bothwell, whose marriage to Mary three months later led to her overthrow and abdication.
Early Modern
Dutch Revolt and the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648)
The seven northern provinces became the independent Dutch Republic, recognised by Spain in the Peace of Münster in 1648; the southern provinces remained under Spain.
Early Modern
Selimiye Mosque in Edirne: Sinan's Architectural Masterpiece
Sinan created his most unified domed space, and the mosque and its complex became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011.
Early Modern
Mercator Projection (1569): Gerardus Mercator's World Map
Mercator published an 18-sheet world map on a new conformal projection that showed lines of constant compass bearing as straight lines; it became the standard for nautical charts and later for web maps.
Early Modern
Rising of the North (1569): Catholic Earls Revolt in England
The rising collapsed without a major battle; several hundred rebels were executed and the power of the great northern Catholic families was broken.
Early Modern
Union of Lublin (1569): The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Born
Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became a single Commonwealth with one elected monarch and a common Sejm, while keeping separate laws, armies and treasuries.
Early Modern
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570): Ortelius and the First Atlas
Ortelius produced the first systematic collection of uniform printed maps bound as a book, which became a bestseller and set the model for the modern atlas.