Early Modern
Ottoman Conquest of Egypt (1517): Selim I Ends the Mamluks
The Mamluk Sultanate was destroyed; Syria, Egypt and the Hejaz became Ottoman provinces.
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
Martin Luther's 95 Theses (1517): The Start of the Reformation
Luther's challenge to indulgences spread rapidly in print and grew into the Protestant Reformation, dividing Western Christianity.
Early Modern
Tlaxcala's Alliance with Cortés (1519): The Decisive Allies
Tlaxcala allied with the Spaniards and supplied tens of thousands of warriors and porters for the war against Tenochtitlan.
Early Modern
Cholula Massacre (1519): Cortés's March to Tenochtitlan
Thousands of Cholulans were killed, the city submitted to the Spaniards, and Cortés's road to Tenochtitlan lay open.
Early Modern
La Malinche (c. 1500-c. 1529): Interpreter of the Conquest
Her translation and diplomacy made Cortés's alliances and negotiations possible, and she became one of the most debated figures in Mexican history.
Early Modern
Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519-1521): Cortés
Tenochtitlan fell on 13 August 1521, the Mexica state was destroyed and central Mexico became the Spanish colony of New Spain.
Early Modern
Magellan-Elcano Expedition (1519-1522): First Circumnavigation
The ship Victoria returned to Spain with 18 of the roughly 270 men who set out, completing the first circumnavigation of the Earth.
Early Modern
Leipzig Debate (1519): Luther and Eck Dispute Papal Authority
No formal verdict was reached, but Luther publicly denied the divine right of the papacy and the infallibility of councils, hastening his condemnation.
Early Modern
Election of Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor (1519)
Charles of Habsburg was unanimously elected King of the Romans and emperor-elect, uniting Spain, the Low Countries and the Habsburg lands under one ruler.
Early Modern
Battle of Otumba (1520): Cortés Survives the Retreat to Tlaxcala
Spanish and Tlaxcalan victory; Cortés's survivors escaped to Tlaxcala, where they rebuilt their forces for the siege of Tenochtitlan.
Early Modern
Smallpox Epidemic in Mexico (1520): Disease and the Conquest
Smallpox killed a large share of central Mexico's population, including the Mexica ruler Cuitláhuac, and weakened resistance to the Spanish conquest.
Early Modern
La Noche Triste (1520): The Spanish Flight from Tenochtitlan
A Mexica victory: the Spaniards escaped the city but lost an estimated 400-600 or more Spaniards, thousands of allies and most of their treasure.