Early Modern
Battle of Diu (1509): How Portugal Won the Indian Ocean
Decisive Portuguese victory that ended Mamluk naval intervention and opened the way to Portuguese dominance of Indian Ocean sea lanes.
Region
Europe
Early Modern
Portuguese Conquest of Goa (1510): Afonso de Albuquerque
Portugal captured Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate; it became the capital of the Portuguese Estado da Índia and remained Portuguese until 1961.
Early Modern
Leonardo da Vinci's Anatomical Drawings (c. 1510): Art as Science
Leonardo produced the most accurate anatomical drawings of his age, but they stayed unpublished for centuries and had little direct influence on medicine.
Early Modern
Battle of Flodden (1513): James IV of Scotland Killed in Battle
Decisive English victory; James IV and thousands of Scots, including many nobles, were killed.
Early Modern
Battle of Marignano (1515): Francis I Defeats the Swiss
French victory; Francis I took the Duchy of Milan and the Swiss withdrew from the Italian Wars as an independent power.
Early Modern
Hayreddin Barbarossa: Corsair and Ottoman Grand Admiral
Barbarossa made Algiers an Ottoman province and, as grand admiral, made the Ottoman navy the leading force in the Mediterranean.
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
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
Revolt of the Comuneros (1520–1521): Castile vs Charles V
The royalist victory at Villalar ended the revolt; its leaders were executed and royal authority in Castile was strengthened.
Early Modern
Hurrem Sultan (Roxelana): From Captive to Ottoman Empress
Hürrem became Suleiman's legal wife and political partner, the mother of Selim II and a major founder of charitable institutions.
Early Modern
Stockholm Bloodbath (1520): Christian II's Massacre in Sweden
Around 80–100 people were executed; the massacre provoked a Swedish uprising that ended the Kalmar Union and made Gustav Vasa king.