Region

Europe

Suleiman the Magnificent: The Ottoman Empire at Its Zenith

The Ottoman Empire reached its greatest power and prestige, expanding into Hungary, Iraq and North Africa and dominating the Mediterranean.

1520–1566 · 8 min read

A spectacular display of friendship that produced few lasting results; within two years England and France were at war.

7–24 June 1520 · 7 min read

Luther refused to recant; the Edict of Worms declared him an outlaw and banned his writings, but it was never fully enforced.

January–May 1521 · 8 min read

Ottoman victory; Belgrade became an Ottoman stronghold and the gateway for the invasion of Hungary.

1521 · 4 min read

Ottoman victory; the Knights Hospitaller surrendered Rhodes on negotiated terms and left the island on 1 January 1523.

1522 · 6 min read

The Zurich city council adopted Zwingli's Scripture-based reform, abolishing the Mass by 1525 and founding the Reformed tradition of Protestantism.

1523 · 7 min read

Verrazzano mapped much of the Atlantic coast of North America for France and showed it was a continuous landmass, though he found no passage to Asia.

1524 · 6 min read

The princes and the Swabian League crushed the rebel armies; an estimated 70,000–100,000 people died and most demands went unmet.

1524–1525 · 8 min read

Decisive imperial victory; Francis I was captured and the French were driven out of Lombardy.

24 February 1525 · 6 min read

Decisive Ottoman victory; Louis II died and Hungary split between rival kings, leading to Ottoman-Habsburg partition.

29 August 1526 · 8 min read

The Description of Africa became the main European source on North and West Africa, including Timbuktu, for about two centuries.

1526 · 6 min read

Rome was pillaged for weeks, Clement VII surrendered on 6 June 1527, and the papacy fell under the influence of Charles V.

1527 · 6 min read