|
Year
|
Event
|
Answer
|
|
1501
|
Michelangelo begins work on this statue
|
David
|
|
1502
|
The first transatlantic African slaves are brought to this island in the Americas
|
Hispaniola
|
|
1503
|
Margaret Tudor is wed to this king
|
James IV
|
|
1504
|
Christopher Columbus awes the natives of Jamaica by predicting this phenomenon
|
Eclipse
|
|
1505
|
Juan de Bermudez discovers this uninhabited island
|
Bermuda
|
|
1506
|
Leonardo da Vinci completes this painting, his masterpiece
|
Mona Lisa
|
|
1507
|
The first recorded epidemic of this disease in the New World
|
Smallpox
|
|
1508
|
This artist begins painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
|
Michelangelo
|
|
1509
|
Mathematician Luca Pacioli publishes his treatise on the ______ Ratio
|
Golden
|
|
1510
|
The first established global pandemic of this disease
|
Influenza
|
|
1511
|
The first publication of In Praise of Folly by this Dutch scholar
|
Erasmus
|
|
1512
|
Florence returns to the rule of this family
|
Medici
|
|
1513
|
This explorer leads the first European expedition to Florida
|
Juan Ponce de Leon
|
|
1514
|
This adviser to Henry VIII is appointed Archbishop of York
|
Thomas Wolsey
|
|
1515
|
This pioneering German physician graduates from the University of Ferrara
|
Paracelsus
|
|
1516
|
The death of this enigmatic Dutch artist, painter of The Garden of Earthly Delights
|
Hieronymus Bosch
|
|
1517
|
This German professor nails his Ninety-Five Theses to a church door
|
Martin Luther
|
|
1518
|
Strasbourg sees an outbreak of _______ mania
|
Dancing
|
|
1519
|
This Spanish conquistador marches into the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan
|
Hernan Cortes
|
|
1520
|
This Italian artist dies aged 37, supposedly from sexually-induced exhaustion
|
Raphael
|
|
1521
|
This Portuguese explorer is killed in the Philippines
|
Ferdinand Magellan
|
|
1522
|
Ottoman forces expel the Knights Hospitallers from this island
|
Rhodes
|
|
1523
|
Sweden establishes its full independence from this kingdom
|
Denmark
|
|
1524
|
This Italian explorer becomes the first European to sight Manhattan
|
Giovanni da Verrazzano
|
|
1525
|
Laypeople baptise each other in Zurich, marking the beginning of this Christian sect
|
Anabaptism
|
|
1526
|
The First Battle of Panipat marks the rise of the ________ Empire in India
|
Mughal
|
|
1527
|
The Sack of _____
|
Rome
|
|
1528
|
The coronation of this king, the 'Father of Sweden'
|
Gustav I
|
|
1529
|
The Treaty of __________ divides the world into Spanish and Portuguese spheres
|
Zaragoza
|
|
1530
|
This founder of the Mughal Empire dies in Agra
|
Babur
|
|
1531
|
Construction begins on this Tudor palace in Surrey
|
Nonsuch Palace
|
|
1532
|
The posthumous publication of The Prince by this Italian diplomat
|
Niccolo Machiavelli
|
|
1533
|
The Pope excommunicates this monarch
|
Henry VIII
|
|
1534
|
This Catholic adviser to Henry VIII is imprisoned in the Tower of London
|
Sir Thomas More
|
|
1535
|
This Breton captain becomes the first European to sail up the St Lawrence River
|
Jacques Cartier
|
|
1536
|
This wife of Henry VIII is executed for alleged adultery
|
Anne Boleyn
|
|
1537
|
This Florentine ruler is assassinated
|
Alessandro de' Medici
|
|
1538
|
Expelled from Geneva, this French Protestant Reformer travels to Strasbourg
|
John Calvin
|
|
1539
|
An expedition by Hernando de Soto to Florida introduces this animal to North America
|
Pig
|
|
1540
|
This church is the last to be closed under Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries
|
Waltham Abbey
|
|
1541
|
This conquistadore is assassinated in his palace in Lima
|
Francisco Pizarro
|
|
1542
|
Blown off course by a storm, a Portuguese ship makes the first European contact with this Asian country
|
Japan
|
|
1543
|
This astronomer publishes his theory that the earth revolves around the sun
|
Copernicus
|
|
1544
|
The first written record of this New World fruit in Europe
|
Tomato
|
|
1545
|
An attempted French invasion of this English island is repulsed
|
Isle of Wight
|
|
1546
|
This influential astronomer is born to Danish nobility
|
Tycho Brahe
|
|
1547
|
This nine-year-old ascends to the English throne after the death of Henry VIII
|
Edward IV
|
|
1548
|
The foundation of this city in the Andes
|
La Paz
|
|
1549
|
This Catholic missionary arrives in Japan
|
Francis Xavier
|
|
1550
|
Pope Julius III permits the expansion of this evangelical order
|
Jesuits
|
|
1551
|
The final outbreak of this now-vanished disease in England
|
Sweating sickness
|
|
1552
|
The Siege of _____ by Ottoman troops in Hungary
|
Eger
|
|
1553
|
This woman rules as Queen of England for just nine days
|
Lady Jane Grey
|
|
1554
|
This English landowner launches a rebellion against Queen Mary
|
Sir Thomas Wyatt
|
|
1555
|
This French astrologer publishes a book of predictions about the future
|
Nostradamus
|
|
1556
|
The deadliest earthquake in recorded history occurs in this country
|
China
|
|
1557
|
The Chinese government leases this peninsula to Portugal
|
Macau
|
|
1558
|
This female monarch ascends to the throne aged just 25
|
Elizabeth I
|
|
1559
|
This theologian returns from exile to begin the Protestant Reformation in Scotland
|
John Knox
|
|
1560
|
This 16-year-old monarch dies of an infection after less than two years on the throne
|
Francis II
|
|
1561
|
The completion of this Moscow landmark
|
St Basil's Cathedral
|
|
1562
|
Huguenots are massacred in France, sparking the First War of ________
|
Religion
|
|
1563
|
A quarter of London's population perishes in an outbreak of this medieval disease
|
Bubonic plague
|
|
1564
|
First record of this phenomenon in which rats are gathered together by their tails
|
Rat king
|
|
1565
|
This artist completes the painting The Hunters in the Snow
|
Bruegel the Elder
|
|
1566
|
Violent Calvinist protests in the Low Countries lead to the _______ _____ War
|
Eighty Years'
|
|
1567
|
His insanity worsening, King Eric XIV personally murders members of this family
|
Sture
|
|
1568
|
This deposed queen flees Scotland for England
|
Mary
|
|
1569
|
The first publication of this style of world map
|
Mercator projection
|
|
1570
|
This Scottish regent becomes the first person to be assassinated with a firearm
|
James Stewart
|
|
1571
|
The Ottoman fleet is defeated by a Christian coalition in the Battle of _______
|
Lepanto
|
|
1572
|
This new object appears in the sky
|
Supernova
|
|
1573
|
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth grants its citizens freedom of ________
|
Religion
|
|
1574
|
The first public garden in Europe, La Alameda, opens in this city
|
Seville
|
|
1575
|
Seven of the Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen die in this battle
|
Nagashino
|
|
1576
|
This epidemic causes millions of deaths in New Spain
|
Cocoliztli
|
|
1577
|
This explorer departs England on a circumnavigation of the globe
|
Sir Francis Drake
|
|
1578
|
This explorer returns from Arctic Canada with a cargo of fool's gold
|
Martin Frobisher
|
|
1579
|
The Treaty of _______ marks the foundation of the Dutch Republic
|
Utrecht
|
|
1580
|
Portugal and Spain enter a dynastic union under this monarch
|
Philip
|
|
1581
|
In a fit of rage, this monarch kills his own son and heir
|
Ivan IV
|
|
1582
|
The Catholic Church issues this new form of calendar
|
Gregorian
|
|
1583
|
Sir Humphrey Gilbert claims this island, already privately colonised, for England
|
Newfoundland
|
|
1584
|
This weak-willed monarch ascends to the Russian throne
|
Feodor I
|
|
1585
|
This besieged Flemish city falls to Spanish forces
|
Antwerp
|
|
1586
|
Execution of conspirators in the ________ Plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth
|
Babington
|
|
1587
|
A colony is established on this American island, but will soon mysteriously vanish
|
Roanoke
|
|
1588
|
The _______ _______ is defeated in the English Channel
|
Spanish Armada
|
|
1589
|
The death of Henry III draws the War of Three ______ to a conclusion in France
|
Henrys
|
|
1590
|
This pope dies of malaria after just 12 days, the shortest papacy in history
|
Urban VII
|
|
1591
|
This bridge is completed across the Grand Canal in Venice
|
Rialto
|
|
1592
|
The foundation of this college in Ireland
|
Trinity College
|
|
1593
|
The death of this Italian painter, known for his compositions of fruits and other objects to resemble human portraits
|
Giuseppe Arcimboldo
|
|
1594
|
The architect Domenico Fontana uncovers the ruins of this lost Roman city
|
Pompeii
|
|
1595
|
Sir Walter Raleigh sails up the Orinoco in search of this fabled city of gold
|
El Dorado
|
|
1596
|
Sir John Harington installs in his manor a forerunner to this modern household device
|
Flush toilet
|
|
1597
|
Twenty-six Japanese Catholics are executed in Nagasaki by this method
|
Crucifixion
|
|
1598
|
A succession crisis sparks the 'Time of Troubles' in this country
|
Russia
|
|
1599
|
This theatre is opened on the south bank of the Thames
|
Globe Theatre
|
|
1600
|
This company receives a royal charter from Elizabeth I
|
East India Company
|
