Events, Verisoph

c. 1550 A patchwork of hundreds of states 0 cit. By the sixteenth century the empire held hundreds of separate units: kingdoms, duchies, church territories, free cities, and tiny lordships, each with its own ruler and laws. Germans later called this fragmentation Kleinstaaterei, small-state politics. The empire was a legal roof over many states rather than a nation. politics / society ●●●

October 1552 Conquest of Kazan 0 cit. Ivan the Terrible captured the Khanate of Kazan, adding a large non-Slavic and Muslim population to the Russian state. The victory opened the Volga region to further eastward expansion. politics / war ●●●

1552 Las Casas publishes his account of the destruction of the Indies 0 cit. The Dominican friar Bartolome de las Casas, a former encomienda holder turned reformer, published "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies." It catalogued the killing and enslavement of native people by Spanish colonists and argued for their rights. He is a documented case of a missionary who became a leading critic of colonial violence, though his writings were later used as anti-Spanish propaganda by rival powers. politics / religion / society ●●

1554 England makes being Roma a capital crime 0 cit. A further Egyptians Act passed under Queen Mary I made it a felony punishable by death for Roma to remain in England for more than a month. A 1562 amendment under Elizabeth I softened it only for those who gave up a traveling life. For a time, simply being Roma in England could carry a death sentence. politics / society ●●●

25 September 1555 Peace of Augsburg 0 cit. Settlement within the Holy Roman Empire allowing each prince to choose Lutheranism or Catholicism for his territory, summarized as cuius regio, eius religio. It ended open religious war in Germany for over sixty years. diplomacy / politics / religion ●●●●

14 July 1555 to 1870 Cum nimis absurdum creates the Roman Ghetto 0 cit. On 14 July 1555 Pope Paul IV issued the bull Cum nimis absurdum, which stripped the Jews of Rome of most rights, forced them to wear a yellow hat or veil, barred them from most trades, and shut them into a single walled quarter that became the Roman Ghetto. The ghetto system it created lasted under papal rule until Italian troops took Rome in 1870. It stood as the papacy's harshest institutional treatment of Jews. politics / religion / society ●●●

25 September 1555 The Peace of Augsburg: whose realm, his religion 0 cit. The empire's estates agreed that each prince could choose Catholicism or Lutheranism for his own territory, a rule later summed up as cuius regio, eius religio, whose realm, his religion. Subjects who disagreed could move away rather than worship freely. The peace bought decades of calm but left out Calvinists and rested on an unstable balance. diplomacy / politics / religion ●●●

1558 Accession of Elizabeth I 0 cit. Elizabeth Tudor becomes queen, restoring the Protestant settlement and beginning a 45-year reign that would define an age. politics ●●●●

c. 1558 John Dee, astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I 0 cit. The mathematician and occultist John Dee sets the date of Elizabeth I's coronation by astrology and serves as her adviser. Science, magic, and astrology were still one world at the birth of the modern age. politics / religion ●●●

3 April 1559 Peace of Cateau-Cambresis 0 cit. Treaties ending the long Italian Wars between France, Spain, and England. Spain emerged as the dominant power in Italy for the next century. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

1559 to 1966 Index of Forbidden Books 0 cit. Pope Paul IV issued the first Roman Index of Forbidden Books, a list of publications Catholics were banned from reading. The Church maintained and updated the Index for four centuries before abolishing it in 1966. culture / politics / religion ●●●

1559 Elizabeth I's Act of Supremacy creates the title Supreme Governor 0 cit. A new Act of Supremacy under Queen Elizabeth I restyled the monarch's headship of the Church of England as 'Supreme Governor' rather than 'Supreme Head,' a softer formula meant to be more acceptable to a woman ruler and to reformed theology. The title Supreme Governor has been used by every English and then British monarch since. It remains part of the monarch's formal role today. politics / religion ●●

1560 to 1812 Goa Inquisition 0 cit. The Inquisition was extended to Portuguese India, where it prosecuted converts and non-Christians for religious offenses. It showed the Church's disciplinary reach following European empire into Asia. politics / religion / society ●●

23 January 1565 Fall of the Vijayanagara Empire 0 cit. At the Battle of Talikota on 23 January 1565 a coalition of Deccan sultanates defeated Vijayanagara and killed its regent. The capital was sacked and destroyed, and the empire never recovered. politics / war ●●●

7 September 1566 Death of Suleiman at Szigetvár 0 cit. Suleiman dies during the siege of a Hungarian fortress; his death is hidden from the army until the campaign ends. His reign is often treated as the peak of Ottoman power, after which the empire remained strong but faced slower growth and mounting internal strain. politics / war ●●

1568 to 1648 Eighty Years' War 0 cit. no story The Dutch provinces revolt against Spanish rule in a war lasting eight decades. The Peace of Westphalia recognizes the independent Dutch Republic, by then a leading commercial power. politics / religion / war ●●●●

1568 The Dutch Revolt against Spain begins 0 cit. Provinces in the Netherlands rose against the taxes, centralization, and religious repression of their Habsburg ruler Philip II, opening the Eighty Years' War. The struggle forged an independent Dutch republic with maritime and commercial strength. politics / religion / war ●●●●

1 July 1569 Union of Lublin 0 cit. Treaty merging the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with a shared elected king and parliament. It created one of the largest states in Europe. diplomacy / politics ●●●

1569 Cosimo I de' Medici named Grand Duke of Tuscany 0 cit. Pope Pius V granted Cosimo I de' Medici the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1569. The family now ruled a substantial Italian state as sovereign princes. politics ●●●●

25 February 1570 Regnans in Excelsis excommunicates Elizabeth I 0 cit. Pope Pius V declared Queen Elizabeth I a heretic and released her subjects from allegiance. The bull deepened the split with England and made English Catholics suspect as potential traitors. politics / religion ●●●

24 August 1572 Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre 0 cit. A wave of killings targeting French Protestants began in Paris and spread across France, leaving thousands dead. The massacre was a turning point in the French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots. politics / religion / war ●●●

1572 The fall of Vilcabamba ends Inca resistance 0 cit. After Manco Inca rebelled in 1536, a rump Neo-Inca state held out in the remote Vilcabamba region for a generation. In 1572 Viceroy Francisco de Toledo's forces overrun it and capture the last ruler, Tupac Amaru I, who is executed in Cusco. His death closes forty years of armed Inca resistance to Spanish rule. politics / war ●●

1576 Bodin's Six Books of the Commonwealth 0 cit. Jean Bodin's Six Books of the Commonwealth set out an early systematic theory of sovereignty, arguing that a legitimate state must hold supreme, indivisible authority within its territory. Bodin's account of sovereign power, including control over force and law, laid groundwork for later theories of the state's exclusive claim to legitimate violence. His work influenced Hobbes and the broader development of early modern state theory. politics / society ●●

1578 Dalai Lama title conferred 0 cit. The Mongol ruler Altan Khan bestows the title Dalai Lama on the Gelug lama Sonam Gyatso, applied retroactively to his two predecessors. The institution later becomes the spiritual and, for centuries, political leadership of Tibet. politics / religion ●●●

4 August 1578 The disaster at Alcacer Quibir 0 cit. King Sebastian leads an army into Morocco and is killed with much of the Portuguese nobility at the Battle of the Three Kings. His death without an heir threw the crown into a succession crisis that Spain would soon exploit. politics / war ●●

23 January 1579 Union of Utrecht 0 cit. Alliance of the northern Netherlands provinces against Spanish rule, coordinating defense and finances. It functioned as a founding constitution of the Dutch Republic. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

23 January 1579 Union of Utrecht binds the northern provinces 0 cit. Seven northern provinces formed a defensive league that became the political core of the Dutch Republic. The union created a decentralized federation dominated by the wealthy province of Holland. politics ●●●

1580 Iberian Union joins Spain and Portugal 0 cit. Philip II of Spain inherited the Portuguese crown, uniting the two overseas empires under one monarch. The combined realms stretched across the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, a domain often called the empire on which the sun never set. politics ●●●●

c. 1580 The Council of Four Lands governs Polish Jewry 0 cit. Polish Jews ran their own central parliament, the Council of Four Lands, which met at the great trade fairs. It set taxes, settled disputes, and represented the community to the crown, giving Ashkenazi Jewry a rare degree of self-government. The council lasted until 1764, when the state abolished it. politics / religion / society ●●

1580 The Iberian Union joins Portugal to Spain 0 cit. Philip II of Spain presses his claim and takes the Portuguese throne, uniting the two crowns under one king. For sixty years Portugal's empire was dragged into Spain's wars, and its trade and colonies became targets for Spain's enemies, above all the Dutch. diplomacy / politics ●●

26 July 1581 Independence of the Netherlands 0 cit. no story The Act of Abjuration renounces Philip II of Spain during the Dutch Revolt, founding the independent Dutch Republic. politics / war ●●●●

26 July 1581 Act of Abjuration renounces the king 0 cit. The rebel provinces formally deposed Philip II as their sovereign, arguing a ruler who violated his subjects' rights could be rejected. The declaration was an early assertion that authority rests on obligations to the governed. politics ●●●

1581 Dutch Republic declares independence 0 cit. The northern Dutch provinces renounced their Spanish king and formed a republic run by the provinces and their representatives. It became a prosperous, relatively tolerant state without a monarch. economy / politics ●●●●

c. 1583 Rise of the British Empire 0 cit. England's first overseas claims began an expansion that grew into the British Empire. At its height it was the largest empire in history, spanning every continent. exploration / politics ●●●●●

31 December 1584 Treaty of Joinville 0 cit. Secret treaty between Philip II of Spain and the French Catholic League to exclude the Protestant Henry of Navarre from the French throne. It drew Spain directly into the French Wars of Religion. diplomacy / politics / religion ●●

8 February 1587 Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots 0 cit. Elizabeth reluctantly signs the death warrant for her Catholic cousin Mary, removing the focus of Catholic plots and giving Philip II his pretext for war. politics ●●●

August 1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada 0 cit. The 130-ship Spanish Armada, sent by Philip II to invade England, is scattered by English fireships off Gravelines and wrecked by storms on the voyage home. England survives. politics / war ●●●●●

1589 Reason of state and Botero's manual for rulers 0 cit. Giovanni Botero published Della ragion di stato, giving a name to the idea that the survival of the state can justify actions ordinary morality would forbid, including secrecy and deception. Reason of state made concealment a normal tool of government rather than a scandal. Critics then and since argued it let princes hide crimes behind the needs of the realm. culture / politics ●

13 March 1591 Fall of the Songhai Empire 0 cit. At the Battle of Tondibi on 13 March 1591 a Moroccan army with firearms routed the much larger Songhai force. The defeat shattered West Africa's largest empire, and no successor state matched its power. politics / war ●●●

1593 Portuguese build Fort Jesus at Mombasa 5 cit. Portugal built the massive coral fortress of Fort Jesus to command Mombasa's harbor and hold the Swahili coast against Ottoman raids and local revolt. For a century the fort was the anchor of Portuguese rule, changing hands repeatedly amid sieges and uprisings. It still stands over the old harbor and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. politics / war ●●

1596 The Inquisition burns Luis de Carvajal in Mexico City 0 cit. A tribunal of the Inquisition was established in Mexico City to police the faith of the Spanish colonies, including conversos suspected of secret Judaism. The Carvajal family became its most famous victims, and Luis de Carvajal the Younger was burned at an auto-da-fe in 1596. The persecution followed the New Christians across the Atlantic into the New World. politics / religion / society ●●

c. 1598 to c. 1613 The Time of Troubles 0 cit. The end of the old ruling line brought famine, civil war, pretenders to the throne, and Polish and Swedish intervention, nearly destroying the Russian state. A national uprising eventually expelled foreign forces and restored order. politics / society / war ●●●●

13 April 1598 Edict of Nantes 0 cit. King Henry IV granted French Protestants limited toleration and civil rights, ending the Wars of Religion. It was a rare official acceptance of two faiths within a Catholic kingdom. politics / religion / society ●●●

31 December 1600 Charter of the East India Company 0 cit. Elizabeth I granted a royal charter giving a company of London merchants a monopoly on trade with the East Indies. The company would grow into a private empire that ruled much of India. economy / politics ●●●●●

31 December 1600 English East India Company chartered 0 cit. England chartered its own company for Asian trade two years before the VOC. English merchants closely watched Dutch methods, and the VOC's permanent joint stock capital later shaped how the English company financed itself. economy / politics ●●●

1600 Marie de' Medici becomes Queen of France 0 cit. Marie de' Medici married King Henry IV of France in 1600 and later served as regent for her son Louis XIII. She was the second Medici woman to become a French queen. politics ●●

c. 1600 Divine right of kings takes hold 0 cit. Rulers such as James I of England argued that kings answered to God alone and not to parliaments or people. The doctrine of divine right was used to defend strong, unchecked monarchy. politics / religion ●●●●

c. 1600 The divine right of kings 0 cit. The doctrine that monarchs rule by the will of God, answerable to no earthly power, binds throne and altar together. Sacred legitimacy, the claim that a social order is willed by heaven, is the deepest form of the religion and ideology pillar's power. pillar / politics / religion ●●●

31 December 1600 East India Company chartered 0 cit. Queen Elizabeth I granted a royal charter to the East India Company, giving it a monopoly on English trade with Asia. The company would grow into a private army-backed power that conquered and administered large parts of India. It became one of the main engines of British imperial expansion. economy / politics ●●●

31 December 1600 English East India Company founded 0 cit. Queen Elizabeth I granted a royal charter to a group of London merchants, creating the East India Company with a monopoly on English trade with Asia. The company built fortified trading posts in India and gradually acquired its own armies and administrative power. It evolved from a trading enterprise into the de facto ruler of large parts of India before the British crown took direct control in 1858. economy / politics ●●●

31 December 1600 The English East India Company receives its royal charter 0 cit. Queen Elizabeth I granted a group of London merchants a monopoly charter to trade in the East Indies, creating the English (later British) East India Company. Over the next two centuries the charter was repeatedly renewed and expanded, letting the company keep its own soldiers, courts, and fortified trading posts. What began as a trading venture grew into a governing power backed by state privilege. economy / politics ●●●

c. 1600 Joint-stock companies create the need for audited accounts 0 cit. Chartered trading companies like the East India Company pooled money from many outside shareholders who could not watch the business themselves. Investors had to trust managers with their capital, which created a demand for independent accounts and for someone to check them. The spectacular collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720 hardened the idea that company books needed outside scrutiny. economy / politics ●●●

c. 1600 Decentralized, stateless societies of the interior 0 cit. Most communities of the interior had no king or standing state. Authority was spread among clans, age-sets, and councils rather than gathered in one ruler, and order rested on custom, kinship, and negotiation. Historians describe these as stateless or acephalous systems, meaning without a head, not without government. They could organize defense, settle disputes, and manage land without a central throne. politics / society ●●●

c. 1600 The Luhya take shape as a cluster of many sub-groups 4 cit. The people now called Luhya (Abaluyia) are not one ancient tribe but a cluster of roughly eighteen related sub-groups, among them the Bukusu, Maragoli, Wanga, Idakho, Isukha, Bunyore, Tiriki and Marama. Each has its own dialect and settlement history, and the collective name itself was coined only in the twentieth century. Their sub-groups settled the ridges of western Kenya over centuries, arriving from several directions rather than a single homeland. politics / society ●●●

c. 1600 Founding of the Wanga kingdom and the Abashitsetse dynasty contested 4 cit. The Wanga built the rare thing among Kenyan peoples: a centralised kingdom with a hereditary king, the Nabongo, drawn from the Abashitsetse clan. Tradition names Wanga as the founding ancestor and traces a long line of Nabongos ruling from the Mumias area. The exact chronology and the dynasty's early kings are reconstructed from oral king-lists and remain debated among historians. politics / society ●●●

c. 1600 The Borana and government by the gada system 3 cit. The Borana, a major Oromo people of the northern deserts, governed themselves through the gada system, a democracy of generation-sets that rotated leaders every eight years under an elected Abba Gada. Great assemblies such as the Gumi Gayo reviewed and remade the law. It ran a large pastoral society of camels, cattle, and shared wells without kings. politics / society ●●●

December 1601 Battle of Kinsale and the end of the Nine Years' War 0 cit. Hugh O'Neill led a Gaelic confederacy in the Nine Years' War against Tudor conquest, backed late by a Spanish landing at Kinsale. English forces defeated the combined army in December 1601. The defeat broke the last major Gaelic resistance in Ulster and opened the way to full English control. politics / war ●●

20 March 1602 Founding of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) 0 cit. The Dutch state merged rival trading firms into one chartered company with powers to wage war, make treaties, and build forts in Asia. It was the first company to issue tradeable shares with permanent capital, a template for the modern corporation. economy / politics ●●●●●

20 March 1602 Dutch East India Company founded 0 cit. The VOC was chartered with powers to wage war, sign treaties and govern territory in Asia. It became the dominant colonial power in the Indonesian archipelago and one of the first great corporations. economy / politics ●●●●

20 March 1602 Dutch East India Company (VOC) founded 0 cit. The States General of the Dutch Republic chartered the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, granting it monopoly rights to trade and wage war in Asia. The VOC became the first corporation to issue tradable stock and, for a time, the world's most valuable company. It built a commercial empire across the East Indies, using its own soldiers, ships, and courts to enforce control of the spice trade. economy / politics ●●●

March 1602 The founding of the VOC 0 cit. The Dutch government merges rival trading firms into the United East India Company, the VOC, and grants it a monopoly on Asian trade. Widely called the first true multinational corporation and the first to issue tradable shares, it also held state-like powers: it could raise armies, wage war, sign treaties, and mint coins in the name of the Republic. economy / politics ●●●

20 March 1602 The VOC is chartered as a sovereign company 0 cit. The States General granted the Dutch East India Company (VOC) a 21-year monopoly on Asian trade along with powers normally reserved to states: it could raise armies and navies, wage war, seize territory, mint coinage, and sign treaties with foreign rulers in its own name. Historians often call it the first true multinational, and the first company to issue tradable shares to the public. The charter made the firm a delegated arm of the Dutch state, blurring the line between commerce and sovereignty. economy / politics ●●●

20 March 1602 Dutch East India Company granted sovereign powers 0 cit. The States General chartered the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) and gave it powers normally reserved for a state: to sign treaties, wage war, build forts, coin money, and govern territory in Asia. A joint-stock company with shareholders thus became a sovereign in its own right across the Indian Ocean. It is the clearest early case of a business that was also a government. diplomacy / economy / politics ●●●

1603 Founding of the Tokugawa Shogunate 0 cit. Tokugawa Ieyasu was appointed shogun, ending Japan's era of civil wars. The Tokugawa regime brought over two centuries of peace and isolation. politics ●●●●

1605 to 1618 Polish-Russian War of 1605-1618 0 cit. no story Poland-Lithuania intervenes in Russia's Time of Troubles, occupying Moscow and backing pretenders to the throne. A Russian national rising expels the Poles and the Romanov dynasty takes power. politics / war ●●●

c. 1605 Rise of the French Colonial Empire 0 cit. French settlement in North America began the first French colonial empire. France built holdings in the Americas, Africa, and Asia over the following centuries. exploration / politics ●●●●

10 April 1606 Founding of the Virginia Company 0 cit. James I charters the Virginia Company to plant English colonies in North America. Its Jamestown settlement of 1607 becomes the first permanent English colony in the Americas. economy / exploration / politics ●●●

14 September 1607 The Flight of the Earls 0 cit. Hugh O'Neill and Rory O'Donnell, the leading Gaelic earls of Ulster, sailed into exile in continental Europe rather than live under tightening English rule. Their departure ended the old Gaelic aristocratic order in the north. It also left their vast lands forfeit to the crown, clearing the ground for plantation. politics / society ●●

1609 Twelve Years' Truce with Spain 0 cit. Spain and the Dutch Republic agreed to a long ceasefire that amounted to informal recognition of Dutch autonomy. The pause let Dutch trade and finance expand rapidly. politics / war ●●

1609 Grotius argues for freedom of the seas 0 cit. The jurist Hugo Grotius published Mare Liberum, arguing the seas were open to all nations and could not be owned. The doctrine served Dutch trading interests and became a foundation of modern international law. politics / science ●●●

1609 The Plantation of Ulster 0 cit. The crown organised the confiscated lands of Ulster and settled them with Protestant colonists from England and especially Lowland Scotland. The scheme aimed to secure the most Gaelic and Catholic province with a loyal Protestant population. It planted a lasting division of land, religion and identity in the north that still shapes politics there. politics / society ●●●

c. 1610 Inquisition tribunals in Lima and Cartagena 0 cit. Spain set up Inquisition courts in Lima in 1569 and Cartagena in 1610 to enforce religious conformity in South America. In 1639 the Lima tribunal staged a mass trial known as the great complicity, condemning many Portuguese merchants as crypto-Jews. The trials mixed genuine cases of hidden practice with confiscation of wealthy traders' property. economy / politics / religion ●●

c. 1613 Election of Michael Romanov 0 cit. An assembly of the land elected Michael Romanov as tsar, founding the Romanov dynasty that would rule Russia until 1917. His accession ended the Time of Troubles. politics ●●●●●

May 1618 to October 1648 Thirty Years' War 0 cit. no story A revolt in Bohemia grows into a general European war fought largely on German soil, killing millions through battle, famine, and plague. The Peace of Westphalia reshapes Europe around sovereign states. politics / religion / war ●●●●●

1618 to 1683 Manchu Conquest of China 0 cit. no story The Manchus overthrow the Ming dynasty and subdue all of China in a 65-year war that kills an estimated 25 million people. The conquest establishes the Qing dynasty, China's last imperial house. politics / war ●●●●●

1618 to 1648 The Thirty Years War 0 cit. A war that began over religion in the Holy Roman Empire drew in most of Europe's powers and devastated German lands. It became as much a struggle for political dominance as a Catholic and Protestant conflict. politics / religion / war ●●●●

23 May 1618 The Defenestration of Prague ignites the Thirty Years' War 0 cit. Protestant nobles threw two Catholic imperial officials and a secretary out of a castle window in Prague. The men survived the fall, but the revolt against Habsburg and Catholic rule set off a war that drew in most of Europe. What began as a religious quarrel grew into a struggle over power across the continent. politics / religion / war ●●●

1619 Batavia founded as the VOC capital in Asia 0 cit. Jan Pieterszoon Coen seized and rebuilt the port of Jayakarta as Batavia, the fortified headquarters of Dutch power in Asia. From here the company controlled shipping lanes and enforced its trade monopolies. economy / politics ●●●

30 May 1619 Dutch found Batavia 0 cit. The VOC destroyed the town of Jayakarta and built Batavia as the capital of its Asian empire. The city became the hub of Dutch control over the spice islands and the wider East Indies. economy / politics ●●●

August 1619 First Africans arrive in English Virginia 0 cit. In late August 1619 an English ship landed some twenty enslaved Africans at Point Comfort, the first recorded in England's mainland American colonies. Their arrival began the long history of racial slavery in what became the United States. politics / society ●●●●●

30 May 1619 VOC founds Batavia 0 cit. The Dutch East India Company seized the port of Jayakarta on Java, burned it, and rebuilt it as Batavia, its administrative headquarters in Asia. Batavia became the center of Dutch control over the East Indies for more than three centuries. The city's name reverted to Jakarta after Indonesian independence. economy / politics ●●

1619 Batavia founded as the VOC capital 0 cit. Jan Pieterszoon Coen seizes and burns the town of Jayakarta on Java and builds Batavia in its place as the VOC's Asian headquarters. From this fortified port the company controls its shipping lanes, its spice trade, and its wars across the archipelago. The city is today Jakarta. economy / politics / war ●●●

3 June 1621 Founding of the Dutch West India Company (WIC) 0 cit. A chartered company received a monopoly over Dutch trade and colonization in the Atlantic, including the Americas and West Africa. It ran colonies, privateering against Spain, and a large share of the transatlantic slave trade. economy / politics ●●●●

June 1621 The founding of the WIC 0 cit. The Dutch charter the West India Company to trade, raid, and colonize across the Atlantic. Like the VOC it holds military and governing powers, aimed at the Americas, the Caribbean, and West Africa, and it becomes a major operator in the Atlantic slave trade. economy / politics ●●

1625 Founding of New Amsterdam 0 cit. The Dutch West India Company established a fortified trading settlement at the tip of Manhattan Island as the capital of New Netherland. The town grew into a diverse port and later became New York. economy / politics ●●●

1625 New Amsterdam is founded 0 cit. The WIC founds New Amsterdam at the tip of Manhattan as the capital of its New Netherland colony. In 1626 the settlers claim to have bought the island from the Lenape, a deal the two sides almost certainly understood in very different terms. economy / politics / society ●●●

22 June 1633 The Galileo affair 0 cit. The Roman Inquisition tried the astronomer Galileo Galilei for teaching that the Earth moves around the Sun, forced him to recant and placed him under house arrest for the rest of his life. The case became a lasting emblem of conflict between Church authority and science, and in 1992 Pope John Paul II acknowledged that the Church had erred. politics / religion / science ●●●

1636 Founding of the Qing Dynasty 0 cit. Hong Taiji proclaimed the Qing dynasty, uniting the Manchu, Mongol, and Han banners. The Qing later conquered China and expanded it to its greatest territorial size. politics ●●●●●

1637 Sweden threatens Roma with death 0 cit. A Swedish decree of 1637 ordered the Roma out of the realm and provided that Roma men who remained could be hanged without trial. Similar death-penalty measures appeared in several states, turning mere presence into a capital offense. Enforcement was uneven, but the laws made the Roma permanent fugitives in the eyes of the state. politics / society ●●

1639 Armenia split between the Ottoman and Persian empires 0 cit. After long wars, the Treaty of Zuhab fixes the border between the Ottoman and Safavid Persian empires and formalizes the division of the Armenian lands between them. In the Ottoman realm, Armenians are organized as a millet, a self-governing religious community led by the Patriarch of Constantinople, with their own courts and schools but second-class legal status. Persia, meanwhile, had earlier deported large numbers of Armenians into its interior. diplomacy / politics / religion ●●

1 December 1640 Portugal restores its independence 0 cit. A revolt in Lisbon throws off Spanish rule and puts the Duke of Braganza on the throne as John IV. Portugal was independent again, but it emerged from the union a lesser power, with much of its Asian empire lost to the Dutch and its wealth now leaning on Brazil. politics / war ●●

22 August 1642 English Civil War pits king against parliament 0 cit. War breaks out between Charles I, who claims the divine right to rule without parliamentary consent, and forces loyal to parliament. The conflict is fought over who holds ultimate authority in the state, the crown or the elected chamber. politics / war ●●●

25 April 1644 Fall of the Ming Dynasty 0 cit. On 25 April 1644 the last Ming emperor hanged himself as rebel forces entered Beijing. Manchu armies soon took the capital and founded the Qing dynasty, ending Ming rule. politics / war ●●●●●

1644 Fall of Beijing and end of the Ming 0 cit. The rebel Li Zicheng captured Beijing in 1644 and the last Ming emperor took his own life. The collapse opened the way for the Manchu conquest. politics / war ●●●●

1644 Manchu Qing conquest of China 0 cit. The Manchus seized Beijing in 1644 and established the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China. Decades of campaigns followed to subdue the rest of the country. politics / war ●●●●●

1644 Milton's Areopagitica argues against censorship 0 cit. John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet against Parliament's licensing of the press. Its argument that truth wins in a free and open encounter with falsehood becomes a foundation stone of free-speech thought. culture / politics ●●●●

February 1645 New Model Army Founded 0 cit. Parliament created the New Model Army during the English Civil War as a centrally funded, professionally trained, full-time force, replacing the patchwork of regional militias it had relied on earlier. Soldiers were paid regularly from national taxation rather than raised locally on an ad hoc basis, making it one of the first standing professional armies in early modern Europe. The New Model Army also became a political force in its own right, ultimately backing the execution of Charles I. politics / war ●●

24 October 1648 Peace of Westphalia 0 cit. Twin treaties ending the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic. They are widely seen as the foundation of the modern system of sovereign states. diplomacy / politics / religion / war ●●●●●

1648 Peace of Westphalia recognizes the Dutch Republic 0 cit. Spain formally recognized the independence of the Dutch Republic, ending the Eighty Years' War. The young state stood as a leading commercial and naval power in Europe. politics / war ●●●

c. 1648 State, law, and coercion 0 cit. The sovereign state, its laws, and its monopoly on force. The modern state became the unit that taxes, polices, borders, classifies, and coerces, while law gives that power formal shape and legitimacy. pillar / politics ●●●●●