Sixteenth century
±1500AD The commedia dell’arte begins to flourish in Italy, travels through Europe. Formal theatres begin to evolve in Europe and England. Development of the Nguni chiefdoms (Xhosa and Zulu). Growing trade brings regular visits by Portuguese sailors and skirmishes and trade with Khoi-khoi. Also English ships. Finally also Dutch merchants.
1502AD Sophocles’s Plays published in Italy.
±1503-5AD Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Euripides’s Plays published in Italy.
1504AD Michaelangelo’s David.
1505AD Dürer’s Feast of the Rose Garlands.
1508AD Michaelangelo begins the Sistine Chapel. Lodovico Ariosto’s La Cassaria staged at the court of Ferrara. First known use of perspective settings on stage.
1509AD Erasmus’s In Praise of Folly. Henry VIII king of England.
1510AD Portuguese viceroy Aleimda killed by Khoikhoi in Table Bay.
1512AD Michaelangelo finishes the Sistine Chapel.
1513AD Machiavelli writes The Prince. Raphael’s Sistine Madonna. Machiavelli’s La Mandragola staged in Florence.
1515AD Trissino’s Sofonobista, first important Italian tragedy
1517AD Luther posts his 95Theses in Wittenberg.
1518AD Aeschylus’s Plays published in Italy
1520AD Suleyman the Magnificent begins his 46 year reign in Persia.
1521AD Cortes conquers Tenochtitlán and subdues the Aztecs.
1522AD Luther’s New Testament, Magellan’s ships circumnavigate the world. The Persian miniature painter Bizhad heads the Safavid library.
1525AD Spanish conquer Guatamala.
1526AD Babur conquers the Delhi sultinate, founds the Mughal empire in India.
1532AD Rabelais’s Gargantua and Pantagruel, Pisarro attacks the Inca empire, executes Atahuallpa.
1534AD Act of Supremacy makes Henry VIII head of Church of England.
1535AD Holbein’s The Ambassadors. Special trading rights with Persia granted to France by Suleyman the Great. Mexico becomes New Spain by decree of Charles V.
1536AD Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion.
1540AD Society of Jesus (Jesuits) formed.
1541AD Cinthio’s revenge-tragedy Orbecche performed in Italian. Yucatán conquered by the Spanish, and Mayan empire is destroyed.
1542AD Congregation of the Inquisition is formed in Rome. Peru annexed by Charles V.
1543AD Copernicus’s Revolutions of the Celestial Orbs ( a work on the solar system).
1545AD Hôtel de Bourgogne opened in Paris. In Italy Serlio’s Archtettura contains a chapter on how to design and build stage settings, including notes on perspective in stage scenery.
1558AD Elizabeth I crowned in England.
1568AD Breughel’s The Blind leading the Blind.
1569AD Mercator’s map of the world, including his famous projection.
1572AD Luís de Camões’s The Lusiads completed.
1573AD Tasso’s Italian pastoral Amita performed.
1576AD The Theatre opened in England
1579AD Corral de la Cruz opens in Madrid
1580AD Montaigne’s Essays. Sir Francis Drake sails around the world, landing at the Cape.
1585AD Teatro Olimpico opens at the Olympic Academy in Vicenza.
1586AD El Greco’s The Burial of Count Orgaz
1587AD Marlowe’s Tamburlaine
1588AD Spanish Armada defeated by England
±1590 Guarini’s Italian pastoral The Faithful Shepherd performed.
±1594-6 Shakespeare writes Romeo and Juliet & A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
±1597AD Opera as a distinct form evolved by the Camerata Academy in Florence. Dutch and English ships begin visiting the Cape regularly, to trade with the Khoi-Khoi.
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