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1502 CE

This year falls in the Early modern period (c. 1500–1800). European ships link the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia into one trading world, and the conquest of the Americas and the Atlantic slave trade follow. Large land empires, among them the Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal and Qing, rule much of Asia, while printing and the Scientific Revolution change how knowledge spreads in Europe.

Dated to 1502 CE

Ruler · Early modern period · MexicoMoctezuma IIr. 1502–1520Ruler of the Aztec Empire from 1502 to 1520, born about 1466, who reigned when the Spanish arrived. He received Hernan Cortes in Tenochtitlan in 1519 and was taken hostage in his own palace. He died in June 1520 during the Spanish expulsion from the city, the Noche Triste.

Within fifteen years

Civilization · Early modern period · Safavid EmpireSafavid Empire1501–1736The Safavid Empire made Persia Shia and gave Iran its modern identity. Shah Ismail founded it in 1501; Shah Abbas the Great made Isfahan one of the world's most beautiful cities. It fell to Afghan invaders in 1722.

Ruler · Early modern period · SpainCharles V1500–1558Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 and king of Spain from 1516, born in 1500, who ruled more of Europe than anyone since Charlemagne. His inheritance joined Spain, the Netherlands, Austria and much of Italy under one crown. Exhausted by wars with France and the Turks, he abdicated in 1556 and died in a Spanish monastery in 1558.

Ruler · Early modern period · TurkeySuleiman the Magnificent1494–1566Ottoman sultan from 1520 to 1566, born in 1494, under whom the empire reached its greatest extent and splendor. He took Belgrade, Rhodes and Hungary, and his fleets dominated the Mediterranean. To his own people he was Kanuni, the Lawgiver, for systematizing Ottoman law.

Country · SpainSpain1492–Spain occupies most of the Iberian Peninsula. The union of Castile and Aragon and the completion of the Reconquista in 1492 made it one state, which then built a vast American empire. It has been a parliamentary constitutional monarchy since the constitution of 1978.

Ruler · Early modern period · EnglandHenry VIII1491–1547King of England from 1509 to 1547, born in 1491, who broke with Rome and made himself head of the Church of England. His six marriages and the quest for a male heir drove the break; the dissolution of the monasteries followed. England's navy and its sense of separateness from Europe date much to his reign.