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1533 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 1533 CE

Ruler · Early modern period · EnglandElizabeth I1533–1603Queen of England from 1558 to 1603, born in 1533, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Her forty five year reign saw the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, the flowering of English drama with Shakespeare, and England's first steps toward overseas empire. She never married and named no heir.

Philosopher · Early modern period · FranceMichel de Montaigne1533–1592French nobleman who retired to his tower to write the Essays, inventing the essay as a form and asking on his seal, what do I know. His skepticism, learned from Sextus Empiricus, shaped Descartes. He lived 1533 to 1592.

Within fifteen years

Ruler · Early modern period · SpainPhilip II1527–1598King of Spain from 1556 to 1598, born in 1527, ruler of the first empire on which the sun never set. His lands included Spain, the Netherlands, much of Italy, Portugal from 1580, and vast America. The defeat of his Armada against England in 1588 marked the limit of Spanish power.

Civilization · Early modern period · Mughal EmpireMughal Empire1526–1857The Mughal Empire ruled most of India for three centuries. Akbar the Great built a tolerant, centralized state; Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal. British power hollowed it out, and the 1857 revolt ended it.

Ruler · Early modern period · IndiaAkbar1542–1605Mughal emperor from 1556 to 1605, born in 1542, who built the Mughal Empire into India's dominant power. He conquered northern and central India, reformed taxation, and practiced unusual religious tolerance for his age, debating with Jesuits, Hindus and Jains at his court. His reign is the classic age of Mughal India.

Country · SwedenSweden1523–Sweden is a large Scandinavian country. Gustav Vasa broke the union with Denmark in 1523 and founded the modern Swedish state. It later became a great power, then settled into two centuries of neutrality as a constitutional monarchy.

Ruler · Early modern period · JapanTokugawa Ieyasu1543–1616Founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, shogun from 1603, born in 1543 and dead in 1616. His victory at Sekigahara in 1600 ended a century of civil war in Japan. The shogunate he built ruled Japan in peace for more than two hundred and fifty years.