WHAT HAPPENED IN 16. CENTURY
Find out what all happened in the 16. century

The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is first explored by the Portuguese. (1. January 1502)

King Francis I of France succeeds to the French throne. (1. January 1515)

Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I of Austria as King of Croatia in the Parliament on Cetin. (1. January 1527)

Scotland begins its numbered year on January 1 instead of March 25. (1. January 1600)

Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem. (3. January 1521)

Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zurich, Switzerland, is executed by drowning. (5. January 1527)

A great fire occurs in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (5. January 1554)

King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves. (6. January 1540)

The Union of Arras is signed. (6. January 1579)

France takes Calais, the last continental possession of England. (7. January 1558)

First recorded lottery in England. (11. January 1569)

Austrian nobility is granted freedom of religion. (11. January 1571)

Gustav I of Sweden crowned king of Sweden. (12. January 1528)

Treaty of Toledo signed by King Francis I of France and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. (12. January 1539)

Bayinnaung, who would go on to assemble the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia, is crowned King of Burma. (12. January 1554)

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey is sentenced to death. (13. January 1547)

Spain annexes Cuba. (14. January 1539)

King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of New France (Canada) and provide for the spread of the "Holy Catholic faith". (15. January 1541)

Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London, England. (15. January 1559)

Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. (15. January 1582)