- published: 17 May 2015
- views: 10702
As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century lasted from 1501 to 1600. It is regarded by historians as the century in which the rise of the West occurred.
During the 16th century, Spain and Portugal explored the world's seas and opened world-wide oceanic trade routes. Large parts of the New World became Spanish and Portuguese colonies, and while the Portuguese became the masters of Asia's and Africa's Indian Ocean trade, the Spanish opened trade across the Pacific Ocean, linking the Americas with Asia.
In Europe, the Protestant Reformation gave a major blow to the authority of the Papacy and the Roman Catholic Church. European politics became dominated by religious conflicts, with the groundwork for the epochal Thirty Years' War being laid towards the end of the century.
In the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire continued to expand, with the Sultan taking the title of Caliph, while dealing with a resurgent Persia. Iran and Iraq were caught by major popularity of the once-obscure Shiite sect of Islam under the rule of the Safavid dynasty of warrior-mystics, providing grounds for a Persia independent of the majority-Sunni Muslim world.
(Gold/Lloyd/Echolette)
In the beginning
There was no light
No teenage heaven or hell
No songs or voices came from across the outlands
Where oceans are meant to be -- where oceans are meant to be
Oh my God, I feel so alone -- some million lightyears far from home
HOW ABOUT YOU LIVING IN THE 20TH CENTURY
You can halt your car to get your tickets to the starlite skies, you know...
Ev'rybody wants to come home (what a dream)
So, if you don't mind,
Will you join me?
On my way through the eye
up to the light