16th century

The 16th Century: Century of the Compass (Millennium) 6 of 10

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• published: 29 Jun 2016
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The 16th Century: Century of the Compass _________________________________________________________________ Central America: Conqueror of Souls In the 16th century, as Catholicism began conquering souls in Central America, one particular tragedy stands out. It is the story of Friar Diego de Landa, who founded and led the Franciscan mission in the Mexican province of Yucatan more than 400 years ago. More than a quarter of a million Mayan souls were awed by de Landa and his small band of friars, and all his energies went into baptism. Mayans were baptized after minimal instruction, often by the thousands in a single day. De Landa may have foreseen danger in this approach, but believed that without baptism these people had no hope of salvation. _________________________________________________________________ Russia: Ivan the Terrible The most dramatic empire building of the 16th century was in Russia, where the city-state of Moscow expanded more than a hundred-fold into a vast land empire. Moscow's new status was displayed in one great moment in 1547: the coronation of Ivan IV -- Ivan the Terrible -- czar of all Russia. _________________________________________________________________ Japan: Visions of Empire In the 16th century, Japan joined the nations that tried to found an empire overseas. For nearly 200 years, rival warlords had carved the country into ever-smaller slices. The feuding brought fragmentation, anarchy and ruin. But one who helped restore order was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a peasant soldier known as "the Bald Rat" who completed the unification effort begun by Oda Nobunaga. Hideyoshi's achievement was such that he came to be worshipped as an architect and rebuilder of Japan. _________________________________________________________________ India: Mogul Empire In 16th century India, Islamic invaders called Moguls turned the subcontinent into an empire -- first by conquering it, then by adapting to it. The first Mogul emperor was Babur, whose daughter, Gilbadan, left an account of the new empire. Babur's family came from Central Asia and claimed descent from Genghis Khan. But it was the accidental death of Babur's father, Umar Shaikh Mirza, and not a conscious continuation of the Mongol dynasty that led to the Mogul Empire. Babur, who was 11 when he succeeded his father, proved to be an ambitious teen-ager in the mold of another ancestor, Timur. Babur "the Tiger" laid siege to Samarkand, Timur's favorite city. Thwarted there, he turned his attention east, overran Kabul in modern-day Afghanistan and entered India. Eight campaigns took him across the subcontinent as far as Bengal. _________________________________________________________________ Europe: Cabinet of Curiosities Strange collections were all the rage in 16th century Europe. Explorers and conquerors were shrinking the globe, and the spoils ended up in cabinets of curiosities. The collections were primarily designed to provoke wonder -- an experience the philosopher René Descartes felt was fundamental to the age: "I regard wonder as the first of all passions. It has no opposite. When the object has nothing that surprises us, we consider it without passion."