THE WORLD ATLAS

Chapter · Early Modern Period

Conquerors and Reformers

The world in 1530

Within one generation the map had been redrawn. Hernan Cortes had destroyed the Aztec Empire in 1521, and Spain now ruled central Mexico; Francisco Pizarro was preparing to sail against the Inca, who were tearing themselves apart in a civil war between the brothers Huascar and Atahualpa.

Magellan's expedition had sailed around the world. Charles V, crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1530, ruled Spain, the Netherlands, much of Italy and a growing American empire, while his great rival Suleiman the Magnificent had pushed the Ottoman Empire to the gates of Vienna in 1529. The Protestant Reformation, begun by Martin Luther in 1517, was splitting Western Christianity. In the east, new Muslim dynasties had risen: the Safavids in Iran, who made Shia Islam the state religion, and the Mughals, founded by Babur after his victory at Panipat in 1526. Babur died at the end of 1530, leaving a fragile empire to his son Humayun.

Open the map in 1530

The great powers

Region by region

Southern Africa

Afonso I, a devout Christian king, ruled Kongo and corresponded with the kings of Portugal, but Portuguese slave traders were already destabilising his realm. The Mutapa kingdom still controlled the Zimbabwe plateau's gold, now sold largely through Portuguese Sofala, and the Portuguese had sacked Kilwa and Mombasa and dominated the Swahili coast. The Luba kingdom may already have been taking shape in the southern Congo savanna, and Madagascar remained divided among local kingdoms.

Northern Africa

The Ottomans had conquered Egypt in 1517, and the corsair Hayreddin Barbarossa had made Algiers an Ottoman base, capturing its Spanish island fort in 1529. Morocco was ruled weakly by the Wattasid Ahmad, while the Saadi sharifs rose in the south; the Hafsids clung to Tunis. Songhai, now under Askia Musa after his father Askia Muhammad was deposed, remained West Africa's greatest empire. In the Horn, Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim (Ahmad Gragn) of Adal had begun a devastating invasion of Christian Ethiopia under Emperor Lebna Dengel.

Europe

Charles V ruled Spain, the Low Countries, Naples and Sicily, controlled Milan through its Sforza duke, and was crowned emperor by the pope at Bologna in 1530, while his brother Ferdinand held Austria and Bohemia and claimed Hungary against the Ottoman-backed John Zapolya. Francis I ruled France, Henry VIII of England was seeking to annul his marriage, which would soon break England from Rome, and Gustav Vasa had made Sweden independent of Denmark. Lutheran princes presented the Augsburg Confession in 1530. Vasily III ruled Muscovy and Sigismund I Poland-Lithuania.

Middle East & South Asia

Suleiman the Magnificent's Ottoman Empire stretched from Hungary to Egypt and Arabia's holy cities and would take Baghdad in 1534. Shah Tahmasp I ruled the Safavid Empire in Iran from Tabriz. Babur, a Timurid prince from Central Asia, had founded the Mughal Empire across northern India after defeating Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat (1526) and the Rajputs at Khanwa (1527); he died in December 1530 and Humayun succeeded him. Bahadur Shah ruled Gujarat, the Deccan sultanates divided the plateau, Achyuta Deva Raya had just succeeded Krishnadevaraya in Vijayanagara, and Portugal ruled Goa and Hormuz.

Northern & Central Asia

The Shaybanid Uzbeks ruled Transoxiana from Samarkand and Bukhara, nominally under Kuchkunji Khan with real power held by Shaybani's nephew Ubaydullah, while a separate Uzbek dynasty held Khiva. The Kazakh Khanate dominated the open steppe and the Nogai Horde the lands between the Volga and the Urals. The khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, Crimea and Sibir held the western steppe and Siberian forest edge.

East Asia

The Jiajing Emperor ruled Ming China, which faced Mongol raids in the north and pirate attacks along the coast. Joseon Korea was ruled by King Jungjong. Japan was deep in the Sengoku period, with daimyo warlords such as the Hojo, Takeda and Mori fighting while Emperor Go-Nara and the Ashikaga shogun held little power. Tibet was divided among rival princes and monastic schools.

Southeast Asia

The Portuguese had captured Malacca in 1511; its sultans regrouped as the Sultanate of Johor, while Aceh rose in northern Sumatra. Tabinshwehti became king of Toungoo in 1530 and would soon reunite Burma. In Dai Viet, Mac Dang Dung had usurped the Le throne in 1527, Ayutthaya remained the strongest Thai state, and on Java the Sultanate of Demak under Trenggana was the leading power. Portugal and Spain disputed the Spice Islands until the Treaty of Zaragoza (1529) gave them to Portugal.

Northern North America

European fishermen from France, Portugal, Spain and England worked the Grand Banks off Newfoundland each summer, but no colonies existed. Giovanni da Verrazzano had sailed the coast for France in 1524, and Jacques Cartier's voyages up the St Lawrence would begin in 1534. The land remained in the hands of Inuit, Dene, Cree, Innu, Mi'kmaq, Haudenosaunee and other nations.

Southern North America

Spain ruled the former Aztec heartland as New Spain, governed from Mexico City (built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan) by a royal audiencia; the brutal Nuno de Guzman was conquering western Mexico, and a viceroyalty would be created in 1535. Smallpox had already killed a large share of Mexico's population. Spain also held Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, where the Taino had been almost wiped out. Narvaez's Florida expedition had been lost in 1528, and survivors including Cabeza de Vaca were wandering across Texas.

Northern South America

The Inca Empire was split by civil war between Huascar in Cusco and Atahualpa in Quito, after their father Huayna Capac died around 1527, probably of smallpox that had spread ahead of the Europeans. Pizarro had won a royal licence to conquer Peru and was readying his expedition in Panama. Spaniards were settling the Caribbean coast of Colombia and Venezuela, and Portugal began organising Brazil, sending Martim Afonso de Sousa's expedition in 1530.

Southern Cone

Sebastian Cabot had explored the Rio de la Plata and Parana rivers in 1527 to 1529, but no permanent European settlement yet existed. The Inca still nominally held northern Chile and north-western Argentina, with the Mapuche independent to the south and Guarani, Charrua and Tehuelche peoples elsewhere.

Australasia & Oceania

Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand remained untouched by outsiders, home to Aboriginal nations, Papuan farmers and Maori iwi. Magellan's fleet had crossed the Pacific in 1520 to 1521 without sighting most of its islands. In Polynesia, the Tu'i Tonga line remained paramount, and Hawaii's islands were ruled by rival chiefs.

Events

  1. Martin Luther's 95 Theses begin the Protestant Reformation; the Ottomans conquer Egypt
  2. Cortes and his Indigenous allies capture Tenochtitlan, ending the Aztec Empire
  3. Survivors of Magellan's expedition complete the first circumnavigation
  4. Babur defeats Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat; the Ottomans crush Hungary at Mohacs
  5. Imperial troops sack Rome; the Inca civil war begins soon after Huayna Capac's death
  6. Suleiman besieges Vienna but fails to take it
  7. Charles V is crowned emperor at Bologna; Babur dies and Humayun succeeds him

Moments of this period

Wars of this period

More chapters

Sources