16th century: Difference between revisions

▲Spain and Portugal colonized large parts of [[Central America|Central]] and [[South America]], followed by France and England in [[Northern America]] and the [[Lesser Antilles]]. The Portuguese became the masters of trade between [[Brazil]], the coasts of Africa, and their possessions in the [[East Indies|Indies]], whereas the Spanish came to dominate the [[Greater Antilles]], [[Mexico]], [[Peru]], and opened trade across the [[Pacific Ocean]], linking the Americas with the Indies. English and French [[privateer]]s began to practice persistent theft of Spanish and Portuguese treasures. This era of [[colonialism]] established [[mercantilism]] as the leading school of economic thought, where the economic system was viewed as a [[zero-sum game]] in which any gain by one party required a loss by another. The mercantilist [[doctrine]] encouraged the many intra-European wars of the period and arguably fueled European [[Expansionism|expansion]] and [[imperialism]] throughout the world until the [[19th century]] or early [[20th century]].

▲The [[Reformation]] in central and northern Europe gave a major blow to the authority of the [[Pope|papacy]] and the [[Catholic Church]]. In [[Kingdom of England|England]], the British-Italian [[Alberico Gentili]] wrote the first book on public international law and divided [[secularism]] from [[canon law]] and Catholic theology. 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 a major popularity of the [[Shia Islam|Shia]] sect of [[Islam]] under the rule of the [[Safavid dynasty]] of warrior-mystics, providing grounds for a Persia independent of the majority-[[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] [[Muslim world]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de Vries |first1=Jan |date=14 September 2009 |title=The limits of globalization in the early modern world |journal=The Economic History Review |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=710–733 |citeseerx=10.1.1.186.2862 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00497.x |jstor=40929823 |s2cid=219969360 |ssrn=1635517}}</ref>

▲In the [[Indian subcontinent]], following the defeat of the [[Delhi Sultanate]] and [[Vijayanagara Empire]], new powers emerged, the [[Sur Empire]] founded by [[Sher Shah Suri]], [[Deccan sultanates]] , [[List of Rajput dynasties and states|rajput states]], and the [[Mughal Empire]]<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Sarina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zn8I4qEew9oC&q=Pashtun+Sher+Shah+Suri |title=Pakistan & the Karakoram Highway |last2=Lindsay Brown |last3=Paul Clammer |last4=Rodney Cocks |last5=John Mock |publisher=Lonely Planet |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-74104-542-0 |volume=7, illustrated |page=137 |access-date=23 August 2010}}</ref> by Emperor [[Babur]], a direct descendant of [[Timur]] and [[Genghis Khan]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Babur |title=Babur Nama |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-14-400149-1 |page=vii}}</ref> His successors [[Humayun]] and [[Akbar]], enlarged the empire to include most of [[South Asia]].

▲Japan suffered a severe civil war at this time, known as the [[Sengoku period]], and emerged from it as a unified nation. China was ruled by the Ming dynasty and came into conflict with Japan and Japanese piracy over the control of Korea.