16th century: Did you mean...?

Join World History Encyclopedia as they chat with Kaya Şahin about his new book Peerless among Princes, the Life and Times of Sultan Süleyman, published by Oxford University Press. Kelly: Thank you so much for joining me today. It is a pleasure...

Carsulae in Umbria, central Italy, was founded c. 300 BCE and only became a prosperous urban centre after it was connected by the Via Flaminia towards the end of the 3rd century BCE. It was granted the status of municipium and acquired a...

The 14th century was a time of crisis and transformation across much of the world. Plague, war, shifting power structures, and intellectual ferment reshaped societies from Asia to Africa, Europe to the Americas. Despite profound instability...

The Crisis of the Third Century (235–284 CE) began with the assassination of Emperor Severus Alexander (reign 222–235 CE) in 235 CE, triggering the collapse of centralized imperial authority. Over the next five decades, Roman power fractured...

In the late 8th century CE, the interconnected caravan routes later termed the “Silk Road” formed a transcontinental system linking East Asia, Central Asia, the Islamic world, and parts of Europe. The label “Silk Road” (German: Seidenstraße...

A drawing of a typical 17th-century musketeer. Musketeers were a standard component of European infantry armies of the period and particularly during the English Civil Wars (1642-51). Ink and watercolours. Drawn in the 19th century. (British...

The Migration Period in Europe (c. 4th–6th centuries CE) marks a prolonged era of movement, conflict, and political transformation rather than a single moment of collapse. Following the death of Emperor Theodosius I (reign 379–395 CE) and...

This map illustrates the Parthian Kingdom (c. 247 BCE–224 CE), also known as the Arsacid Empire after its ruling dynasty. Emerging on the northeastern fringes of the Seleucid realm, the Parthians expanded their power as Seleucid control weakened...

A map showing the early expansions of Rome, in the 2nd century BC.

A map showing the extent of the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire in the 7th century.