1500s

• Introduction of the spinning wheel revolutionizes textile production in Europe.
• Modern square root symbol (√ )
• The letter J is introduced into the English alphabet.
• 1503: Leonardo da Vinci begins painting the Mona Lisa and completes it three or four years later.
• 1519-21: Hernán Cortés leads the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
• 1520-1650: Commercial Revolution
• 1526: Mughal Empire, founded by Babur, rules India until 1739 and hold titles until 1857.
• 1530: 1st Sikh Guru Nanak Ji shows opposition towards the autocratic rule of Babar.
• 1540: Francisco Vásquez de Coronado sights the Grand Canyon.
• Copernicus publishes his theory that the Earth and the other planets revolve around the Sun (1543)
• 1545: Theory of complex numbers is first developed by Gerolamo Cardamo of Italy.
• 1556: Akbar expands the Mughal Empire in a series of conquests.
• 1560: 3rd Guru Amar Das Ji asks Akbar to remove the unfair tax levied on non muslims
• 1562: Mughal leader Akbar reconciles the Muslim and Hindu factions by marrying into the powerful Rajput Hindu caste.
• 1564: William Shakespeare born April 23
• 1582: Gregorian calendar is introduced in Europe by Pope Gregory XIII.
• 1585: The Anglo-Spanish War is fought on both sides of the Atlantic.
• 1593 - Galileo Galilei invents a thermometer.
• 1600: The British East India Company was chartered.