Orellana sails down the Amazon
Tales of warrior women named the world's greatest river
In late 1541 Francisco de Orellana's party split from Gonzalo Pizarro's expedition to look for food and could not return against the current. Over eight months the Spaniards drifted to the Atlantic, reaching it in August 1542, the first Europeans to do so. Chronicler Gaspar de Carvajal described battles with warrior women, and the river was named after the Amazons of Greek myth.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 16th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1517 Luther's Ninety-five Theses — 25 years earlier
- 1534 Henry VIII breaks with Rome — 8 years earlier
- 1543 Copernicus publishes heliocentrism — 1 year later
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1526 Battle of Mohács — 16 years earlier
- 1547 Ivan IV crowned Tsar — 5 years later
- 1555–1561 Saint Basil's Cathedral — 13 years later
Middle East
- 1520–1566 Reign of Suleiman the Magnificent — 22 years earlier
Africa
- 1529–1543 Ahmad Gragn invades Ethiopia — 13 years earlier
Asia
- 1526 First Battle of Panipat — 16 years earlier
- 1556 Shaanxi earthquake — 14 years later
- 1556 Akbar and the Second Battle of Panipat — 14 years later
Alive at the time
- Nicolaus Copernicus (aged 69)
- Michelangelo (aged 67)
- Martin Luther (aged 59)
- Ivan the Terrible (aged 12)
- Elizabeth I (aged 9)
- Akbar the Great (aged 0)
- Bartolomé de las Casas (aged 58)
- Hernán Cortés (aged 57)
- Henry VIII (aged 51)
- Suleiman the Magnificent (aged 48)