Union of Lublin
Poland and Lithuania merge into a single Commonwealth
On 1 July 1569 the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania merged into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth with a jointly elected king and Sejm. Ukrainian lands passed from Lithuania to the Polish Crown.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 16th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1571 Battle of Lepanto — 2 years later
- 1572 St Bartholomew's Day Massacre — 3 years later
- 1582 Gregorian calendar — 13 years later
- 1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada — 19 years later
Africa
- 1591 Battle of Tondibi and fall of Songhai — 22 years later
Asia
- 1556 Shaanxi earthquake — 13 years earlier
- 1556 Akbar and the Second Battle of Panipat — 13 years earlier
- 1592–1598 Imjin War — 23 years later
Americas
- 1545–1548 Cocoliztli epidemic — 24 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Ivan the Terrible (aged 39)
- Elizabeth I (aged 36)
- Akbar the Great (aged 27)
- Tokugawa Ieyasu (aged 26)
- Miguel de Cervantes (aged 22)
- William Shakespeare (aged 5)
- Galileo Galilei (aged 5)
- Selim II (aged 45)
- Philip II of Spain (aged 42)
- Yermak Timofeyevich (aged 37)