Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira (or Neyra) was a Spanish navigator. Born in Congosto, in León, he was the nephew of Lope García de Castro, viceroy of Peru. He is best known for the two voyages of discovery he led into the Pacific in 1567 and 159...

Giovanni Leonardo di Bona or Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri, known as Il Puttino (Italian Small Child), was an early Italian chess master. Giovanni Leonardo was born in Cutro, Calabria. He studied law in Rome. In 1560, he lost a match to Ruy...

Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar also known as Akbar the Great was the son of Nasiruddin Humayun whom he succeeded as ruler of the Mughal Empire from 1556 to 1605, and the grandson of Babur who founded the Mughal dynasty. On the eve of his death i...

Nicolaus Copernicus: The Ptolemaic system of the universe, with the earth at the center, had held sway since antiquity as authoritative in philosophy, science, and church teaching. Following his precise observations of the heavenly bodies,...

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603,...

The scientific revolution was the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transformed views of society and nature. The...

William Gilbert, also known as Gilberd, was an English physician, physicist and natural philosopher. He was an early Copernican, and passionately rejected both the prevailing Aristotelian philosophy and the Scholastic method of university t...

The Council of Trent is reckoned by the Roman Catholic Church to be the Nineteenth Ecumenical Council of the universal church. It was held from December 13, 1545, to December 4, 1563 in the Italian city of Trent. Although called an Ecumenic...

Túpac Amaru or Thupa Amaro was the last indigenous monarch (Sapa Inca) of the Neo-Inca State, remnants of the Inca Empire in Vilcabamba, Peru. He was executed by the Spanish. Following the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in the 1530s...

Luther understands human nature and man's condition. He knows how Christians are and how they live...imperfectly! But, it is faith alone that justifies you in the eyes of God. Don't worry my brothers and sisters in Christ, God loves you in...

Some will see this book as nothing more than Martin Luther's combative apologetic against the doctrine of free will and works salvation. But this is precisely why this book ranks among the best ever written because it passionately, logicall...

Murad III was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death. He was the eldest son of sultan Selim II (1566–74), and succeeded his father in 1574. From him descend all succeeding Sultans, through his marriage to his maternal re...

Tycho Brahe was born in Skane, then in Denmark, now in Sweden. His contributions to astronomy were enormous. He not only designed and built instruments, he also calibrated them and checked their accuracy periodically. He thus revolutionized...

John of Austria, Spanish admiral and general; illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He was acknowledged in his father's will and was recognized by his half brother, Philip II of Spain. In 1569 he fought against the Morisco rebel...

Miguel de Cervantes was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written. His influe...