Historical Archives & Public Figures

Manqu Inka Yupanki

Peru

c. 1516 – c. 1544 (28 years old)

Emperor of the Inca who escaped Spanish confinement in 1536 to launch the Great Inca Rebellion, laying siege to Spanish-occupied Cusco with 100,000 warriors and founding the independent Neo-Inca State in the cloud forests of Vilcabamba.

La Convencion (Cusco), Peru

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Arts & Music

2,607

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Hans Holbein the Younger

Hans Holbein der Jüngere

Germany

1 – 1 (46 years old)

Supreme Northern Renaissance portraitist whose precise likenesses defined the court of King Henry VIII and European Humanism.

London, United Kingdom

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Sciences & Discovery

40

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Nicolaus Copernicus

Mikołaj Kopernik

Poland

19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543 (70 years old)

Polish astronomer and canon whose 1543 masterpiece De revolutionibus orbium coelestium placed the Sun at the center of the universe, inaugurating the Scientific Revolution.

Frombork (Warmia), Poland

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Religion

13

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Abu Azm Muhammad al-Boudali al-Kush

محمد البدالي الكوش المعروف بسيدي رحال

Morocco

c. 1490 – 1543 (~53 years old)

Revered 16th-century Sufi ascetic of the Jazuliyya branch whose mystical wandering earned him the title 'Rahhal' (the Traveler), founder of the religious center of Sidi Rahhal in the foothills of the High Atlas.

Sidi Rahhal, Morocco

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Politics

3

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King Afonso I of Kongo

Mvemba a Nzinga

Angola

1456-01-01 – 1542-01-01 (86 years old)

Sovereign of the Kingdom of Kongo from 1509 to 1542 who modernized Kongo, converted to Christianity, and wrote historic diplomatic letters to the King of Portugal protesting the illegal slave trade.

M'banza-Kongo, Angola

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Prophets & Divine Messengers

4

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Gazi Husrev-beg

Gazi Hüsrev Bey

Greece

c. 1480 – 1541-06-18 (61 years old)

Greatest Ottoman governor of Bosnia whose extensive endowments transformed Sarajevo into a world-class Renaissance metropolis, building the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, Kuršumlija Madrasa, and Sahat Kula.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

48

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Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex

Thomas Cromwell

Great Britain

c. 1485 – 1540 (55 years old)

Chief minister to King Henry VIII who orchestrated the English Reformation, established Royal Supremacy over the Church, and dissolved the monasteries.

London, United Kingdom

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Humanitarian & Peace

45

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Antonio de Montesinos

Fray Antonio de Montesinos

Spain

c. 1475 – 1540 (65 years old)

Spanish Dominican friar who delivered the historic Advent sermon of 1511 on Hispaniola, the first public denunciation of European mistreatment and enslavement of indigenous peoples in the New World.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

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Religious Figures & Theologians

38

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Guru Nanak

ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ

Pakistan

1469 – 1539 (70 years old)

Founder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus, who taught the oneness of God (Ik Onkar), equality of all human beings, and the institution of langar.

Kartarpur, Pakistan

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Prophets & Divine Messengers

53

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Guru Nanak Dev Ji (First Sikh Guru)

ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਦੇਵ (Gurū Nānak Dēv)

Pakistan

15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539 (70 years old)

Founder of Sikhism who proclaimed the universal oneness of the Creator (Ik Onkar). Traveled thousands of miles across Asia on foot (Udasis), breaking caste discrimination and establishing the free communal kitchen (Langar).

Kartarpur, Pakistan

53 Full Record →

Politics

6

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Donnacona

Canada

c. 1485 – c. 1539 (54 years old)

Sixteenth-century leader of the St. Lawrence Iroquoian settlement of Stadacona who met Jacques Cartier in 1534 and was taken to France to meet King Francis I.

Paris (Memorial in Quebec City), France

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Exploration

11

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Mustafa Azemmouri

مصطفى الزموري

Morocco

c. 1500 – c. 1539 (39 years old)

Native of Azemmour, Morocco, and one of only four survivors of the 1528 Narváez expedition, who walked thousands of miles across Texas, Mexico, and the American Southwest, serving as key translator and guide.

Zuni, United States

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

35

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Askia Muhammad I

Askia Muhammad I (Askia the Great)

Mali

c. 1443 CE – 1538 (95 years old)

Emperor of the Songhai Empire known as Askia the Great, who expanded the empire to its maximum territorial height and made Timbuktu the premier intellectual capital of West Africa.

Gao, Mali

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Religious Figures & Theologians

59

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Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus

Netherlands

28 October 1466 – 12 July 1536 (69 years old)

Leader of northern Christian humanism celebrated as the "Prince of the Humanists." Published the first printed Greek New Testament (Novum Instrumentum) and penned biting satires against clerical hypocrisy like Praise of Folly.

Basel, Switzerland

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Resistance & Human Rights

54

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Enriquillo

Guarocuya (Enriquillo)

Haiti

c. 1496 – 1535 (39 years old)

Taino cacique Guarocuya 'Enriquillo' who led a brilliant fourteen-year guerrilla war (1519–1533) in the Bahoruco mountains of Hispaniola, forcing Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to sign a royal peace treaty recognizing Taino autonomy and freedom.

Pueblo Viejo (Azua), Dominican Republic

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

40

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Thomas More

Sir Thomas More

Great Britain

1478-02-07 – 1535-07-06 (57 years old)

Universal exemplar of intellectual integrity and moral conscience standing firm against autocratic state tyranny; coined the term 'Utopia'.

Tower Hill, London, Great Britain

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Resistance & Human Rights

47

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Ruminahui

Rumiñawi (Stone Eye)

Ecuador

c. 1490 – 1535 (45 years old)

Heroic Inca general and brother of Emperor Atahualpa who led the northern defense of the Inca Empire against Spanish conquistadors, evacuated and torched Quito, and hid the legendary golden Treasure of the Llanganatis in the volcanic Andes.

Quito, Ecuador

47 Full Record →