The Year 1500

Podcast Transcript

A little over 500 years ago, the world underwent massive change.

Empires were growing, religious and political institutions were changing, science was advancing, and art was undergoing a revolution.

It was the start of what many historians called the Early Modern period. A period that began the slow and painful transition to what became the modern world.

Learn more about the world in the year 1500 on the 1500th episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

The genesis of the episode comes from listeners over on the Facebook group. I asked everyone what they thought I should do for episode 150, and several people suggested that I do an episode in the year 1500.

The more I thought about it, the more this seemed like a good idea.

Previously, I did an episode on why your mental map is wrong. For instance, people don’t realize that the west coast of South America is at a longitude similar to the east coast of Florida or that Canada is closer to Africa than the United States.

Most people also have a mistaken mental timeline. They confuse when things took place in relation to other important events. One element of having a mistaken mental timeline is that we suffer from what I call temporal compression.

The further away we get away from the present, the more we tend to lump together longer periods of time. If we talk about the Sumerian Empire or the various Egyptian Dynasties, we might lump together thousands of years.

When we talk about the Middle Ages, we might lump together centuries.

Yet, when we talk about our world, we identify changes that take place over the course of months or even weeks.

So, focusing on the year 1500 is, in some sense, arbitrary. It isn’t as if something happened that year that radically changed everything in an instant. Rather, it is a nice round number that allows us to put a pin in our mental timeline.

1500 is important insofar as it is the arbitrary point that many historians use as the start of the Early Modern Period. We live in the modern period, and in the big sweep of history, the start of the Early Modern period can be thought of as the very early beginning of that period.

So, with that, what was the world like in 1500?

Let’s start with what was perhaps the most important thing that has happened in the last 500 years: the Columbian Exchange—the contact of the Old World with the new.

In the year 1500, the Americas were still mostly untouched by Europeans. Columbus had his first voyage only eight years previously, and the number of expeditions from Europe was still extremely small. Almost no one in the Americas had seen a European, and the diseases that were to come had barely started.

Santo Domingo was founded as a settlement, but it was nothing more than an outpost at this point.

The year 1500 saw the Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral land in Brazil and claim it for Portugal.

The next several decades would see a large-scale increase in the European presence in the region.

There were two major empires in the New World at this time. The Aztec Empire, centered in present-day Mexico, was at its height under Emperor Ahuitzotl, followed by Moctezuma II. The empire was expanding its territory through conquest and demanding tribute from neighboring regions.

In South America, the Inca Empire, under Emperor Huayna Capac, was also expanding. The empire’s sophisticated administrative and road systems were remarkable achievements for the era.

1500 was right smack in the middle of the Age of Discovery, which had started almost eighty years prior and would continue for over another century.

Continuing westward, the Polynesians, some of history’s greatest navigators, had settled most of the islands that they would eventually settle. They had reached Hawaii and New Zealand, two of the last places they would reach in the previous several centuries.

At this point, Aboriginal people in Australia were still uncontacted. It would be another century before the first Europeans found the continent.

Japan was in the midst of the Sengoku period, a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and near-constant military conflict. The period began in 1467 with the ?nin War and would last until the early 17th century.

Power in Japan at this time was fragmented among numerous feudal lords known as daimyos, who controlled various regions of Japan. These warlords were engaged in constant battles for territory and influence. There was no central authority, as the Ashikaga Shogunate had become weak and largely symbolic.

In contrast to Japan, Korea was experiencing a relatively stable and prosperous period under the Joseon Dynasty, which had been established in 1392. By 1500, Korea was well into what is defined as the early Joseon period.

In 1500, Korea was under the rule of King Yeonsan-gun, one of the most infamous monarchs in Korean history. His reign was marked by tyranny and cruelty. Yeonsan-gun is particularly remembered for his brutal purges of scholars and officials whom he saw as threats to his rule.

China was under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. It was still quite rich and powerful, but it was now just past its peak, which probably coincided with the cessation of Admiral Zheng He’s voyages in 1433.

With China’s inward turn, they began the long decline that eventually led to the 19th-century humiliation they suffered at the hands of European powers.

India was in a state similar to Japan, where there was no single power. The Delhi Sultanate was in decline, and in 26 years, it would be replaced by the Mughal Empire after the Battle of Panipat. However, in 1500, India was a patchwork of powerful regional states like the Vijayanagara Empire in the south and the Sultanates of Bengal and Gujarat.

In 1500, Central Asia was undergoing significant political changes as the Timurid Empire, once a dominant power in the region, was in decline. The Uzbek tribes, led by Muhammad Shaybani Khan, were rising to prominence, capturing key cities like Samarkand and establishing the Shaybanid Dynasty.

This marked the end of Timurid control and the beginning of Uzbek dominance in the region. The fragmentation of power led to ongoing conflicts between the remaining Timurid princes and the Uzbeks, with Babur, a Timurid descendant, being forced out of Central Asia, eventually laying the groundwork for his later conquest of India and establishment of the Moghul Empire

The region’s role as a crossroads for trade between East and West persisted, although the rise of maritime trade routes began to diminish the importance of the Silk Road. Overall, Central Asia in 1500 was a region of both decline and transformation, with new powers emerging amidst the legacy and decline of the Mongol and Timurid empires.

In 1500, Persia was on the brink of a major transformation with the rise of the Safavid dynasty. The region was divided among various local rulers, but Shah Ismail I, the founder of the Safavid Empire, began his campaign to unify Persia under his rule. In 1501, he successfully established the Safavid state, which would become one of the most powerful empires in the region.

Perhaps the most powerful state in the Islamic world in 1500 was the Ottoman Turks. They conquered Constantinople in 1453 and established a lock on all of the spice trade between Asia and Europe, which indirectly contributed to Europe’s seeking alternative trade routes to Asia.

By 1500, it was expanding into Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula. The Ottomans also competed with the Persian Safavid Empire.

The Ottomans would continue to expand for the next two centuries.

In Africa, there were two major powers.

The Songhai Empire was the dominant power in West Africa, controlling important trade routes across the Sahara. Under Emperor Askia Muhammad, the empire was at its peak, known for its wealth, culture, and learning, particularly in cities like Timbuktu.

European contact was increasing, especially along the West African coast, where the Portuguese established trading posts and began engaging in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

On the East African coast, the Swahili city-states, such as Zanzibar, Mombasa, and Dar es Salam, thrived as centers of trade, linking Africa with the Indian Ocean trade network. Goods like gold, ivory, and slaves were traded with Arab, Persian, and Indian merchants.

The Portuguese were beginning to challenge Arab control of these trade routes, with Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India in 1498 marking the start of European influence in the region.

This finally brings us to Europe, where there was a lot going on and a lot that was about to happen.

Perhaps the biggest overall thing was that the Catholic Church was probably at its peak in terms of power and influence. There was already widespread discontent regarding corruption and the selling of indulgences.

The pope in 1500 was Alexander VI, a member of the influential Borgia family in Spain. He declared the year 1500 to be a jubilee year and ceremonially opened a sealed door at Old St. Peters’ Basilica in Rome.

It was to be one of the last major events held at Old St. Peter’s, as it would be demolished in just five years to make way for a new Basilica, which still stands today.

In just 17 years, Martin Luther would nail his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Church in Wittenburg, Germany.

Spain had just completed the Reconquista in 1492, and the Spanish Inquisition was in full swing, targeting Muslims and Jews in Spain for conversion.

With the Reconquista behind them, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were on the cusp of establishing one of the largest empires in history with their colonies in the New World.

Maximilian I was the Holy Roman Emperor, working to consolidate his power and expand the influence of the Habsburgs.

France, under Louis XII, was involved in the Italian Wars, seeking to expand its territory.

In England, the Tudor dynasty was strengthening under Henry VII following the end of the Wars of the Roses in 1487.

In Italy, the Renaissance was in full swing, with artists, thinkers, and scientists exploring new ideas and forms of expression. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael were active during this period, contributing immensely to art, science, and architecture.

Michelangelo was still a young man of twenty-five and had just completed one of his greatest works, the Pieta, the year before.

Leonardo da Vinci was still working and had begun his second period in Florence in 1500, but he was getting towards the end of his career. However, he had yet to start his most famous painting, the Mona Lisa.

Behind all of these changes in Europe, there were several technical innovations that were now starting to seriously change the political, military, and cultural landscape.

The printing press, which was developed by Johannes Guttenburg just 50 years earlier, had now become widespread and was revolutionizing the dissemination of information. By 1500, printed books were becoming more common, helping to spred new ideas across Europe, and it would soon play a part in the Protestant Reformation.

Advances in navigation, including improved maps and the use of the astrolabe and magnetic compass, were critical to the success of European explorers. It is what allowed them to sail across the open ocean, which was something that was generally avoided in the past because of the danger it involved.

Finally, gunpowder weapons, including cannons and muskets, were transforming warfare, giving European powers a significant advantage in their conquests. While gunpowder had been introduced to Europe well before 1500, it was only now starting to become the default weapon in combat.

The people who lived in the year 1500 couldn’t have known it, but there were big changes afoot in the world. In just 100 years, the world would be a very different place, and the changes to the world would only accelerate until the present day.

So, while the date is rather arbitrary, the year 1500 is as good a place as any to start to define the beginning of the modern era.