Charles V

Where they went

5 related events

1. 1
   1519 – 1522Magellan–Elcano Circumnavigationmonarch

   Sponsored by Spain, Magellan’s fleet crossed the Atlantic and the Pacific westward. Magellan died in the Philippines, but Elcano brought the last ship home, completing the first voyage around the world.

2. 2
   1519 – 1521Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empirerelated figure

   Spain’s Hernán Cortés, allied with Indigenous peoples hostile to the Aztecs, took the capital Tenochtitlan. The Aztec Empire fell and New Spain (Mexico) was founded.

3. 3
   1521Luther at the Diet of Wormsmonarch

   In April 1521 Luther stood before Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms and refused to recant; outlawed by the Empire, he translated the Bible into German under the protection of the Elector of Saxony.

4. 4
   1532 – 1533Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empirerelated figure

   Spain’s Francisco Pizarro entered an Inca Empire divided by civil war, captured and executed the emperor Atahualpa at Cajamarca, and took the capital Cusco, bringing down the empire.

5. 5
   1555Peace of Augsburgmonarch

   At the 1555 Imperial Diet of Augsburg, the princes of the Holy Roman Empire won the right to choose Catholicism or Lutheranism for their lands; individual freedom of belief and Calvinism were not recognised.

People who appear alongside

• Ferdinand Magellan1480 – 1521

  Portuguese-born navigator who, sponsored by Spain, sailed west for the Spice Islands and was killed on Mactan in the Philippines in 1521

• Juan Sebastián Elcano1526

  Basque Spanish navigator who brought the Victoria home in 1522 after Magellan’s death, completing the first circumnavigation

• Hernán Cortés1485 – 1547

  Spanish conquistador who, with Indigenous allies, overthrew the Aztec Empire in 1519–1521

• Moctezuma II1520

  Aztec emperor who received Cortés in his capital, was taken hostage and died in the turmoil of 1520

• Martin Luther1483 – 1546

  German theologian who launched the Reformation with his Ninety-five Theses in 1517, preached salvation “by faith alone” and authority “by scripture alone”, and translated the Bible into German

• Francisco Pizarro1541

  Spanish conquistador who captured the Inca emperor Atahualpa at Cajamarca in 1532, conquered the Inca Empire and founded Lima

• Atahualpa1533

  Last Inca emperor, captured by Pizarro just after winning a civil war against his brother Huáscar, and executed in 1533

Themes this person appears in

• Turkic-Islamic Empires and Other Civilizations1000 – 1533

  From the Ghaznavid raids on India to the Mughal Empire and Suleiman I — five centuries in which Turkic-led Islamic empires took western Asia and India, while Africa, Southeast Asia and the Americas raised civilisations of their own

• The Age of Discovery1415 – 1600

  From Ceuta to the Manila galleons — two centuries in which European ships crossed the oceans and bound the world together by sea

• Reformation and Absolutism1517 – 1796

  From Luther’s Ninety-five Theses to Catherine the Great — the wars of religion of a divided Christendom ended at Westphalia, and absolute monarchs armed with divine right, standing armies, bureaucracies and mercantilism, followed by the enlightened despots of eastern Europe, contended for the balance of power among sovereign states