Project 500 Years

The hubris of the long-distance empire

What we are seeing in Afghanistan today, in almost real time, is the implosion and final…

1628: A Chinese pirate turns admiral. Sweden’s navy humiliated. Constitional woes in England..

1604: Anglo-Spanish treaty shifts inter-empire pattern

1643: English civil war continues, has wide effects. Dutch poke Spain in Chile. France, China, etc.

1585: Anglo-Spanish war erupts (also some Akbar here)

Key developments of 1528

For these daily/yearly posts, I’ve been relying on English Wikipedia’s annual listings, supplemented by various…

1598: Empires stalling, expanding- or doing both

1627: Succession in Mughal India

In 1627 CE, the usual kinds of colonial practices continued, of course, to be pursued around the world…