16th century

The 16th century was the century from 1501 to 1600. In this century, many Europeans visited or moved to the newly-found Americas and some also searched for new routes to Asia. There was much change in Europe at the time, such as the Protestant Reformation and the Renaissance.
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mercator_World_Map.jpg|thumb|300x300px|The world map by the Italian Amerigo Vespucci and Belgian Gerardus Mercator (1587)

 Decades and years 
Note: years before or after the 16th century are in italics.

 1500s 1500 1501 1502 1503 1504 1505 1506 1507 1508 1509 1510s 1510 1511 1512 1513 1514 1515 1516 1517 1518 1519 1520s 1520 1521 1522 1523 1524 1525 1526 1527 1528 1529 1530s 1530 1531 1532 1533 1534 1535 1536 1537 1538 1539 1540s 1540 1541 1542 1543 1544 1545 1546 1547 1548 1549 1550s 1550 1551 1552 1553 1554 1555 1556 1557 1558 1559 1560s 1560 1561 1562 1563 1564 1565 1566 1567 1568 1569 1570s 1570 1571 1572 1573 1574 1575 1576 1577 1578 1579 1580s 1580 1581 1582 1583 1584 1585 1586 1587 1588 1589 1590s 1590 1591 1592 1593 1594 1595 1596 1597 1598 1599 1600s 1600 1601 1602 1603 1604 1605 1606 1607 1608 1609