Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Tokugawa Ieyasu (First Tokugawa Shogun)

徳川 家康 (Tokugawa Ieyasu)

Japan

31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616 (73 years old)

Third and final "Great Unifier" of Japan who triumphed at the Battle of Sekigahara (1600). Established the Tokugawa Shogunate and made Edo (Tokyo) the seat of government, inaugurating two and a half centuries of peace, stability, and cultural flourishing.

Sunpu Castle (Shizuoka), Japan

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Henry IV of France (Good King Henry)

Henri IV (Le Vert Galant)

France

1553 – 1610 (56 years old)

First Bourbon King of France who ended the Wars of Religion by issuing the Edict of Nantes and promised 'a chicken in every pot'.

Saint-Denis, Paris, France

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (Akbar the Great)

جلال الدین محمد اکبر (Akbar)

Pakistan

15 October 1542 – 27 October 1605 (63 years old)

Third Mughal Emperor celebrated for tripling the empire's size, abolishing the sectarian Jizya tax on non-Muslims, establishing the Ibadat Khana interfaith debate hall, and promoting the doctrine of universal harmony (Sulh-i-Kul).

Fatehpur Sikri, India

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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King Naresuan the Great

สมเด็จพระนเรศวรมหาราช

Thailand

1555 – 1605 (50 years old)

King of the Ayutthaya Kingdom celebrated as Siam's greatest warrior monarch, who liberated Siam from Burmese vassalage and won the legendary elephant duel at Nong Sarai in 1593.

Ayutthaya, Thailand

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Ahmad al-Mansur

أحمد المنصور السعدي (الذهبي)

Saadian Sultanate

1549 – 1603 (54 years old)

Glorious Saadian Sultan of Morocco known as 'Al-Dhahabi' (The Golden), who triumphed at the historic Battle of the Three Kings in 1578, conquered the Songhai Empire in Timbuktu, and constructed the opulent El Badi Palace.

Marrakech, Morocco

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Elizabeth I (The Virgin Queen / Gloriana)

Elizabeth I of England

Great Britain

7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603 (69 years old)

Tudor monarch who ruled England for forty-four years during the Elizabethan Golden Age. Consolidated the Church of England, defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, and patronized the flourishing Renaissance of William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe.

Richmond Palace, United Kingdom

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Idris Alooma

Idris Alooma (Mai of Kanem-Bornu)

Nigeria

c. 1571 CE – c. 1603 CE (32 years old)

Renowned Mai (Emperor) of the Kanem-Bornu Empire who modernized his army with Ottoman firearms, camel cavalry, and established legal and administrative reforms based on Islamic law.

Yobe State, Nigeria

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Toyotomi Hideyoshi

豊臣秀吉

Japan

1537 – 1598 (61 years old)

Second of the 'Three Great Unifiers' of Japan who rose from peasant foot-soldier to Imperial Regent (Kampaku), unifying feudal Sengoku Japan.

Kyoto, Japan

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Philip II of Spain

Felipe II de España (El Prudente)

Spain

1527 – 1598 (71 years old)

King of Spain during its Golden Age, champion of the Counter-Reformation, builder of El Escorial, and ruler of the Iberian Union.

San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid, Spain

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Alvaro I of Kongo

Álvaro I Nimi a Lukeni lua Mvemba

Congo

c. 1530 CE – 1587 (57 years old)

Manikongo (King) of the Kingdom of Kongo who reclaimed his throne from the devastating Jaga invasions with Portuguese assistance and Europeanized Kongo's royal court ceremonies.

Mbanza Kongo, Angola

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary Stuart (Mairi Stiùbhart)

Scotland

1542 – 1587 (44 years old)

Queen of Scotland and Queen Consort of France whose tragic life, imprisonment, and execution made her an immortal romantic martyr.

London, United Kingdom

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Ivan IV of Russia (Ivan the Terrible)

Иван IV Васильевич (Иван Грозный)

Russia

1530 – 1584 (53 years old)

First crowned Tsar of all Russia who conquered the Khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan, opening Siberia and building Saint Basil's Cathedral.

Moscow, Russia

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Oda Nobunaga (First Great Unifier of Japan)

織田 信長 (Oda Nobunaga)

Japan

23 June 1534 – 21 June 1582 (47 years old)

The first of Japan's "Three Great Unifiers" of the Sengoku (Warring States) period. Overthrew the Ashikaga Shogunate, revolutionized samurai tactics with volley-fire matchlock firearms at the Battle of Nagashino, and dismantled feudal economic barriers.

Honnō-ji Temple (Kyoto), Japan

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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King Bayinnaung

ဘုရင့်နောင် ကျော်ထင်နော်ရထာ

Taungoo Kingdom

1516 – 1581 (65 years old)

Third king of the Toungoo Dynasty who assembled the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia, conquering Siam, Lan Na, and Lan Xang (Laos) across three decades of military campaigns.

Bago (Pegu), Myanmar

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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King Myeongjong of Joseon

조선 명종 (이환)

South Korea

1534 – 1567 (33 years old)

Thirteenth monarch of the Joseon Kingdom of Korea who struggled against conservative factionalism, patronized Neo-Confucian scholarship under Yi Hwang (Toegye), and established royal state grain relief.

Nowon-gu (Seoul), South Korea

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Suleiman I (The Magnificent / Kanuni Sultan Süleyman)

سليمان اول / Kanunî Sultan Süleyman

Turkey

6 November 1494 – 6 September 1566 (71 years old)

Tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1520–1566). Known in the West as "the Magnificent" and in the East as "the Lawgiver" (Kanuni). Oversaw the golden age of Ottoman military supremacy, arts, and monumental architecture.

Szigetvár, Hungary

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Gustav I of Sweden (Gustav Vasa)

Gustav I (Gustav Eriksson Vasa)

Sweden

1496 – 1560 (64 years old)

Founding father of modern Sweden who led the War of Liberation against Danish rule, introduced the Protestant Reformation, and created hereditary kingship.

Uppsala, Sweden

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (Carlos I of Spain)

Carlos I de España y V del Sacro Imperio

Belgium

1500 – 1558 (58 years old)

Ruler of the Habsburg Empire on which 'the sun never set', sovereign of Spain, the Low Countries, and the Holy Roman Empire.

San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid, Spain

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