Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Humanitarian & Peace

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Francisco de Vitoria

Francisco de Vitoria

Spain

c. 1483 – 1546 (63 years old)

Renaissance Dominican theologian and jurist of the School of Salamanca whose lectures 'De Indis' laid the foundations of modern international law, human rights, and the sovereign equality of indigenous peoples.

Salamanca, Spain

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

32

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Hayreddin Barbarossa

خير الدين بربروس

Greece

c. 1478 – 1546 (68 years old)

Younger brother of Aruj who placed Algiers under Ottoman caliphal protection, destroyed the Spanish Peñón of Algiers, conquered Tunis, and routed Holy League navies at the Battle of Preveza in 1538.

Besiktas (Istanbul), Turkey

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Military Leaders & Strategists

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Hayreddin Barbarossa (Khizr Reis)

بارباروس خير الدين باشا / Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa

Greece

1 – 1546 (68 years old)

Grand Admiral (Kapudan Pasha) of the Ottoman Navy who defeated the Holy League at the Battle of Preveza, establishing Ottoman naval supremacy across the Mediterranean.

Beşiktaş (Istanbul), Turkey

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Religious Figures & Theologians

47

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Martin Luther (Father of the Reformation)

Martin Luther

Germany

10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546 (62 years old)

German monk and professor whose Ninety-Five Theses sparked the Protestant Reformation. Translated the Bible into vernacular German, establishing foundational principles of justification by faith alone (Sola Fide) and scripture alone (Sola Scriptura).

Eisleben, Germany

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Religious Figures & Theologians

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Mirabai

मीराबाई

India

c. 1498 – c. 1546 (48 years old)

Legendary Rajput princess and supreme Bhakti poet-saint whose ecstatic bhajans to Lord Krishna defied royal patriarchy and caste taboos, inspiring millions across India.

Dwarka, India

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Resistance & Human Rights

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Manco Inca

Manqu Inka Yupanki

Peru

c. 1516 – c. 1544 (28 years old)

Emperor of the Inca who escaped Spanish confinement in 1536 to launch the Great Inca Rebellion, laying siege to Spanish-occupied Cusco with 100,000 warriors and founding the independent Neo-Inca State in the cloud forests of Vilcabamba.

La Convencion (Cusco), Peru

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Arts & Music

2,604

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Hans Holbein the Younger

Hans Holbein der Jüngere

Germany

1 – 1 (46 years old)

Supreme Northern Renaissance portraitist whose precise likenesses defined the court of King Henry VIII and European Humanism.

London, United Kingdom

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Sciences & Discovery

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Nicolaus Copernicus

Mikołaj Kopernik

Poland

19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543 (70 years old)

Polish astronomer and canon whose 1543 masterpiece De revolutionibus orbium coelestium placed the Sun at the center of the universe, inaugurating the Scientific Revolution.

Frombork (Warmia), Poland

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Religion

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Abu Azm Muhammad al-Boudali al-Kush

محمد البدالي الكوش المعروف بسيدي رحال

Morocco

c. 1490 – 1543 (~53 years old)

Revered 16th-century Sufi ascetic of the Jazuliyya branch whose mystical wandering earned him the title 'Rahhal' (the Traveler), founder of the religious center of Sidi Rahhal in the foothills of the High Atlas.

Sidi Rahhal, Morocco

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Statesmanship & Statesmen

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Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex

Thomas Cromwell

Great Britain

c. 1485 – 1540 (55 years old)

Chief minister to King Henry VIII who orchestrated the English Reformation, established Royal Supremacy over the Church, and dissolved the monasteries.

London, United Kingdom

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Humanitarian & Peace

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Antonio de Montesinos

Fray Antonio de Montesinos

Spain

c. 1475 – 1540 (65 years old)

Spanish Dominican friar who delivered the historic Advent sermon of 1511 on Hispaniola, the first public denunciation of European mistreatment and enslavement of indigenous peoples in the New World.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

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Religious Figures & Theologians

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Guru Nanak

ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ

Pakistan

1469 – 1539 (70 years old)

Founder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus, who taught the oneness of God (Ik Onkar), equality of all human beings, and the institution of langar.

Kartarpur, Pakistan

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Prophets & Divine Messengers

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Guru Nanak Dev Ji (First Sikh Guru)

ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਦੇਵ (Gurū Nānak Dēv)

Pakistan

15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539 (70 years old)

Founder of Sikhism who proclaimed the universal oneness of the Creator (Ik Onkar). Traveled thousands of miles across Asia on foot (Udasis), breaking caste discrimination and establishing the free communal kitchen (Langar).

Kartarpur, Pakistan

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Politics

2

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Donnacona

Donnacona

Canada

c. 1485 – c. 1539 (54 years old)

Sixteenth-century leader of the St. Lawrence Iroquoian settlement of Stadacona who met Jacques Cartier in 1534 and was taken to France to meet King Francis I.

Paris (Memorial in Quebec City), France

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Exploration

7

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Mustafa Azemmouri

مصطفى الزموري

Morocco

c. 1500 – c. 1539 (39 years old)

Native of Azemmour, Morocco, and one of only four survivors of the 1528 Narváez expedition, who walked thousands of miles across Texas, Mexico, and the American Southwest, serving as key translator and guide.

Zuni, United States

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Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

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Askia Muhammad I

Askia Muhammad I (Askia the Great)

Mali

c. 1443 CE – 1538 (95 years old)

Emperor of the Songhai Empire known as Askia the Great, who expanded the empire to its maximum territorial height and made Timbuktu the premier intellectual capital of West Africa.

Gao, Mali

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Religious Figures & Theologians

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Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus

Netherlands

28 October 1466 – 12 July 1536 (69 years old)

Leader of northern Christian humanism celebrated as the "Prince of the Humanists." Published the first printed Greek New Testament (Novum Instrumentum) and penned biting satires against clerical hypocrisy like Praise of Folly.

Basel, Switzerland

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Resistance & Human Rights

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Enriquillo

Guarocuya (Enriquillo)

Haiti

c. 1496 – 1535 (39 years old)

Taino cacique Guarocuya 'Enriquillo' who led a brilliant fourteen-year guerrilla war (1519–1533) in the Bahoruco mountains of Hispaniola, forcing Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to sign a royal peace treaty recognizing Taino autonomy and freedom.

Pueblo Viejo (Azua), Dominican Republic

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