1517

1517 was a year notable for religious change and shifts in regional power. It is best remembered for Martin Luther posting his Ninety-Five Theses on October 31 in Wittenberg, a move that challenged indulgences and other practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The theses are widely regarded as the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation, a reform movement that reshaped European religion, politics, and society in the centuries that followed. That year also saw the conclusion of the Fifth Lateran Council, which had pursued internal church reform but was viewed by many reformers as inadequate in addressing doctrinal abuses.

In the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Selim I defeated the Mamluk Sultanate, with the Battle of Ridaniya near Cairo in 1517 contributing to the capture of Cairo. The victory ended Mamluk rule and expanded Ottoman control to Egypt and the Levant, altering regional power dynamics and trade networks and solidifying Ottoman influence in the eastern Mediterranean and beyond.

Other contemporaneous developments included ongoing European exploration and the spread of humanist scholarship facilitated by printing and increased literacy. The year 1517 thus stands as a turning point in early modern history, signaling the intensification of reformist movements in Europe and the expansion of Ottoman imperial reach that would shape the decade and century to come.