1521

1521 was a year marked by decisive events across continents. In the Holy Roman Empire, Martin Luther refused to recant at the Diet of Worms, intensifying the Protestant Reformation. On May 25, 1521, the Edict of Worms declared Luther an outlaw and banned his writings.

In the Americas, Spanish forces completed the conquest of the Aztec Empire with the fall of Tenochtitlan on August 13, 1521. The city was largely destroyed, and the site became the center of the colonial capital of New Spain, later known as Mexico City.

In Asia and the Pacific, Ferdinand Magellan was killed on April 27, 1521 in the Philippines during the Battle of Mactan. The remaining crew continued under Juan Sebastián Elcano and completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth in 1522, returning to Spain with a single vessel and a fraction of the original crew.

In Europe, the Ottoman Empire under Suleiman the Magnificent captured Belgrade, strengthening Ottoman control over the Danube region and shifting the balance of power in Central Europe.