1578
Battle of the Three Kings
At Alcacer Quibir in Morocco, the young King Sebastian of Portugal and two rival sultans all died in a chaotic battle in the desert. Portugal lost its king, its army, and shortly thereafter its independence. Philip II of Spain would claim the vacant Portuguese throne within two years. Sebastian's unidentified body spawned a messianic cult of Sebastianism believing the young king would return, a belief persisting for centuries.
Altan Khan Meets the Dalai Lama
The Mongol ruler Altan Khan summoned the Gelug lama Sonam Gyatso to his camp on the eastern steppe and granted him the Mongol title Dalai, meaning ocean of wisdom. Tibetan Buddhism reclaimed its old patrons, and a new lineage of Dalai Lamas began, though the title was only retrospectively applied to his predecessors.
Drake Enters Pacific via Magellan Strait
Francis Drake's Golden Hind passed through the Strait of Magellan in sixteen days, the fastest crossing yet, and emerged into the Pacific. A storm scattered the accompanying ships. Drake found himself alone on an ocean where no English vessel had ever sailed, raiding Spanish ports with complete surprise. His subsequent Pacific coast raid captured twenty-six tons of silver, the most profitable act of piracy in Elizabethan history.
Catacombs of Rome Rediscovered
A hillside collapse on the Via Salaria revealed a network of underground Christian burial galleries, and the antiquarian Antonio Bosio began exploring them with candle and notebook. Rome's vast early Christian underworld, forgotten for a millennium, emerged into Counter-Reformation daylight just as the Church needed martyrs. Bosio's exploration provided the Counter-Reformation with physical evidence of early Christian martyrdom at a time when Protestants challenged apostolic claims.
Moroccan Sa'adi Triumph
The Sa'adi sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, brother of the slain Moulay Abdallah, emerged from the Battle of the Three Kings as the new ruler of Morocco. Enriched by Portuguese ransoms and European respect, he consolidated a Moroccan golden age that would soon reach across the Sahara to Timbuktu. Ahmad al-Mansur's later Songhai conquest and sugar wealth made Morocco one of the Islamic world's most powerful states.