January 15 » King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of New France (Canada) and provide for the spread of the "Holy Catholic faith".
May 8 » Hernando de Soto stops near present-day Walls, Mississippi, and sees the Mississippi River (then known by the Spanish as Río de Espíritu Santo, the name given to it by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda in 1519).
June 26 » Francisco Pizarro is assassinated in Lima by the son of his former companion and later antagonist, Diego de Almagro the younger. Almagro is later caught and executed.
August 23 » French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.
August 29 » The Ottoman Turks capture Buda, the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom.
September 13 » After three years of exile, John Calvin returns to Geneva to reform the church under a body of doctrine known as Calvinism.
March 28 » The foundation stone of Valletta, Malta's capital city, is laid by Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
April 5 » Two hundred Dutch noblemen, led by Hendrick van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Seventeen Provinces.
March 8 » Spanish explorer Diego García de Palacio first sights the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Copán.
March 25 » Jerome Savage takes out a sub-lease to start the Newington Butts Theatre outside London.
July 11 » While exploring the North Atlantic Ocean in an attempt to find the Northwest Passage, Martin Frobisher sights Greenland, mistaking it for the hypothesized (but non-existent) island of "Frisland".
July 12 » Mughal Empire annexes Bengal after defeating the Bengal Sultanate at the Battle of Rajmahal.
August 8 » The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory is laid on the island of Hven.
November 4 » Eighty Years' War: In Flanders, Spain captures Antwerp (after three days the city is nearly destroyed).
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Keith Swartz, "Swartz/Rand Family Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/swartz-rand-family-tree/I88896750.php : accessed December 6, 2025), "Gilbert KENNEDY (1541-1576)".
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