1521 — Year of Reformation, Conquest and Global Encounter

Major events

• Diet of Worms (April 1521): Martin Luther appeared before Emperor Charles V and imperial deputies and refused to recant core teachings. The subsequent Edict of Worms declared him an outlaw and banned his writings, but his ideas continued to spread, aided by print and local rulers who protected reformers.
• Fall of Tenochtitlan (August 1521): Hernán Cortés, with substantial indigenous allies such as the Tlaxcalans, captured the Aztec capital after a prolonged siege. The collapse of the Aztec political order was influenced by military conflict, alliances, and epidemic disease, and it opened the way for Spanish colonial administration in central Mexico.
• Magellan’s Pacific crossing (1521): Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition reached the Philippine archipelago and Magellan was killed in the Battle of Mactan in April. Although he did not survive, his voyage demonstrated the possibility of westward oceanic passage to Asia; the expedition would complete the first circumnavigation the following year under surviving officers.
• Other political shifts: In Spain the Revolt of the Comuneros was suppressed in 1521, reinforcing royal authority under Charles V. In Ming China, the death of the Zhengde Emperor led to dynastic succession and changes at court that affected governance.

Significance and legacy

1521 is often seen as an inflection point: religious dissent hardened into political confessional divisions in Europe, while Iberian expansion reshaped the demographics, economies and ecosystems of the Americas. The year’s sea voyages began sustained transoceanic connections that would link markets, peoples and empires on a global scale. The combined effects—state consolidation, missionary activity, new trade routes and demographic upheaval—helped define the contours of the early modern period.