In 1615 CE, the major trend in world history for the coming few decades was clearly turning out to be the arrival of the two new Protestant imperial powers, England and Netherlands, onto the world scene, including both the challenges they posed to the older Catholic empire(s)– Spanish and Portuguese, still joined as one– and … Continue reading 1615: English, Dutch leap into global empire-building. A Japanese envoy in Rome. →

The bulletin for 1616 CE was a little challenging to organize as there seem to have been unusually large numbers of developments relevant to our story of the birth and development of Western imperialism. But wrangling them all into something manageable was good practice for what is ahead. I shall present them as follows: (1) … Continue reading 1616: Four European empires expand globally. Etc. →

In 1617 CE, national/imperial power is already clearly emerging as a function of command of global sea-lanes. Now and over the centuries ahead, land-based empires that don’t have a robust and feisty presence in the world’s great oceans will all be falling under the heel of the sea-based European powers. That has already happened to … Continue reading 1617: Spanish empire consolidates; EIC organizes; Ottoman succession & intrigues →

Well, I am so glad I made a strategic decision yesterday not to pay too much attention in my work on this project to the minutiae of developments within land-based empires. Because this year, 1618 CE, an event happened in Prague that launched the extremely complex series of Central European conflicts that became known ever … Continue reading 1618: Political machinations in Netherlands. A defenestration in Prague. →

The year 1619 CE is commonly thought of here in the United States as the year slavery first “arrived” in one of the country’s constituent colonies, which in some sense is true. But it is definitely thought-provoking that 1619 is also hailed as marking the (re-)birth of “representative government” in the exact same colonial settlement– … Continue reading 1619: Slavery & ‘democracy’ arrive in Virginia. New Dutch base in E. Indies. Etc… →

Today marks my successful completion of the first 100 days/years of this project! I have learned a huge amount so far by doing this– and yes, I feel I’ve also been getting my writing-well-to-deadline chops back again. (I’ll be working on another “What I’ve learned to date” longform article soon. Did you see my earlier … Continue reading 1620: The Mayflower. Imperial change in China. Etc. →

The major geopolitical development in 1621 CE was the end of the Twelve Years Truce that Spain and the United Provinces of the Netherlands concluded at Antwerp in April 1609. The Dutch were ready to take advantage of the new freedom of action this afforded them on the world scene and launched a Dutch West … Continue reading 1621: Dutch erupt further onto world scene. Succession in Spain. →

1622 CE was a huge year in geopolitics. A lot of what happened this year had to do with the very long-drawn-out deterioration of the Portuguese empire’s position on the fringes of the Indian Ocean. I’ll try to keep each entry here brief. Here’s the main Table of Contents. Scroll on down to what interests … Continue reading 1622: Powhatans strike back at ‘Jamestown’. Dutch take on China (& Portugal), without success. And much more. →

In 1623, by far the most important development in imperial geopolitics was a confrontation the officials of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) had in Amboyna (Ambon) in the Spice Islands with the handful of English East India Company (EIC) officials there. After a torture-based kangaroo-court trial of all the local EIC officials, the VOC … Continue reading 1623: Dutch beat English in East Indies showdown. →

Lower down in today’s bulletin I’ll provide a quick overview of how, in 1624 CE, the four big European colonialisms– in chronological order, Portugal, Spain, England, and Netherlands– were roiling the world and what was happening in France that showed it to be on the brink of a big eruption of the same maladie de … Continue reading 1624: Four European colonialisms roil the world; France waits in wings →