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1556| 1550–1600 | North America, South America, Europe [trade] | New agricultural products are exchanged between the New and Old Worlds. The Spanish introduce potatoes, tomatoes, quinine, cocoa, tapioca, and tobacco to Europe. From Europe, the New World gains barley, oats, rye, sugar cane, cattle, pigs, poultry, rabbits, and horses. | | 1556 | Europe [agriculture] | Franciscan monk André Thevet from Rio de Janeiro introduces tobacco seeds into Europe. The plant is originally grown for decorative purposes, though it is also thought to have some medicinal properties. | | 16 January 1556 | Spain [political events] | The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V abdicates as king (Charles I) of Spain; his son succeeds him as King Philip II. | | 24 January 1556 | China, Ming Empire [natural disasters] | A huge earthquake, the worst ever recorded, hits the Shanxi province of China, leaving more than 830,000 dead. | | 5 February 1556 | France, Spanish Netherlands, Holy Roman Empire [treaties] | A truce is signed at Vaucelles in the Spanish Netherlands between King Henry II of France and King Philip II of Spain, who is now governor of the Netherlands following the abdication of his father the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. | | 31 July 1556 | Rome, Spain [births and deaths] | St Ignatius de Loyola, highly influential Spanish theologian, founder of the Jesuits (1534), dies in Rome, Italy (c. 65). | | 7 September 1556 | Holy Roman Empire [political events] | The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V abdicates from the imperial throne in favour of his brother Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria, King of the Romans (the German king), Bohemia, and part of Hungary. | | 9 September 1556 | Papal States, Italy, Holy Roman Empire [political events] | Pope Paul IV, claiming the papal veto over the election of the Holy Roman Emperor, refuses to acknowledge Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria, king of the Romans (the German king), Bohemia, and part of Hungary as Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. |
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