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| 1581, Sept. 11 |
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| Royal charter creating the Levant Company, which inaugurated English trade with the Ottoman Empire on a sustained basis. The company operated as a monopoly and survived as the organizational framework of English trade in the Middle East until its dissolution by an act of Parliament in 1825. | 1 |
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| 1586 |
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| The first revolt of the military in Egypt; the troops put the governor under house arrest. It was followed by a series of revolts by the soldiery in 1589, 1598, 1601, 1604, and 1609, all of which were suppressed. | 2 |
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| 1588 |
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| Death of Mimar Sinan (b. 1489), the greatest of Ottoman architects. After an early career in the military he devoted his artistic and technical genius to architecture, designing some 360 monuments (mosques, bathhouses, soup kitchens, and mausoleums). The Selimiye mosque in Edirne is his masterpiece. He introduced innovations of style and design and inaugurated an Ottoman classical tradition that lived long after him. | 3 |
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| 1590–1635 |
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| Rule of Fakhr al-Din II of the Ma'nid family in Mount Lebanon. He was one of the most ambitious provincial leaders of his time and worked to establish a dynastic hegemony over Mount Lebanon and the neighboring territories. His success rested on a strong professional army of mercenaries, religious tolerance, and the promotion of trade and agriculture. | 4 |
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| 1593–1606 |
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| War with the Habsburgs. Growing tensions on the Hungarian border and a serious defeat of an Ottoman force at Sissek on the Kulpa River (June 20, 1593) led the grand vezir to declare war. In addition to Habsburg advances toward the Danube, the Ottomans faced, from 1595, rebellions by the vassal principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania. An Ottoman offensive led by the new sultan Mehmed III captured the fortress of Erlau and routed the Habsburgs in Mezö Kerésztés (Oct. 26, 1596), but because of political problems at home the Ottoman army lost momentum and suffered setbacks. In 1604–5 the Ottomans succeeded in recapturing Pest and Gran and restoring the Danubian principalities to obedience. The tremendous costs of the war and the new threats from Iran prompted them to accept peace offers. In the Treaty of Szitvatorok (Nov. 11, 1606), the prewar boundaries were confirmed, and for the first time the sultan accepted the Habsburg emperor as his equal and ended his payments of tribute for northern Hungary. | 5 |
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