Events and trends

• Transition from the Muromachi to the Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan.
• Fourth to seventh French War of Religion.
• St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, massacre of French protestants in Paris on August 24, 1572.
• Spanish silver from the New World begins to flood the Chinese market after the Spanish establish a trading base at Manila; silver had already become the common medium of exchange under the Ming Dynasty, and now it was firmly cemented into the economy and would be one of the major reasons for Ming China's economic downfall by the 1640s.