Technology & Infrastructure in the 16th century

39 sourced entries, 1502 CE to 1596 CE, oldest first. Also see Technology & Infrastructure across every century or everything else in the 16th century.

• 1502In Germany, Peter Henlein of Nuremberg uses iron parts and coiled springs to build a portable timepiece.source
• 1504The Council of Ten discusses the advisability of proposing a scheme of a Suez Canal to the Sultan of Egypt, at the time Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri, but the discussion is eventually abandoned.source
• 1507September 15 – King James IV grants a patent for the first printing press in Scotland, to Walter Chapman and Andrew Myllar "to furnis and bring hame ane prent, with all stuff belangand tharto, and expert men to use the samyne, for imprenting within our Realme of the bukis of our Lawis, actis of parliament, croniclis, mess bukis, and portuus efter the use of our Realme, with addicions and legendis of Scottis sanctis, now gaderit to be ekit tharto, and al utheris bukis that salbe sene necessar, and to sel the sammyn for competent pricis."source
• 1511Duarte Barbosa arrives in India for the second time. He works as clerk in the factory of Cananor, and as the liaison with the Indian rajah.source
• 1515Cardinal Thomas Wolsey orders construction to begin on what is to become Henry VIII's future summer residence Hampton Court Palace.source
• 1516Fuggerei is established in Augsburg (Bavaria), as the world's oldest social housing complex still in use.source
• 1518August 10 – Construction of the Manchester Grammar School is completed in England. The total cost of the project was £218 13s 5d.source
• 1520King Manuel I creates the public mail service of Portugal, the Correio Público.source
• 1526Gunsmith Bartolomeo Beretta establishes the Beretta Gun Company, which will still be in business in the 21st century, making it one of the world's oldest firearm corporations.source
• 1527August 3 – The first known letter is sent from North America by John Rut, while at St. John's, Newfoundland, during his voyage to the New World.source
• 1528Michelangelo Buonarroti begins work on the fortifications of Florence.source
• 1529Fluorite is first described, by Georg Agricola.source
• 1529A summit level canal between Alster and the Trave in Germany opens to navigation.source
• 1530The ducal palace of Celle is constructed in Germany.source
• 1531March 31 – King Henry VIII gives royal assent to numerous acts at the close of the session of the English Parliament, including the Poisoning Act 1530 (providing for boiling to death people convicted of poisioning other persons); the Vagabonds Act 1530 (permitting licensed begging by certified disabled and elderly people); the Egyptians Act 1530 to allow the expulsion of gypsies; and the Bridges Act 1530 for maintenance of bridges.source
• 1532The Paris Parlement has the city's beggars arrested "to force them to work in the sewers, chained together in pairs".source
• 1537The Indian city of Bangalore is first mentioned in print. .source
• 1539The first printing press in North America is set up in Mexico City.source
• 1541December 10 – Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are both executed at Tyburn after being convicted of treason in committing adultery with Queen Catherine. Culpeper is beheaded, while Dereham is hanged, drawn and quartered. As a warning to the public, the severed heads of both men are placed on spikes on the London Bridge.source
• 1547Work on construction of the Château de Chambord, in the Loire Valley, for Francis I of France, ceases.source
• 1550The summit level canal between the Alster and the Trave in Germany ceases to be navigable.source
• 1553Tonbridge School is founded by Sir Andrew Judde, under letters patent of Edward VI of England.source
• 1560The oldest surviving violin (dated inside), known as the Charles IX, is made in Cremona, in northern Italy.source
• 1562The Pünte at Wiltshausen, a small, hand-operated ferry, which becomes a historic monument in the late 20th century, is first recorded.source
• 1565October – The first Martello tower, the Tour de Mortella, designed by Giovan Giacomo Paleari Fratino (el Fratin), is completed as part of the Genovese defence system at Mortella (Myrtle) Point, in Upper Corsica.source
• 1566Between July 19, 1566 and July 7, 1567 (during the Islamic calendar year 974 AH) – The first bridge crossing the Neretva River at Mostar in Herzegovina is completed by the Ottoman Empire. The white marble bridge becomes known as Stari Most ("Old Bridge").source
• 1567Construction of Villa Capra "La Rotonda" in Vicenza, designed by Andrea Palladio, begins. It will be one of the most influential designs in the history of architecture.source
• 1569May 31 – Kasim Pasha of the Ottoman Empire begins the Ottoman attempt to conquer Astrakhan with tens of thousands of troops and a plan to build a canal between the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea to send Ottoman ships on the conquest. The attempt to build a canal proves to be unfeasible.source
• 1570The Whitechapel Bell Foundry is known to be in existence in London. By 2017, when it closes its premises in Whitechapel, it will be the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain.source
• 1573The Luzhou Laojiao liquor is made.source
• 1574June 10 – Construction of The White Tower begins in the Czech Republic.source
• 1575January 21 – Queen Elizabeth I of England grants a monopoly on producing printed sheet music, to Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.source
• 1577Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge over the Drina in Višegrad is completed in the Ottoman Empire.source
• 1578June 11 – Humphrey Gilbert is granted letters patent from the English crown to establish a colony in North America.source
• 1589January 17 – The French city of Chartres closes its gates to King Henry III and subsequently recognizes 65-year-old Charles I, Cardinal de Bourbon as King Charles X.source
• 1591July 22 – The Durtnell (Dartnell) family of Brasted, Kent, England, begin to work as building contractors. The business continues under thirteen generations of the family until ceasing to trade in 2019.source
• 1591The Rialto Bridge in Venice, designed by Antonio da Ponte, is completed.source
• 1594January 17 – Construction of the Junagarh Fort in the Mughal Empire's principality of Bikaner (now in India's Rajasthan state) is completed after almost five years.source
• 1596The first water closet, by Sir John Harington, is installed in a manor near Kelston in England.source