Events and trends

• Transition from the Muromachi to the Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan.
• The fourth to seventh French Wars of Religion occurred.
• August 24, 1572: Roman Catholics committed the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of French Protestants in Paris.
• Spanish silver from the New World began to flood the Chinese market after the Spanish established 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. The resulting inflation (and then deflation as silver supplies were cut off) would be major reasons for Ming China's economic downfall by the 1640s.