Category: Timeline Stories

Mariana de Carvajal at the stake (Martin Cohen, 1973: The Martyr)   A wave of antisemitism wash over Mexico City in the 1590s. The Holy Office investigates around 200 cases…

Auto-da-fé in Lima (Pancho Fierro, 1807-1879. Public Domain)   In 1570, the Spanish Inquisition opens two independent tribunals in America: One in Mexico City (New Spain) and one in Lima (Peru).…

Man about to be burnt at the stake in Goa (Jacques Grasset de Saint-Sauveur, c. 1797, Public Domain)   The Portuguese Inquisition is launched by papal bull in May 1536.…

The Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama arrives in Calicut in May 1498. He is the first European to reach India by sea. Alfredo Roque Gameiro, c. 1900 (Public Domain)  …

Dióscoro Teófilo Puebla Tolín (1862): First landing of Columbus on the shores of the New World, at San Salvador, W.I., Oct. 12th 1492. (Public Domain)   Columbus stumbles on the American continent…

In 17th Century colonial America, criticizing the government, officials or the laws is punishable as seditious libel. It can result in the cropping of ears, whippings, boring of the tongue and…

In the 16th century, Spain and Portugal globalize the inquisition by spreading the fight for religious orthodoxy and against heresy, blasphemy and apostasy to the Americas, Africa and Asia, allowing inquisitors…

Episode 15 returns to Europe and formative events in 17th Century England, where a mostly forgotten group of radicals demand a written constitution guaranteeing free speech, liberty of conscience, and democracy.…

Aurangzeb reading the Qurʼān, unknown painter   The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb is the spitting counter-image of his great-grandfather, Akbar. An orthodox muslim hardliner, he reimposes the Jizya on non-Muslim subjects,…