1574

• The tide continues to turn in favor of the Dutch in their revolt against Spanish rule. The Spanish score a small success in the Battle of Mookerheyde, routing Dutch forces under Louis of Nassau, who is killed in the battle, but the six-month Spanish siege of Leiden is broken when in a bold move, William the Silent orders the dikes broken and the fields around the city flooded, allowing the quasi-navy known as the "Sea Beggars" to relieve the starving populace. The Beggars also capture Middelburg, the last Spanish fortress in Zeeland.
• Japanese hegemon Oda Nobunaga continues his war against the ikko ikki sect of Buddhist fanatics, finally destroying the ikko stronghold at Nagashima in his third attempt, trapping more than 20,000 of the ikko believers inside the fortress and burning them alive, even after they attempt to surrender.
• A native revolt expels the Portuguese from the Indonesian island of Ternate.
• Taking advantage of the confusion following the death of French king Charles IX, the prince de Condé escapes from house arrest in Picardy to the Alsace borderland and begins raising money, troops, and support from the German princes for the fifth of the French Wars of Religion.
• In response to repeated Spanish incursions in North Africa, the Ottoman Empire consolidates its Western flank by annexing the Berber kingdom of Tunisia.
• The Indian kingdom of Ahmadnagar conquers the neighboring state of Berar.
• The Spanish colony in Manila is attacked by the Chinese pirate Limahong, but the attack is repulsed.
• A commentary on Euclid by German mathematician Cristoph Clavius helps popularize modern algebraic notation, such as the parenthesis and the plus sign.
• Spanish navigator Juan Fernandez discoveres a small archipelago in the Pacific Ocean now officially known as the Juan Fernandez Islands, but commonly called the Robinson Crusoe Islands, because it was on these islands that Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was self-marooned there for over four years, his experiences serving as the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's famous novel.

These people were born in 1574:

• Giovanni Battista Pamphili, the future pope Innocent X.
• Anne of Denmark future queen of English king James I.
• English poet Richard Barnfield.
• English composer John Wilbye.
• English mystic philosopher Robert Fludd.
• English playwright Thomas Heywood.
• English playwright John Day.

These people died in 1574:

• Ottoman sultan Selim II, succeeded by his son Murad III.
• French king Charles IX, succeeded by his brother Henry III.
• Guru Amar Das, third of the Ten Gurus of the Sikhs.
• Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I de Medici, succeeded by his son Francesco.
• Italian anatomist Bartolomeo Eustachi, one of the first to describe numerous structures in the body, including the adrenal glands, thoracic duct, uterus, kidneys, and eustachian tubes, which are named after him.
• Gabriel, seigneur de Lorges, comte de Montgomery, French Protestant general and accidental assassin of French king Henry II, captured and executed by forces loyal to the crown.
• Italian painter and author Giorgio Vasari, best remembered for his biographies of famous Italian artists.

1573 - 1574 - 1575

16th century