• Miguel López de Legaspi, commanding an expedition from New Spain, begins the Spanish conquest of the Philippines.
• Pope Pius IV issues a papal bull, Benedictus Deus, confirming the reforms of the Council of Trent, which had concluded the year before.
• French Huguenots under René de Laudonnière establish the colony of Fort Caroline in Florida, challenging Spanish dominance in the region.
• Japanese warlords Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin face each other for the fifth and final time at the Fifth Battle of Kawanakajima, which ends in yet another draw.
• Work begins on the Tuileries palace in Paris, at the behest of Catherine de Medici
• Cremona craftsman Andrea Amati, founder of the famous Amati family of violinmakers, makes his first violin. Amati is credited with the basic design of the modern violin.

These people were born in 1564:

• William Shakespeare
• Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei.
• English playwright Christopher Marlowe.
• Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Younger.
• Dutch artist Abraham Bloemaert, the teacher of Hendrick terBrugghen.
• Will Adams, the first Englishman to visit Japan, in 1600. He would become the model for the protagonist John Blackthorne in James Clavell's bestselling novel, Shogun.

These people died in 1564:

• Italian sculptor and painter Michelangelo Buonarroti.
• Protestant leader John Calvin, the founder of Calvinism.
• Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. He is succeeded by his son Maximillian II.
• Flemish anatomist Andreas Vesalius, the "father of modern anatomy."
• French poet Maurice Scève (approximate).
• Italian religious reformer Bernardino Ochino.

1563 - 1564 - 1565

16th century