Timeline April 1591

Events in April 1591 3

• 1522 – 1591 Martin Chemnitz (1522-1591) Died 8 April 1591, aged 68 Martin Chemnitz was a German Lutheran theologian whose systematic defense and refinement of Lutheran doctrine earned him the nickname "the second Martin" after Luther. His writings, including the Formula of Concord, helped stabilize Lutheran theology after the reformer's death.
• 1522 – 1591 Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591) Died 21 April 1591, aged 69 Sen no Rikyu, the most influential figure in the history of the Japanese tea ceremony, was ordered to commit ritual suicide by his patron, the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The reasons for his fall from favor remain disputed, but his aesthetic principles of wabi-sabi simplicity continued to shape Japanese tea culture long after his death.
• 1591 James Lancaster sails for the East Indies First English expedition to round the Cape of Good Hope for Asia A fleet of three ships under James Lancaster left England to open direct trade with the East Indies, becoming the first English expedition to reach Asia by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope. Disease, storms, and hostile encounters devastated the voyage, but it marked the beginning of English ambitions in the Indian Ocean trade that led to the founding of the East India Company a decade later.