Claim profile
1500–1599

The 16th century

Whose working lives fell in the 16th century. Books are measured from 1800 and readers from 2015, so for this period we can say who lived then, not who was talked about then.

Lived then

The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 16th century, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.

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FieldAllHistorical FiguresWritersPoliticiansArtistsAcademicsReligious FiguresMusiciansScientistsModelsActors
  1. 1Kanō EitokuKanō Eitoku1543–1590 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artists0 decades
  2. 2Hasegawa TōhakuHasegawa Tōhaku1539–1610 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artists0 decades
  3. 3Oda NagamasuOda Nagamasu1548–1622 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artistsnot measured—
  4. 4Honami KōetsuHonami Kōetsu1558–1637 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artistsnot measured—
  5. 5Kanō MotonobuKanō Motonobu1476–1559 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artists0 decades
  6. 6Takeda NobukadoTakeda Nobukado1528–1582 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artistsnot measured—
  7. 7Kanō SanrakuKanō Sanraku1559–1635 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artistsnot measured—
  8. 8Sesson ShukeiSesson Shukei1504–1589 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artists0 decades
  9. 9Kaihō YūshōKaihō Yūshō1533–1615 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artistsnot measured—
  10. 10KMKanō Mitsunobu1561–1608 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artistsnot measured—
  11. 11UTUnkoku Tōgan1547–1618 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artistsnot measured—
  12. 12Kanō ShōeiKanō Shōei1519–1592 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artistsnot measured—
  13. 13Tosa MitsuyoshiTosa Mitsuyoshi1539–1613 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artistsnot measured—
  14. 14KSKanō Sōshū1551–1601 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Artistsnot measured—

How this is measured

  • Placing people in time. Each person belongs to the century in which they were most active — around age 35, and never after their death.
  • Who ranks highest. Within a century, people are ranked where two independent signals agree: how many of the world’s Wikipedia language editions cover them, and how many people actually read about them. Article counts alone can be lifted by a person’s own circle; readers cannot.
  • Fame in print. The curves count how often a name appears in Google Books from 1800 to 2019, as a share of all the words printed each year, in the person’s own language wherever that corpus exists. Those decades are over, so each measurement is made once and kept.
  • What is left out. A lifetime is measured only from 1820, when there is enough print to judge; the five years after a death are skipped as obituaries; and a name shared with someone equally notable is credited to neither.