← Fame through time1500-1599
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 coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Hernán Cortés22 decades - 2
Francisco Pizarro22 decades - 3
Joanna of Castile3 decades - 4
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor0 decades - 5
Juan Sebastián Elcano14 decades - 6
Hernando de Soto22 decades - 7
Vasco Núñez de Balboa19 decades - 8
Pedro de Alvarado22 decades - 9
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca8 decades - 10
Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugalnot measured- - 11
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado14 decades - 12
Diego de Almagro22 decades - 13
Miguel López de Legazpi14 decades - 14
Bernal Díaz del Brawl22 decades - 15
Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugalnot measured- - 16
Gonzalo Pizarro22 decades - 17
Pedro de Mendoza0 decades - 18
Juan Díaz de Solís15 decades - 19
Ferdinand Columbus15 decades - 20
Sebastián de Belalcázar15 decades - 21
Andrés de Urdaneta19 decades - 22
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada0 decades - 23
Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira4 decades - 24
Francisco Hernández de Cordobanot measured- - 25
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés13 decades - 26
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Jerónimo de Aguilar19 decades - 27
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa21 decades - 28
Pedro Cieza de León14 decades - 29
Gonzalo Guerrero21 decades - 30
Juan de Oñate22 decades - 31
Hernando Pizarro22 decades - 32
Francisco Hernández de Córdoba Brito del Socorro y Nazarenonot measured- - 33
Sebastián Vizcaíno14 decades - 34
Diego de Almagro II11 decades - 35
Pedro Páez12 decades - 36
Francisco de Montejo y León22 decades - 37
Nikolaus Federmann11 decades - 38
Juan de Salcedo22 decades - 39
Aben Humeya3 decades - 40
Pedro de Ursúa19 decades - 41Gaspar de Carvajal20 decades
- 42
Álvaro de Saavedra0 decades - 43
Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón12 decades - 44Juan Pizarro22 decades
- 45Juan Fernández22 decades
- 46
Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Duke of Albanot measured- - 47García Jofre de Loaysa8 decades
- 48
Ñuflo de Chaves11 decades - 49
Gil González Dávilanot measured- - 50
Nuño de Guzmán15 decades - 51
Pedro de Heredia22 decades - 52Pascual de Andagoya21 decades
- 53
Francisco de Ulloa20 decades - 54
Francisco de Aguirre22 decades - 55
Francisco de Villagra21 decades - 56Yñigo Ortiz de Retez0 decades
- 57Juan de Ayolas21 decades
- 58
Juan de Salazar de Espinosa2 decades - 59
Hernando de Alarcón14 decades - 60
Rodrigo de Quiroga20 decades - 61Francisco de Hoces11 decades
- 62
Francisco de Garay22 decades - 63
Diego de Losada20 decades - 64Juan González de Mendoza15 decades
- 65
Juan de Esquivel19 decades - 66Martín Cortés, 2nd Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca0 decades
- 67
Juan Ladrillero19 decades - 68
João Serrão22 decades - 69Rodrigo de Vivero y Aberrucia0 decades
- 70Martin de Goiti3 decades
- 71
Francisco de Ibarra22 decades - 72
Tristán de Luna y Arellano9 decades - 73
Francisco Fajardo21 decades - 74
Melchor Bravo de Saravia14 decades - 75Martín Ruiz de Gamboa14 decades
- 76
Luis de Mendoza22 decades - 77
Antón de Alaminos16 decades - 78
Pedro de Villagra17 decades - 79
Diego de Rojas21 decades - 80Bernardo de la Torre20 decades
- 81
Gaspar de Espinosanot measured- - 82Fortún Ximénez8 decades
- 83El Palentino5 decades
- 84Gaspar de Quesadanot measured-
- 85Blas Ruiznot measured-
- 86
Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, 1st Count of Melitonot measured- - 87
Juan Martínez de Ampiésnot measured- - 88
Pedro Afán de Riberanot measured- - 89Antonio de Espejonot measured-
- 90
Alonso de Sotomayornot measured- - 91
Pedro de Candianot measured- - 92Pedro Mariño de Loberanot measured-
- 93
Jerónimo de Alderetenot measured- - 94
Sebastián Ramírez de Fuenlealnot measured- - 95Jorge de Alvaradonot measured-
- 96Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 2nd Duke of Alburquerquenot measured-
- 97
Juan Ponce de León IInot measured- - 98Diego Méndez de Seguranot measured-
- 99Ginés de Mafranot measured-
- 100Melchor Díaznot measured-
How to read these rankings
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.