London

'London,' says the poet William Dunbar, 'thou art the flower of cities all!' It is the centre of government and its royal palaces the residence of the monarch. Because of court patronage and its large population, arts activities are concentrated here.

The capital's skyline is dominated by church towers and spires, although the spire of the old Gothic St Paul's cathedral is destroyed by lightning in 1561. There are many new timber-framed houses. Typically they are prefabricated in the Weald and Essex and built on site.

London lacks building stone, which has to be brought in from the countryside. But, from the 1560s, brick kilns crop up in Islington and tile kilns in Southwark.

Some sights are a must – but you may need to hold an orange to your nose to cover the putrid smells of the capital's streets.

• The tomb of Henry VII This magnificent marble and gilt-bronze sculpture in Westminster Abbey is created by Italian artist Pietro Torrigiano, who is known in his homeland for having broken Michelangelo's nose in a fight.

• Bridewell Palace, on the west bank of the Fleet River, is splendid enough for the Holy Roman emperor, Charles V, to stay in.

• St Paul's School, founded by Dean Colet in 1509, is the first Renaissance grammar school in England. It teaches the classical languages of Greek and Latin.

• Inspired by the Antwerp Bourse, the Royal Exchange is set up by Thomas Gresham and opened by Elizabeth I in 1571. It's the centre of international trade, and a good place to watch deals being done.

• To catch a glimpse of the reigning monarch, go to the royal parks at Hyde Park, St James's Park, Greenwich or Hampton Court. Make sure you get permission first – trespassers are not dealt with kindly and Tudor royalty lives in daily fear of assassination.

• In 1577, the elaborate timber and carved-plaster structure of old London Bridge is erected, giving the bridge a much-needed makeover. The parts were manufactured in Holland and assembled on site.

• Tyburn is the place for public executions, which attract huge crowds. Other cruel pastimes include bear-baiting and cock-fighting.

• The red-light district is on the south bank of the Thames in Southwark, where many of the open-air theatres are also situated.

• The infamous 11th-century Clink Prison, also in Southwark, whose underground cells hold prisoners, attracts the curious.

England

Despite the importance of the metropolis, you can travel – by cart, boat or horse – to other parts of the British Isles. Travel by road is dirty, tiring, slow and dangerous.

A hired horse can cover about 30 miles in a day. Otherwise travel means a slow walk or a bumpy wagon. It takes more than two days to go from London to Oxford by wagon.

When Elizabeth I goes on a royal 'progress' around the country, she needs 400 carts and carriages to transport her baggage and servants.

Thomas Platter's Travels in England (1599) is a useful guide to the whole country. You'll need it if you want to travel to the four corners of the kingdom.

Never travel alone. The roads are full of beggars, travellers and discharged soldiers, any of whom may turn nasty or be tempted by a unarmed stranger.

One of the musts of the Tudor age is the palace of Nonsuch, built by Henry VIII to rival the French king Francis I's magnificent palaces. The name means 'beyond compare' and it's situated near Ewell in Surrey. It is demolished in 1682. In 1530, horseracing begins in York. Other places worth visiting are the regional centres of Norwich, Bristol, Exeter and York. Most other towns are very small, having fewer than 5,000 inhabitants at the start of the Tudor century.

The Tudor era sees the start of the black presence in England. A royal trumpeter called John Blacke – who served both Henry VII and Henry VIII – may have come from north Africa. From the 1560s, slave traders such as Sir John Hawkins begin to buy and sell Africans. He ships 300 slaves to the West Indies and trades them for hides, sugar and cochineal.

Scotland

Scotland is a separate kingdom during the Tudor era, with its own monarchs – the Stuart dynasty – and laws. Because the monarchy makes few demands on its subjects, the state is stable and the towns and ports quite prosperous. There are universities at St Andrews, Glasgow and Aberdeen. In 1560, the Scottish Reformation, led by the Calvinist John Knox, comes to a head.

Traditionally an ally of Catholic France, Scotland's relations with England are a series of crises, wars and battles. The border between the two nations is a particularly wild place.

Ireland

Ireland in 1485 is still remote from the rest of Europe. It is conquered by Henry VIII in 1541, but remains mainly Roman Catholic and is constantly riven by internal strife as magnates fight each other and the English. The English conquerors live in Dublin, but their authority only extends over a small area known as the 'English Pale'.

The English crown's policy is to spend as little money as possible on subduing Ireland, but at the same time try to make sure that the country is not used as a base by anti-English foreigners from Spain or Scotland. In general, Ireland is hampered by endemic warfare. Agriculture is backward, there is no industry, and there are few merchants or university scholars.

Europe

In Europe, the turbulent century begins with the birth in 1500 of Charles, eldest son of the Habsburg dynasty. As Emperor Charles V, his dominions extend from Spain to Austria and from the Netherlands to Bohemia. The 16th century sees a determined move by the Catholic Habsburgs to become the main power in Europe. In 1527, Rome is sacked by Charles V's huge army. Elsewhere, the Spanish armies are held back by Protestant nations such as England – which defeats the Armada in 1588 – and the Netherlands, which revolts against Spain in 1568. The Netherlands are a good place to go if you want to fight for the Protestant cause.

In 1494, France invades Italy, and its guns batter down the walls of that country's city states. The march of mercenary armies spreads disease among the population. It's not a good time to travel around the Continent, although it's worth the risk if you want to find out more about humanism and reformed religion.

After the Reformation begins with Martin Luther in 1517, much of Europe witnesses wars of religion. In France, there is particularly bitter strife, and the St Bartholomew's Day massacre (1572) of Protestants at the hands of their Catholic neighbours is one of grimmest atrocities of the century. It's only with the accession of Henry IV in 1589 that things calm down. One of the results of these wars is an influx of French (Huguenot) and Dutch Protestants to England. By 1583, there are more than 5,000 refugees in London.

From 1496, the English Company of Merchant Adventurers get trading privileges at Antwerp. Goods are paid for with English woollen cloth, and traders bring back fancy goods and metal wear as well as oriental spices and silks. Antwerp remains the most important European port until about 1560.

Exploration

The Tudor mindset is a mix of superstition and science. One explorer tells Elizabeth I that, because a unicorn's horn has been found in Russia, he believes there is a 'Northwest Passage' from England to China. It must have floated there from China, he says, and concludes that this proves that there is a sea route joining Russia and China! The 16th century is the great age of European exploration of the wider world. The atlas is invented, and the Mercator projection in 1541 shows that Europeans are gradually extending their knowledge of the coasts of other continents.

But there are still many gaps in information. The interior of Africa, for example, is unknown by Europeans, who tell tall tales about the people they imagine live there. And Australia and New Zealand haven't been discovered by Europeans.

But the world is becoming a smaller place thanks to aggressive exploration by Europeans: in 1497, John Cabot discovers Newfoundland; Christopher Columbus arrives in the West Indies in 1492; Vasco da Gama sails east to India in 1497-9; and Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigates the globe for the first time in 1519-22. In the Golden Hind in 1577-80, Francis Drake is the first Englishman to voyage around the world.

In 1589, Richard Hakluyt publishes Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffics and Discoveries of the English Nation, which is a compendium of nautical information.

The tiny beginnings of the British empire lie in North America, whose native peoples are painted by explorer John White. The colony of Virginia, begun by Sir Walter Ralegh in 1585 during the reign of Elizabeth I, attracts many migrants. But times are hard – in the second attempt to colonise Roanoke Island, every one of the 117 men, women and children disappears.

English merchant adventurers begin trading with far-flung empires. In 1555, the Russian Company is formed; in 1600, the East India Company is set up.

The wider world

The world in the 16th century is a place of huge empires, most of which are cut off from one another.

Motivated by greed and religion, the Spanish and Portuguese lead the way in exploring and exploiting the so-called 'New World' in central and south America. The Spanish empire, which occupied Cuba and then Mexico and Peru in the 1520s and 1530s, extends from the River Plate (the border between present-day Argentina and Uruguay) in the south to the Rio Grande (Mexico/US border) in the north. The Portuguese empire is based on Brazil, and like the Spanish, Portuguese ships have started a hectic trade across the Atlantic, plundering the fabulous riches of the South American silver mines and bringing them to Europe. The indigenous civilisations of the Aztecs and the Incas crumble under the onslaught of European guns and European diseases.

Nearer to home is the Russian empire, centred on the kingdom of Moscovy, which – using the new gunpowder weapons of cannon and muskets – successfully holds back the nomadic Mongol hordes of the Asian steppes. By 1556, Russian troops reach the Caspian Sea and their control expands eastwards towards the Pacific. However, the empire of Ivan the Terrible, who rules at the same time as Elizabeth I in England, is constantly threatened. In 1571, troops of the Tartar khanate of the Crimea sack Moscow.

The Ottoman empire, which stretches from large areas of north Africa, across the Middle East and up into Europe, is a testament to the success of Turkish Muslim rulers, whose magnificent capital Constantinople (Istanbul) is much bigger than any European city. Although Islam is defeated in Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, Islamic forces have taken Greece, Bosnia, Albania and most of the Balkans. In the 1520s, under Suleiman, the janissary armies knock on the doors of Budapest and Vienna. Despite such successes, the Turks are defeated by the Venetian navy at the battle of Lepanto in 1571.

In Iran, the Persian empire, ruled by the Shi'ite Muslim Safavid dynasty, is enjoying a resurgence of power, especially in the reign of Ismail I. Other Muslim khanates control the fabled Silk Road which runs between China and the Middle East.

Some European traders get as far as the Indian empire, ruled by the Muslim Moguls. They gradually take control of the whole subcontinent, although they are strongest in the north-east. Established by the king of Kabul, Babur, in 1526, and consolidated by his grandson Akbar, the Muslim Mogul empire steadily overcomes Hindu resistance.

More isolated is Imperial China. By 1600, this gigantic empire has a population of about 130 million, and its Ming dynasty rules through a hierarchic Confucian bureaucracy giving a coherence to society that makes it the envy of the few European travellers who reach there. But China has turned its back on the world, and its great ocean-going ships have been allowed to rot. Trade and foreign visitors are discouraged.

Other places also discourage Europeans. Japan – ruled by the great warlord Hideyoshi – is so unwelcoming that only the bravest Christian missionaries try to enter the country. It twice tries to conquer Korea, Japanese pirates prey on the coasts of China, and maritime adventurers trade with occasional European ships.

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