Who Was Alive
Matteo Ricci
Chinese brother Emmanuel Pereira (born Yu Wen-hui 游文辉), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Matteo Ricci

Italian missionary

Born 6 October 1552 · died 11 May 1610, aged 57
Also known as Li Madou, Mateo Ricci

Who was alive at the same time as Matteo Ricci?

  1. Michelangelo, 1475 – 1564
  2. Mimar Sinan, c. 1490 – 1588
  3. Jacques Cartier, 1491 – 1557
  4. François Rabelais, 1494 – 1553
  5. Suleiman the Magnificent, 1494 – 1566
  6. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 1500 – 1558
  7. John Calvin, 1509 – 1564
  8. Michel de Montaigne, 1533 – 1592
  9. Elizabeth I, 1533 – 1603
  10. Akbar, 1542 – 1605
  11. Miguel de Cervantes, c. 1547 – 1616
  12. Giordano Bruno, 1548 – 1600
  13. Matteo Ricci, 1552 – 1610
  14. Francis Bacon, 1561 – 1626
  15. Lope de Vega, 1562 – 1635
  16. Galileo Galilei, 1564 – 1642
  17. William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616
  18. Johannes Kepler, 1571 – 1630
  19. Peter Paul Rubens, 1577 – 1640
  20. Thomas Hobbes, 1588 – 1679
  21. René Descartes, 1596 – 1650
  22. Diego Velázquez, 1599 – 1660
  23. Rembrandt, 1606 – 1669
  24. John Milton, 1608 – 1674

Drag across the timeline, or use the arrow keys, to see who was alive in any year and the age each person reached that year. Dashed lines mark world events. Faded ends mark uncertain dates.

When Matteo Ricci was born, Michelangelo was 77, Elizabeth I was 19, Akbar was 9, Jacques Cartier was 60 and Suleiman the Magnificent was 57.

When Matteo Ricci died, William Shakespeare was 46, Galileo Galilei was 46, René Descartes was 14, Rembrandt was 3 and Francis Bacon was 49.

Born during Matteo Ricci’s lifetime: William Shakespeare, Galileo Galilei, René Descartes, Rembrandt, Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, Peter Paul Rubens and Diego Velázquez.

Not quite contemporaries: Martin Luther died about 6 years before Matteo Ricci was born, Molière was born about 12 years after Matteo Ricci died, Nicolaus Copernicus died about 9 years before Matteo Ricci was born and Blaise Pascal was born about 13 years after Matteo Ricci died.

What happened in Matteo Ricci’s lifetime

Where Matteo Ricci’s contemporaries were born

Matteo Ricci is labelled; the others are the best-known people we track who lived at the same time. Each dot is a birthplace from Wikidata (79 of 81 placed); tap one to open that person.
Birthplaces as a list

Compare Matteo Ricci

The 150 best-known contemporaries

180 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as Matteo Ricci. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1581.

  1. William Shakespeare 1564 – 1616
  2. Galileo Galilei 1564 – 1642
  3. Michelangelo 1475 – 1564
  4. René Descartes 1596 – 1650
  5. Miguel de Cervantes c. 1547 – 1616
  6. Rembrandt 1606 – 1669
  7. Elizabeth I 1533 – 1603
  8. Francis Bacon 1561 – 1626
  9. Johannes Kepler 1571 – 1630
  10. Peter Paul Rubens 1577 – 1640
  11. Akbar 1542 – 1605
  12. Diego Velázquez 1599 – 1660
  13. Jacques Cartier 1491 – 1557
  14. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  15. John Milton 1608 – 1674
  16. Suleiman the Magnificent 1494 – 1566
  17. Giordano Bruno 1548 – 1600
  18. Michel de Montaigne 1533 – 1592
  19. Mimar Sinan c. 1490 – 1588
  20. John Calvin 1509 – 1564
  21. François Rabelais 1494 – 1553
  22. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1500 – 1558
  23. Lope de Vega 1562 – 1635
  24. Oliver Cromwell 1599 – 1658
  25. Tycho Brahe 1546 – 1601
  26. Nostradamus 1503 – 1566
  27. Francis Drake c. 1540 – 1596
  28. Ivan the Terrible 1530 – 1584
  29. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594
  30. Caravaggio 1571 – 1610
  31. El Greco 1541 – 1614
  32. Pierre de Fermat 1607 – 1665
  33. Luís de Camões c. 1525 – 1580
  34. Philip II of Spain 1527 – 1598
  35. Charles I of England 1600 – 1649
  36. Titian c. 1490 – 1576
  37. Teresa of Ávila 1515 – 1582
  38. Mary, Queen of Scots 1542 – 1587
  39. Pierre Corneille 1606 – 1684
  40. Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1600 – 1681
  41. Ignatius of Loyola c. 1491 – 1556
  42. Cardinal Richelieu 1585 – 1642
  43. Henry IV of France 1553 – 1610
  44. Abel Tasman 1603 – 1659
  45. Mary I 1516 – 1558
  46. Christopher Marlowe c. 1564 – 1593
  47. John Donne 1572 – 1631
  48. Shah Jahan 1592 – 1666
  49. John Amos Comenius 1592 – 1670
  50. James VI and I 1566 – 1625
  51. Pope Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  52. Edward VI 1537 – 1553
  53. Louis XIII 1601 – 1643
  54. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  55. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  56. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  57. Evangelista Torricelli 1608 – 1647
  58. Pieter Bruegel the Elder c. 1525 – 1569
  59. Pope Pius V 1504 – 1572
  60. Nicolas Poussin 1594 – 1665
  61. Catherine de' Medici 1519 – 1589
  62. Pope Urban VIII 1568 – 1644
  63. Francis Xavier 1506 – 1552
  64. Giorgio Vasari 1511 – 1574
  65. Pope Paul V 1552 – 1621
  66. Claudio Monteverdi 1567 – 1643
  67. Ben Jonson 1572 – 1637
  68. Miyamoto Musashi 1584 – 1645
  69. Hürrem Sultan c. 1507 – c. 1560
  70. Fuzuli c. 1488 – 1556
  71. Pope Pius IV 1499 – 1565
  72. Tintoretto 1519 – 1594
  73. Pope Leo XI 1535 – 1605
  74. Tokugawa Ieyasu 1543 – 1616
  75. John Napier 1550 – 1617
  76. Andreas Vesalius 1514 – 1564
  77. Pope Clement VIII 1536 – 1605
  78. Pope Gregory XV 1554 – 1623
  79. Abbas the Great 1571 – 1629
  80. Gustavus Adolphus 1594 – 1632
  81. Anthony van Dyck 1599 – 1641
  82. Pope Julius III 1487 – 1555
  83. Pope Sixtus V 1521 – 1590
  84. Francisco de Quevedo 1584 – 1645
  85. Philip IV of Spain 1605 – 1665
  86. Pope Paul IV 1476 – 1559
  87. Pope Urban VII 1521 – 1590
  88. John of the Cross 1542 – 1591
  89. Jahangir 1569 – 1627
  90. Pope Innocent X 1574 – 1655
  91. Cardinal Mazarin 1602 – 1661
  92. Gerolamo Cardano 1501 – 1576
  93. Humayun 1508 – 1556
  94. William the Silent 1533 – 1584
  95. Francisco de Zurbarán c. 1598 – 1664
  96. Philipp Melanchthon 1497 – 1560
  97. Oda Nobunaga 1534 – 1582
  98. Pope Gregory XIV 1535 – 1591
  99. Lady Jane Grey 1537 – 1554
  100. Murad III 1546 – 1595
  101. Pope Clement X 1590 – 1676
  102. Gian Lorenzo Bernini 1598 – 1680
  103. Pope Alexander VII 1599 – 1667
  104. Pope Clement IX 1600 – 1669
  105. Pope Alexander VIII 1610 – 1691
  106. Andrea Palladio 1508 – c. 1580
  107. Paolo Veronese 1528 – 1588
  108. Willem Barentsz c. 1551 – 1597
  109. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor 1503 – 1564
  110. Selim II 1524 – 1574
  111. Toyotomi Hideyoshi 1537 – 1598
  112. Edmund Spenser c. 1553 – 1599
  113. Guy Fawkes c. 1570 – 1606
  114. Philip III of Spain 1578 – 1621
  115. Pierre de Ronsard 1524 – 1585
  116. Henry III of France 1551 – 1589
  117. Tommaso Campanella 1568 – 1639
  118. Pope Marcellus II 1501 – 1555
  119. Charles IX of France 1550 – 1574
  120. Pope Innocent IX 1519 – 1591
  121. Mehmed III 1566 – 1603
  122. Baltasar Gracián c. 1603 – 1658
  123. Osman II 1604 – 1622
  124. Tulsidas c. 1522 – 1623
  125. Gerardus Mercator 1512 – 1594
  126. Samuel de Champlain c. 1570 – 1635
  127. Francis de Sales 1567 – 1622
  128. Iskandar Muda 1583 – 1636
  129. Ahmed I 1590 – 1617
  130. Artemisia Gentileschi 1593 – 1653
  131. Henry II of France 1519 – 1559
  132. Joanna of Castile 1479 – 1555
  133. Gustav Vasa 1496 – 1560
  134. William Gilbert 1544 – 1603
  135. Walter Raleigh c. 1552 – 1618
  136. Boris Godunov 1552 – 1605
  137. Mustafa I 1591 – 1639
  138. Michael of Russia 1596 – 1645
  139. Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor 1552 – 1612
  140. Sigismund III Vasa 1566 – 1632
  141. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor 1578 – 1637
  142. Bartolomé de las Casas 1484 – 1566
  143. Francis II of France 1544 – 1560
  144. Étienne de La Boétie 1530 – 1563
  145. Margaret of Valois 1553 – 1615
  146. Mumtaz Mahal 1593 – 1631
  147. Bohdan Khmelnytsky 1595 – 1657
  148. John Knox c. 1514 – 1572
  149. Frans Hals 1580s – 1666
  150. Jusepe de Ribera 1591 – 1652