Arquebus

Timeline

1. c. 1470–1520Iberian Peninsula · Iberian PeninsulaFrom the late 15th to early 16th century, matchlock ignition devices and barrel-casting techniques matured; Spanish and Portuguese colonial and trade networks carried matchlocks into North Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the East Asian coast.
2. 1531–1540Eurasia · EurasiaIn the 1530s the arquebus became standard issue in the regular armies of the major Eurasian polities: Ottoman Janissaries expanded their musketeer ranks, Spanish tercios became renowned for dense shot formations, and Japanese Sengoku daimyo imported and copied them in large numbers, ushering global infantry tactics into the gunpowder age.
3. c. 1550–1650Europe · EuropeIn the mid-to-late 16th century states developed mixed formations, rotating fire, and other matchlock tactics; after the appearance of the flintlock in the 17th century, matchlocks gradually withdrew from front-line service, but their global prevalence in the 1530s had permanently changed the nature of war.