In the Ottoman Empire, the year 1000 of the Islamic calendar (1591/2 CE) was thought of in apocalyptic terms. Many believed that it would bring about the end of the world, and the economic and political hardships of the end of the sixteenth century (rebellion, coinage collapse) were thought of as signs of the end times. As time went by, and it became clear that the world was not going to end, interest died down. It however remained a popular starting year for history books written in the seventeenth century, and continued to be seen as marking a major shift in historical era.