15th century: Encyclopedia - 15th century

15th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500.

15th century - Events

• 1401: Timur sacks Baghdad.
• 1402: The Ottoman and Timurid Empires fought at the Battle of Ankara resulting in Timur's capture of Bayezid I. The Ottoman Empire descends into civil war until 1413.
• 1402: The conquest of the Canary Islands signals the start of the Spanish Empire.
• 1402: Sultanate of Malacca founded by Parameshwara.
• 1403: The Yongle Emperor moves the capital of China from Nanjing to Beijing.
• 1405-33: Zheng He explores the Indian Ocean.
• 1410: The Battle of Grunwald was the decisive battle of the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War leading to the downfall of the Teutonic Knights.
• 1415: Henry the Navigator leads the conquest of Ceuta from the Moors marking the beginning of the Portuguese Empire.
• 1420-34: Hussite Wars in the wonderful Bohemia
• 1438: Pachacuti founds the Inca Empire.
• 1440s: The Golden Horde breaks up into the Siberia Khanate, the Khanate of Kazan, the Astrakhan Khanate, the Crimean Khanate, and the Great Horde.
• 1440-69: Under Moctezuma I, the Aztecs become the dominant power in Mesoamerica.
• 1453: The Fall of Constantinople marks the end of the Byzantine Empire.

• 1453: The Battle of Castillon is the last engagement of the Hundred Years' War.
• 1454-66: After defeating the Teutonic Knights in the Thirteen Years' War, Poland annexes Royal Prussia.
• 1455-85: Wars of the Roses - English civil war leads to a stronger, centralized monarchy under the Tudors.
• 1456: The Siege of Belgrade halts the Ottoman's advance into Europe.
• 1467-1615: The Sengoku period is one of civil war in Japan.
• 1469: The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile leads to the unification of Spain.
• 1474-77: Burgundy Wars between France and the Habsburgs for control of Burgundy.
• 1478: Muscovy conquers Novgorod.
• 1480: After the Great standing on the Ugra river, Muscovy is independent of the Great Horde.
• 1481: Spanish Inquisition begins.
• 1492: Boabdil's surrender of Granada marks the end of the Reconquista and Al-Andalus.
• 1493: Christopher Columbus founds Spain's first New World colony on Hispaniola.
• 1494: Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas and agree to divide the World outside of Europe between themselves.
• 1494-1559: The Italian Wars lead to the downfall of the Italian city-states.

15th century - Significant people

• Joan of Arc, national heroine of France
• Christopher Columbus sails to the Americas for Spain
• Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon as the monarchs of a unified kingdom who funded the founding of the New World.
• Vasco da Gama reaches India for Portugal, creating the first maritime alternative for the Silk Road
• Filippo Brunelleschi invents one-point perspective, leads innovation in Italian architecture
• Leonardo da Vinci, inventor and painter
• Henry V, the English King who won the famous Battle of Agincourt in 1405.
• Richard III, last English King of the house of York
• Henry VII, English King and founder the Tudor dynasty
• Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, renaissance ruler
• Zheng He, Chinese eunuch admiral and explorer
• Mehmet II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Conqueror of Costantinople
• Jan Hus, Bohemian religious thinker and reformer

15th century - Inventions discoveries introductions

List of 15th century inventions

• Renaissance affects philosophy, science and art.
• Age of Discovery begins.
• Rise of Modern English language from Middle English.
• Introduction of the noon bell in the Catholic world.
• Public banks
• Yongle Encyclopedia - over 22,000 volumes
• Hangul alphabet in Korea
• Scotch whisky
• Psychiatric hospitals

15th century - Decades and years

Category: 15th century

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "15th century", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki