15th century

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Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

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

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1429: Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans and turns the tide of the Hundred Years' War.
1481: Spanish Inquisition begins.
1492: Jews expelled from Spain.
1492: 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.
1497-1499: Vasco da Gama's first voyage from Europe to India and back.

Jan Hus, Bohemian religious thinker and reformer (c. 1369 - 1415).
Johannes Gutenberg, European inventor of printing with movable type (c.1398 - 1468)
Joan of Arc, national heroine of France (1412 - 1431).
François Villon, French poet (c. 1431 - 1474).
Mehmed II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Conqueror of Constantinople (1432 - 1481).
Marsilio Ficino, Significant translator of Plato's works (1433 - 1481).
Isabella of Castile, co-ruler of Ferdinand II of Aragon and responsible with him for the unification of Spain (1451 - 1504).
Christopher Columbus sails to the Americas for Spain (c. 1451 - 1506).
Leonardo da Vinci, inventor and painter (1452 - 1519).
Vasco da Gama reaches India for Portugal, creating the first maritime alternative for the Silk Road (c. 1469 - 1524

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
Psychiatric hospitals
Development of the woodcut for printing between 1400-1450
Movable type first used by King Taejong of Joseon - 1403 (Movable type, which allowed individual characters to be arranged to form words, was invented in China by Bi Sheng between 1041 to 1048.)
Although pioneered earlier in Korea and by the Chinese official Wang Zhen (with tin), bronze metal movable type printing is created in China by Hua Sui in 1490.
Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press in Europe (c. 1455).
Linear perspective drawing perfected by Filippo Brunelleschi 1410-1415
Invention of the harpsichord c. 1450
Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus 1492
First canal lock reportedly built in Vreeswijk, Netherlands in 1481

Jean Fouquet (or Jehan Fouquet, 1420 - 1481) was a French painter.
Venus, c. 1485 - Botticelli
Satyr mourning over a nymph (c. 1495) - Piero di Cosimo
1455: Johann Gutenberg invents printing press using movable type cast from metal
Rediscovery of Nero's Golden House
The Bonfire of the Vanities
Gilles de Rais
1493 The use of tobacco is introduced into Europe by Columbus and his crew returning from America.
Europe Claims America October 12 - Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean. The Italian explorer believes he has reached East Asia.
1431 - First German peasant revolt at Worms
The Malleus Maleficarum (1486) Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger
Vlad the Impaler
Vlad III Dracula (also known as Vlad Tepes in Romanian or Vlad the Impaler)
Hieronymous Bosch
1485 The first edition Danse Macabre is published in Paris by Guyot Marchant
Michael Pacher

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