15th century  

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

Events

• 1401: Timur sacks Baghdad.
• 1402: The Ottoman and Timurid Empires fight 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 beginning 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 of China sails through the Indian Ocean to India, Arabia, and East Africa.
• 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.
• 1415: Battle of Agincourt fought between the Kingdom of England and France
• 1420: Construction of the Chinese Forbidden City is completed in Beijing.
• 1420-34: Hussite Wars in Bohemia
• 1429: Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans and turns the tide of the Hundred Years' War.
• 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.
• 1444: The Albanian league is established in Lezha, Skanderbeg is elected leader
• 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 between the House of York and the House of Lancaster.
• 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 of France,Switzerland,Lorraine and Sigismund II of Habsburg against de duke of Burgundy, Charles the bold.
• 1478: Muscovy conquers Novgorod.
• 1480: After the Great standing on the Ugra river, Muscovy gained independence from the Great Horde.
• 1481: Spanish Inquisition begins.
• 1485: Henry VII defeats Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth and becomes King of England
• 1492: Boabdil's surrender of Granada marks the end of the Reconquista and Al-Andalus.
• 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.

Significant people

• Abu Sa'id al-Afif - Samaritian
• Christine de Pizan, French writer (1364 - 1430).
• Jan Hus, Bohemian religious thinker and reformer (c. 1369 - 1415).
• Zheng He, Chinese eunuch admiral and explorer (1371 - 1433).
• Filippo Brunelleschi invents one-point perspective, leads innovation in Italian architecture (1377 - 1446).
• Henry V of England, the English King who won the famous Battle of Agincourt in 1415 (1387 - 1422).
• John Hunyadi, Regent of Kingdom of Hungary, won the Siege of Belgrade in 1456 (1387 - 1456)
• Sejong the Great of Joseon, a Korean monarch who developed Hangul, the native Korean alphabet (1397 - 1450).
• Johannes Gutenberg, European inventor of printing with movable type (c.1398 - 1468)
• Stephen III of Moldavia, also known as Stephen the Great, ruler of Moldavia, national hero of Romanians for long resistance to the Ottomans (1437 - 1504)
• Constantine XI, Last Byzantine Emperor (1404 - 1453).
• Johannes Ockeghem, Flemish composer (ca. 1410-1497).
• Joan of Arc, national heroine of France (1412 - 1431).
• Kazimierz IV Jagiellon King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1427 - 1492).
• François Villon, French poet (c. 1431 - 1474).
• Vlad III Dracula , Prince of Wallachia who led the defense of his territory against the expanding Ottoman Empire (1431 - 1476).
• Mehmed II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Conqueror of Constantinople (1432 - 1481).
• Mir Chakar Khan Rind (1468)-(1565)
• Marsilio Ficino, Significant translator of Plato's works (1433 - 1481).
• Gjergj Kastrioti, Skenderbeg - Albanian Prince who resisted the Ottomans for almost 30 years in the name of the Albanian people and Catholic faith (1443 - 1468).
• Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, Renaissance ruler (1443 - 1490).
• 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).
• Richard III of England, last English King of the House of York, last of the Plantagenet Dynasty (1452 - 1485).
• Ferdinand II of Aragon , co-ruler of Isabella of Castile and responsible with her for the unification of Spain (1452 - 1516).
• Leonardo da Vinci, inventor and painter (1452 - 1519).
• Henry VII of England, English King and founder the Tudor dynasty (1457 - 1509).
• Vasco da Gama reaches India for Portugal, creating the first maritime alternative for the Silk Road (c. 1469 - 1524

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
• 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