1492, Columbus opens the route to the New World for Spain. Beginning of the Modern Age.

Millennium: 2nd millennium

Centuries: 14th century · 15th century · 16th century

Decades: 1400s 1410s 1420s 1430s 1440s

1450s 1460s 1470s 1480s 1490s

Categories: Births - Deaths

Establishments - Disestablishments

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

Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, falls to emerging Ottoman Turks, forcing Western Europeans to find a new trade route.

The Papacy was split in two parts in Europe for decades, until the Council of Constance.

Under the rule of Yongle Emperor, who built the Forbidden City and commanded Zhenghe to explore the world overseas, Ming Dynasty's territory reached pinnacle. Tamerlane established a major empire in the Middle East and Central Asia, in order to revive the Mongolian Empire. The Inca Empire rose to prominence in South America.

Spanish and Portuguese explorations led to the first European sightings of the Americas and the sea passage along Cape of Good Hope to India, in the last decade of the century. After these first sightings by Europeans, transportation increased to Europe from America. Native indigenous cultures that lived within the continent of the Americas had already developed advanced civilizations that attest to thousands of years of human presence; sophisticated engineering, irrigation, agriculture, religion and government existed before the arrival of the Spanish and the Portuguese. The idea that Europeans "discovered" America can lead to misunderstanding the true nature of the encounter between two distinct and independent civilizations, namely European and Indigenous American.

In European history, the 15th century is seen as the bridge between the Middle Ages, the Early Renaissance, and the Early modern period.

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Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl, directly influenced the result of the Hundred Years' War.

1401: Dilawar Khan establishes the Malwa Sultanate in present-day central India

1402: Ottoman and Timurid Empires fight at the Battle of Ankara resulting in Timur's capture of Bayezid I.

1402: Sultanate of Malacca founded by Parameshwara.

1403: The Yongle Emperor moves the capital of China from Nanjing to Beijing.

1403: The settlement of the Canary Islands signals the beginning of the Spanish Empire.

1405-1433: Zheng He of China sails through the Indian Ocean to India, Arabia, and East Africa to spread China's influence and sovereignty.

1410: The Battle of Grunwald is the decisive battle of the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War leading to the downfall of the Teutonic Knights.

1410-1413: Foundation of St Andrews University in Scotland

1414: Khizr Khan, deputised by Timur to be the governor of Multan, takes over Delhi founding the Sayyid dynasty

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.

1415: Jan Hus is burned at the stake as a heretic at the Council of Constance.

1420: Construction of the Chinese Forbidden City is completed in Beijing.

1420-1434: Hussite Wars in Bohemia

Matthias Corvinus of Hungary The renaissance king, His mercenary standing army (the Black Army) had the strongest military potential of its era

1424: James I returns to Scotland after being held hostage under three Kings of England since 1406

1424: Deva Raya II succeeds his father Veera Vijaya Bukka Raya as monarch of the Vijayanagara Empire

1425: Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) founded by Pope Martin V.

1429: Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans and turns the tide of the Hundred Years' War.

1438: Pachacuti founds the Inca Empire.

1440: Eton College founded by Henry VI.

1440s: The Golden Horde breaks up into the Siberia Khanate, the Khanate of Kazan, the Astrakhan Khanate, the Crimean Khanate, and the Great Horde.

1440-1469: Under Moctezuma I, the Aztecs become the dominant power in Mesoamerica.

1441: Jan van Eyck, Flemish painter, dies

1441: Portuguese navigators cruise West Africa and reestablish the European slave trade with a shipment of African slaves sent directly from Africa to Portugal.

1443: Abdur Razzaq visits India

1444: The Albanian league is established in Lezha, Skanderbeg is elected leader. A war begins against Ottoman empire. An Albanian state is set up and lasts until 1479.

Portrait of Scanderbeg, ca. 1648.

1444: Ottoman Empire under Sultan Murad II defeats the Polish and Hungarian armies under Władysław III of Poland and János Hunyadi at the Battle of Varna.

1445: Kazan Khanate defeats Grand Duchy of Moscow at the Battle of Suzdal

1446: King Sejong the Great published a hangul, the native phonetic alphabet system for the Korean language.

1446: Mallikarjuna Raya succeeds his father Deva Raya II as monarch of the Vijayanagara Empire

1449: Esen Tayisi leads an Oirat Mongol invasion of China which culminate in the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor at Battle of Tumu Fortress.

Modern painting of Mehmed II marching on Constantinople in 1453

The map of Ming dynasty(1433), based on The Historical Atlas of China

1450s: Machu Picchu constructed.

1451: Bahlul Khan Lodhi ascends the throne of the Delhi sultanate starting the Lodhi dynasty

1453: The Fall of Constantinople marks the end of the Byzantine Empire and the death of the last Roman Emperor Constantine XI and the beginning of the Growth of the Ottoman Empire.

1453: The Battle of Castillon is the last engagement of the Hundred Years' War and the first battle in European history where cannons were a major factor in deciding the battle.

1454-1466: After defeating the Teutonic Knights in the Thirteen Years' War, Poland annexes Royal Prussia.

1455-1485: Wars of the Roses - English civil war between the House of York and the House of Lancaster.

Richard III of England

1456: The Siege of Belgrade halts the Ottoman's advance into Europe.

1462: Sonni Ali Ber, the ruler of the Songhai (or Songhay) Empire, along the Niger River, conquers Mali in the central Sudan by defeating the Tuareg contingent at Tombouctou (or Timbuktu) and capturing the city. He develops both his own capital, Gao, and the main centres of Mali, Timbuktu and Djenné, into major cities. Ali Ber controls trade along the Niger River with a navy of war vessels.

1462: Mehmed the Conqueror is driven back by Wallachian prince Vlad III Dracula at The Night Attack.

1467: Uzun Hasan defeats the Black Sheep Turkoman leader Jahān Shāh.

1467-1615: The Sengoku period is one of civil war in Japan.

The Siege of Rhodes (1480). Ships of the Hospitaliers in the forefront, and Turkish camp in the background.

1469: The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile leads to the unification of Spain.

1469: Matthias Corvinus of Hungary conquers some parts of Bohemia.

1469: Birth of Guru Nanak Dev. Beside followers of Sikhism, Guru Nanak is revered by Hindus and Muslim Sufis across the Indian subcontinent.

1470: The Moldavian forces under Stephen the Great defeat the Tatars of the Golden Horde at the Battle of Lipnic.

1471: The kingdom of Champa suffers a massive defeat by the Vietnamese king Lê Thánh Tông.

1474-1477: Burgundy Wars of France, Switzerland, Lorraine and Sigismund II of Habsburg against the Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.

1478: Muscovy conquers Novgorod.

1479: Battle of Breadfield, Matthias Corvinus of Hungary defeated the Turks.

1480: After the Great standing on the Ugra river, Muscovy gained independence from the Great Horde.

Ivan III, Grand Duke of Moscow.

1481: Spanish Inquisition begins in practice with the first auto-da-fé.

1485: Matthias Corvinus of Hungary captured Vienna, Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor ran away

1485: Henry VII defeats Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth and becomes King of England

1485: Ivan III of Russia conquered Tver

1485: Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya drives out Praudha Raya ending the Sangama Dynasty

1486: Sher Shah Suri, is born in Sasaram, Bihar

1492: The death of Sunni Ali Ber left a leadership void in the Songhai Empire, and his son was soon dethroned by Mamadou Toure who ascended the throne in 1492 under the name Askia (meaning "general") Muhammad. Askia Muhammad made Songhai the largest empire in the history of West Africa. The empire went into decline, however, after 1528, when the now-blind Askia Muhammad was dethroned by his son, Askia Musa.

1492: Boabdil's surrender of Granada marks the end of the Spanish Reconquista and Al-Andalus.

1492: Jews expelled from Spain.

1492: Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas from Spain.

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.

1499: Ottoman fleet defeats Venetians at the Battle of Zonchio.

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