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15th century

{{Short description|One hundred years, from 1401 to 1500}}

{{More citations needed|date=September 2022}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Centurybox|15}}

File:Zonaro_GatesofConst.jpg Mehmed II, victorious at the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Various historians describe it as the end of the Middle Ages.]]

File:La Rendición de Granada - Pradilla.jpg by Francisco Pradilla Ortiz, 1882: Muhammad XII surrenders to Ferdinand and Isabella]]

File:Columbus Taking Possession.jpg arrives in the Americas in 1492, 1893 painting.]]

The 15th century was the century which spans the Julian calendar dates from 1 January 1401 (represented by the Roman numerals MCDI) to 31 December 1500 (MD).

In Europe, the 15th century includes parts of the Late Middle Ages, the Early Renaissance, and the early modern period.

Many technological, social and cultural developments of the 15th century can in retrospect be seen as heralding the "European miracle" of the following centuries. The architectural perspective, and the modern fields which are known today as banking and accounting were founded in Italy.

The Hundred Years' War ended with a decisive French victory over the English in the Battle of Castillon. Financial troubles in England following the conflict resulted in the Wars of the Roses, a series of dynastic wars for the throne of England. The conflicts ended with the defeat of Richard III by Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth Field, establishing the Tudor dynasty in the later part of the century.

Constantinople, known as the capital of the world and the capital of the Byzantine Empire, fell to the emerging Muslim Ottoman Turks, marking the end of the tremendously influential Byzantine Empire and, for some historians, the end of the Middle Ages.{{cite book |first=Roger |last=Crowley |author-link=Roger Crowley |title=Constantinople: The Last Great Siege, 1453 |publisher=Faber |year=2006 |isbn=0-571-22185-8 }} (reviewed by {{Cite web |title=The Conquestof Constantinople and the end of empire |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-155920054.html |last=Foster |first=Charles |date=22 September 2006 |website=Contemporary Review |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090822080420/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-155920054.html |archive-date=22 August 2009 |quote=It is the end of the Middle Ages}}) This led to the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy, while Johannes Gutenberg's invention of a mechanical movable type began the printing press. These two events played key roles in the development of the Renaissance.Encyclopædia Britannica, Renaissance, 2008, O.Ed.{{harvnb|McLuhan|1962}}; {{harvnb|Eisenstein|1980}}; {{harvnb|Febvre|Martin|1997}}; {{harvnb|Man|2002}} The Roman papacy was split in two parts in Europe for decades (the so-called Western Schism), until the Council of Constance. The division of the Catholic Church and the unrest associated with the Hussite movement would become factors in the rise of the Protestant Reformation in the following century.

Islamic Spain became dissolved through the Christian Reconquista, followed by the forced conversions and the Muslim rebellion,{{sfn|Harvey|2005|p=14}} ending over seven centuries of Islamic rule and returning southern Spain to Christian rulers.

The spices, wines and precious metals of the Bengal SultanateNanda, J. N (2005). {{Cite book |title=Bengal: the unique state |publisher=Concept Publishing Company. p. 10. |year=2005 |isbn=978-81-8069-149-2 |quote=Bengal [...] was rich in the production and export of grain, salt, fruit, liquors and wines, precious metals and ornaments besides the output of its handlooms in silk and cotton. Europe referred to Bengal as the richest country to trade with.}} had attracted European traders to trade with Bengal, but the trade was subsequently lower, due to the rise of the Ottoman Empire, which introduced new taxes and tariffs against European traders. This had led to explorers like Christopher Columbus finding a route to reach India, which eventually reached the Americas. Explorers like Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese traveller, also found a route to reach to India from the African coast.

In Asia, the Timurid Empire collapsed and the Afghan Pashtun Lodi dynasty took control of the Delhi Sultanate. Under the rule of the Yongle Emperor, who built the Forbidden City and commanded Zheng He to explore the world overseas, the Ming dynasty's territory reached its pinnacle.

In Africa, the spread of Islam led to the destruction of the Christian kingdoms of Nubia, by the end of the century, leaving only Alodia (which was to collapse in 1504). The formerly vast Mali Empire teetered on the brink of collapse, under pressure from the rising Songhai Empire.

In the Americas, both the Aztec Empire and the Inca Empire reached the peak of their influence, but the voyages of Christopher Columbus and other European voyages of discovery in the Americas, beginning the European colonization of the Americas, changed the course of modern history.

Events

= [[1400s (decade)|1401–1409]] =

File:Pacioli.jpg, by Jacopo de' Barbari (Museo di Capodimonte).]]

=[[1410s]]=

File:Northern Yuan and Golden Horde.svg and Turco-Mongol residual states and domains by the 15th century]]

=[[1420s]]=

File:Joan of Arc miniature graded.jpg, a French peasant girl, directly influenced the result of the Hundred Years' War.]]

=[[1430s]]=

=[[1440s]]=

File:Detail of The Emperor's Approach, Xuande period.jpg's royal carriage. Ming dynasty of China.]]

=[[1450s]]=

File:Angkor (II).jpg, the capital of the Khmer Empire, was abandoned in the 15th century.]]

=[[1460s]]=

File:Cacicazgos mayas - es.svg

=[[1470s]]=

= [[1480s]] =

File:SiegeOfRhodes1480.jpg Siege of Rhodes (1480). Ships of the Hospitaliers in the forefront, and Turkish camp in the background.]]

= [[1490s|1490]]–1500 =

File:Nuremberg chronicles - FLORENCIA.png, birthplace of the Renaissance, in a 1493 woodcut from Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle]]

Gallery

File:太宗文皇帝.jpg|The Yongle Emperor (1360–1424) raised the Ming Empire to its highest power. Launched campaigns against the Mongols and reestablished Chinese rule in Vietnam

File:Ulugh Beg, Timurid painting 1425-50.jpg|Ulugh Beg (1394–1449), Timurid sultan who oversaw the cultural peak of the Timurid Renaissance

File:Anonymous portrait of Johannes Gutenberg dated 1440, Gutenberg Museum.JPG|Johannes Gutenberg (1400–1468), German inventor who introduced printing to Europe with his mechanical movable-type printing press

File:Skanderbeg by Antonio Maria Crespi.jpg|Skanderbeg (1405–1468), who led the Albanian resistance against the Ottoman Empire

File:Ivan III of Russia.jpg|Ivan III of Russia (1440–1505), Grand Prince of Moscow who ended the dominance of the Tatars in the lands of the Rus

File:Henry Seven England.jpg|King Henry VII (1457–1509), the founder of the royal house of Tudor

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

{{see also|Science and inventions of Leonardo da Vinci}}{{See also|Timeline of historic inventions#15th century}}

References

{{reflist}}

Sources

  • Langer, William. An Encyclopedia of World History (5th ed. 1973); highly detailed outline of events [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo00lang online free]
  • {{Citation

| last1 = Febvre

| first1 = Lucien

| author-link1 = Lucien Febvre

| last2 = Martin

| first2 = Henri-Jean

| author-link2 = Henri-Jean Martin

| title = The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing 1450–1800

| publisher = Verso

| place = London

| year = 1997

| isbn = 1-85984-108-2

}}

  • {{Citation

| last = Eisenstein

| first = Elizabeth L.

| author-link = Elizabeth L. Eisenstein

| title = The Printing Press as an Agent of Change

| publisher = Cambridge University Press

| year = 1980

| isbn = 0-521-29955-1

| url-access = registration

| url = https://archive.org/details/printingpressasa0000eise

}}

  • {{Cite encyclopedia |year=2001 |title=Eyck, Barthélemy d' |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to Western Art |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000unse_r1z5 |last=Tolley |first=Thomas |editor-last=Hugh Brigstocke |isbn=0-19-866203-3 |url-access=registration}}
  • {{cite book|last=Harvey|first=L. P.|title=Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614|url=https://archive.org/details/muslimsinspain1500lple|url-access=registration|date=16 May 2005|publisher=University of Chicago Press|place=Chicago|isbn=978-0-226-31963-6}}
  • {{Citation

| last = Man

| first = John

| author-link = John Man (author)

| title = The Gutenberg Revolution: The Story of a Genius and an Invention that Changed the World

| publisher = Headline Review

| place = London

| year = 2002

| isbn = 978-0-7472-4504-9

| url-access = registration

| url = https://archive.org/details/gutenbergrevolut0000manj

}}

  • {{Citation

| last = McLuhan

| first = Marshall

| author-link = Marshall McLuhan

| title = The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man

| publisher = University of Toronto Press

| edition = 1st

| year = 1962

| isbn = 978-0-8020-6041-9

}}

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