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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 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. 1415: Battle of Agincourt fought between the Kingdom of England and France 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. 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 between France and the Habsburgs for control of Burgundy. 1478: Muscovy conquers Novgorod. 1480: After the Great standing on the Ugra river, Muscovy gained independence from the Great Horde. 1481: Spanish Inquisition begins. 1492: Boabdil's surrender of Granada marks the end of the Reconquista and Al-Andalus. 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.

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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 1405 (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). 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). 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

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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 Htai Tjong of Korea - 1403 (Movable type, which allowed individual characters to be arranged to form words, was invented in China by Bi Sheng between 1041 to 1048. The )

Linear perspective drawing perfected by Filippo Brunelleschi 1410-1415

Invention of the harpsichord c. 1450

Letterpress printing developed by Johann Gutenberg 1455

"Discovery" of North America by Christopher Columbus 1492

First canal lock reportedly built in Vreeswijk, Netherlands in 1481

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