- Africa
Northern peoples and the Batammariba
The Kabye, Tem, Bassar and other groups settled the northern hills, while the Batammariba built the takienta mud tower-houses of the Koutammakou, living in largely decentralised, clan-based communities.
Era: Peoples, migrations and the land
Sources: Koutammakou, the Land of the Batammariba · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Mud tower-houses (takienta), Koutammakou region · Smarthistory, Kabye people · Wikipedia, History of Togo · Wikipedia
- Europe
Competition for the Florence Baptistery doors
The famous contest for the bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery, won by Lorenzo Ghiberti, is often taken as a symbolic opening of the artistic Renaissance.
Era: The Renaissance and the City-States
Sources: Florence and Central Italy, 1400–1600 A.D. (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History) · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Italy from c. 1380 to c. 1500 (Renaissance, city-states, humanism) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Herat, capital of the Timurid renaissance
Shah Rukh moves the Timurid capital to Herat, where he and Queen Gawhar Shad make the city a dazzling centre of architecture, poetry and miniature painting.
Era: Islam, the Ghaznavids, Ghurids and Timurids
Sources: Herat — Afghanistan, History · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Afghanistan: A Country Study · Library of Congress, Federal Research Division
- Asia
The Palace of the Shirvanshahs
The Shirvanshahs built their palace complex in Baku's inner city — reception hall, mosque, mausoleum and bath-house — later inscribed with the walled city by UNESCO in 2000.
Era: Islam, the Seljuks and the Shirvanshahs' Baku
Sources: Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Baku: location, history and economy · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Asia
Ulugh Beg builds his observatory
Timur's grandson Ulugh Beg, ruler and astronomer, builds a great observatory at Samarkand and compiles star tables so accurate they were used in Europe two centuries later.
Era: The Mongol Storm and the Empire of Timur
Sources: Ulūgh Beg — astronomer, mathematician, ruler · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Creation of hangul
King Sejong the Great sponsors the Korean alphabet, completed in 1443 and promulgated in 1446 to make literacy accessible to ordinary people.
Era: The Joseon Dynasty
Sources: Joseon dynasty · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hunminjeongeum Manuscript · UNESCO Memory of the World
- Europe
The stećci tombstones
Across medieval Bosnia, communities raised monumental carved limestone tombstones known as stećci; sites in Bosnia and neighbouring lands were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage in 2016.
Era: Medieval Bosnia: Banate, Kingdom and the Bosnian Church
Sources: Stećci Medieval Tombstones Graveyards (inscribed 2016) · worldheritagesite.org
- South America
Building of Machu Picchu
The Inca raise the mountain sanctuary of Machu Picchu above the Urubamba, a masterpiece of stonework later recognised as a World Heritage site.
Era: The Inca Empire of Tawantinsuyu
Sources: Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Africa
Portuguese chart the 'Lion Mountains'
Portuguese mariners, an expedition associated with Pedro de Sintra reaching the area about 1462, charted the great harbour and named the surrounding hills Serra Lyoa, the 'Lion Mountains' — the origin of the country's name.
Era: The Rice Coast peoples and the Mane
Sources: Sierra Leone (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Pedro de Sintra · Wikipedia
- Europe
Universitas Istropolitana at Pressburg
Slovakia's first university, the Universitas Istropolitana, was founded at Pressburg, an early sign of the towns' wealth and learning within the Hungarian kingdom.
Era: A Thousand Years in the Kingdom of Hungary
Sources: History of Slovakia · Slovakia.travel (official tourism portal)
- Africa
Portuguese name the river of prawns
Portuguese sailors reaching the Wouri estuary named it Rio dos Camaroes, the river of prawns, after its abundant crustaceans; the name later evolved into Kamerun, Cameroun, and Cameroon.
Era: Grassfields kingdoms, the Douala coast and the Fulani north
Sources: Wouri River · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Cameroon · Wikipedia
- Europe
The Sistine Chapel completed
Built under Pope Sixtus IV, the Sistine Chapel was consecrated in 1483; it became the place where cardinals meet in conclave to elect the pope.
Era: The Renaissance Papacy and the New Saint Peter's
Sources: History of the Sistine Chapel · Vatican Museums (museivaticani.va)
- Europe
The Oktoih and the Crnojevic printing press
Djurdje Crnojevic founded the first South Slavic printing house at Cetinje, which produced the Oktoih, the first Cyrillic book printed in southeastern Europe, before closing around 1496 amid the Ottoman advance.
Era: Duklja, Zeta and the Coming of the Name Montenegro
Sources: History of the Crnojevic printing house and the Oktoih · National Library of Montenegro (Djurdje Crnojevic), Montenegro: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
Culture & IdeasThe 15th century
Culture & Ideas in the 15th century
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged culture and ideas — art, language, science and learning, narrowed to the 15th century — 13 of them, drawn from 13 nations, running from 1400 to 1494. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 13
- Nations
- 13
- Earliest
- 1400
- Latest
- 1494
- Europe
- 5
- Asia
- 4
- Africa
- 3
- South America
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.