- Africa
Loropéni's gold-trade fortresses flourish
The stone enclosures of the Lobi country, including Loropéni, reach their height as the trans-Saharan gold trade peaks; the settlements are linked to the Lohron and Kulango peoples.
Era: Loropéni and the Gold Frontier
Sources: Ruins of Loropéni — World Heritage Centre · UNESCO, Ruins of Loropéni · Wikipedia
- Africa
Niumi commands the river mouth
The Mandinka kingdom of Niumi, controlled in rotation by clans such as the Jamme, Maane and Sonko, grew prosperous by taxing merchant traffic at the mouth of the Gambia River and would later levy tolls on European vessels.
Era: The Mali Empire and the Mandinka kingdoms
Sources: Kingdom of Niumi · Wikipedia, The Gambia (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Zheng He's maritime voyages
The Ming admiral Zheng He leads seven vast treasure-fleet expeditions across Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, and the coast of Africa, projecting Chinese power before the dynasty turns inward.
Era: Empires of Conquest and Restoration: Yuan, Ming, Qing
Sources: China · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Zheng He's fleet reaches Malindi
Vessels of the Chinese admiral Zheng He's treasure fleet are recorded reaching Malindi, marking the eastern extent of the Indian Ocean trade that linked the Swahili coast to China.
Era: Migrations and the Swahili Coast
Sources: History of Kenya · Wikipedia
- Africa
Portuguese reach the Senegambian coast
Portuguese ships arrive off Senegal and the Gambia, opening Atlantic maritime trade — and the first European slave raids — along the coast.
Era: The Jolof Empire and Its Successor Kingdoms
Sources: The Roots of African Trade (World History Vol. 2) · OpenStax, French conquest of Senegal · Wikipedia
- Africa
Trade at Ingombe Ilede
The Iron Age settlement of Ingombe Ilede near the Zambezi yielded copper crosses, gold, and imported beads and cloth, showing the region's links to the Indian Ocean trade in gold and ivory.
Era: Iron Age farmers and the Bantu migrations
Sources: History of Zambia · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Zambia · Wikipedia
- Africa
Portuguese ships enter the Gambia
Expeditions under Cadamosto and Usodimare, sailing for Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator, reached the Gambia River and opened European trade, establishing the first contacts and small settlements along its banks.
Era: The river, European trade and the Atlantic slave trade
Sources: Kunta Kinteh Island · Wikipedia, History of the Gambia · Wikipedia, The Gambia (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
The Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik)
Dubrovnik governed itself as an aristocratic merchant republic, paying tribute to the Ottoman sultan after 1458 while rivalling Venice in trade; its walled old city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Era: Venetian Dalmatia, the Republic of Ragusa and the Ottoman Wars
Sources: Old City of Dubrovnik · UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Croatia: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Europeans name the Grain Coast
Portuguese and other European mariners charted the coast and called it the Grain or Pepper Coast after the melegueta pepper traded there; Kru and Grebo seafarers became known along the West African coast.
Era: Indigenous peoples of the Grain Coast
Sources: Liberia — History (Colonialism, Civil War, Reconstruction) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Liberia: A Time Line · U.S. Library of Congress
- Africa
Trading privileges over the Guinea coast
The Portuguese crown granted Santiago's settlers the right to trade in the "Rivers of Guinea" on the West African mainland, anchoring the colony's economy to commerce with the coast.
Era: Uninhabited islands and the first town in the tropics
Sources: History of Cape Verde · Wikipedia, The Portuguese Colonization of Cape Verde · World History Encyclopedia
- Africa
Portuguese reach the Gold Coast
Portuguese mariners arrived on the coast of present-day Ghana, where the abundance of gold gave the region the name by which Europeans would know it for centuries — the Gold Coast.
Era: European forts, gold, and the Atlantic slave trade
Sources: Ghana (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Elmina Castle · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Earliest recorded French voyage to the coast
French mariners reached the West African coast; over the following centuries European traders worked the shore for ivory, gold, and other goods, giving the Ivory Coast its lasting name, though its surf-bound coast limited permanent contact.
Era: The ivory coast, the French, and the conquest
Sources: History of Ivory Coast · Wikipedia, History of Côte d'Ivoire · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Europe
Mercury found at Idrija
Mercury was first discovered at Idrija, which grew into one of the world's two largest mercury mines; the site is today recognised by UNESCO as part of the Heritage of Mercury.
Era: The Habsburg Duchies and the Birth of Written Slovene
Sources: Heritage of Mercury. Almaden and Idrija · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Economy & TradeThe 15th century
Economy & Trade in the 15th century
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged economy and trade — trade, currency, industry and resources, narrowed to the 15th century — 13 of them, drawn from 12 nations, running from 1400 to 1490. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 13
- Nations
- 12
- Earliest
- 1400
- Latest
- 1490
- Africa
- 10
- Europe
- 2
- Asia
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.