- Africa
Kaabu becomes an independent federation
As Mali declined, Kaabu emerged as an independent federation of Mandinka kingdoms led by the Nyancho warrior nobility, centred on Kansala and dominant across the Senegambian interior.
Era: Kaabu and the peoples of the Rivers of Guinea
Sources: Kaabu · Wikipedia, History of Guinea-Bissau · Wikipedia
- Africa
Shift from Kanem to Bornu
After conflict with the Bulala forced the dynasty to abandon its eastern heartland, the state re-centred west of Lake Chad at Bornu, beginning the era of the Bornu Empire.
Era: The great precolonial kingdoms: Kanem-Bornu, Hausa, Oyo and Benin
Sources: The Bornu Empire · Lumen Learning, World Civilization, Nigeria (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
The Serbian Despotate
A reduced Serbian state survived as the Despotate, ruled latterly from Smederevo and balancing between the Ottomans and Hungary, prolonging Serb statehood for another half-century.
Era: The Battle of Kosovo and the Ottoman Conquest
Sources: Serbia: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Rise of the Adal Sultanate
The Adal Sultanate emerged as a major Muslim power of the Horn of Africa, its trade reaching the sea through Zeila and other coastal towns — a heritage shared across the region.
Era: An Ancient Coast: Zeila, Islam and Adal
Sources: The Sultanates of Somalia (World Civilization) · Lumen Learning, Zeila · Wikipedia
- Europe
Founding of the Consell de la Terra
The co-princes allowed Andorrans to create the Council of the Land, drawn from heads of households of the parishes, one of Europe's oldest representative assemblies and the ancestor of today's parliament.
Era: Two Princes, Neutrality and Endurance
Sources: Six centuries of the Consell General · La Casa de la Vall (Consell General d'Andorra), Andorra: History, Facts & Points of Interest · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Venice secures Dalmatia
After long rivalry Venice took control of most of the Dalmatian coast, which it would govern for nearly four centuries until 1797, shaping the art, architecture and administration of the coastal cities.
Era: Venetian Dalmatia, the Republic of Ragusa and the Ottoman Wars
Sources: Croatia: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- North America
The Triple Alliance
Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan ally, inaugurating the tribute empire of the Aztecs across central Mexico.
Era: The Mexica (Aztec) Empire
Sources: Aztec Civilization · National Geographic Education, Aztec · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Medici ascendancy in Florence
Cosimo de' Medici returned to dominate Florentine politics, beginning the family's long patronage of art and learning that helped define the Renaissance.
Era: The Renaissance and the City-States
Sources: Italy from c. 1380 to c. 1500 (Renaissance, city-states, humanism) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Swedish revolts and the Sture regents
Resentment of Danish dominance and of taxes and offices given to royal favourites fuelled recurring Swedish risings, with regents of the Sture family ruling Sweden in defiance of the union crown.
Era: The Kalmar Union, the Bloodbath and the War of Liberation
Sources: Queen Margaret and the Union of Kalmar · Swedish History Museum (Historiska museet), Sweden: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- South America
Pachacuti transforms the Inca state
After defending Cusco against the Chanca, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui takes power and begins the swift expansion that turns the kingdom of Cusco into the empire of Tawantinsuyu.
Era: The Inca Empire of Tawantinsuyu
Sources: Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Peru: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Sukhothai absorbed by Ayutthaya
After a century of decline, Sukhothai is reduced to a vassal and finally incorporated into the expanding kingdom of Ayutthaya.
Era: Tai Origins and the Sukhothai Kingdom
Sources: Sukhothai kingdom · Encyclopædia Britannica, Thailand · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Europe
League of Lezhe
Skanderbeg united Albanian princes in the League of Lezhe to coordinate resistance, giving the scattered lordships a measure of common purpose against the Ottoman Empire.
Era: Medieval Albania, the Ottoman Conquest and Skanderbeg
Sources: Skanderbeg (Gjergj Kastrioti) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Ottoman administration of Kosovo
For roughly four and a half centuries Kosovo was ruled as part of the Ottoman Empire, governed through the Balkan provinces and, latterly, the vilayet of Kosovo.
Era: Ottoman Rule and the Albanian National Awakening
Sources: Kosovo: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Reign of Stephen the Great
Stephen IV ruled Moldavia for nearly half a century, winning European renown for resisting the Ottomans while defending the principality against Hungary and Poland and endowing many churches and monasteries.
Era: The Principality of Moldavia and the Golden Age of Stephen the Great
Sources: Stephen (Stephen the Great), prince of Moldavia · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Moldavia (historical principality) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Bosnia incorporated into the Ottoman Empire
Following the conquest, Bosnia became an Ottoman province; the settlement of Vrhbosna was developed into Sarajevo, the future provincial capital.
Era: Ottoman Bosnia and the Making of a Multi-Confessional Land
Sources: Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ottoman Bosnia · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Bosnia and Herzegovina: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Death of Skanderbeg
Skanderbeg died at Lezhe in 1468; without his leadership Albanian resistance collapsed, and the Ottomans took Kruje in 1478 and Shkoder in 1479, completing the conquest.
Era: Medieval Albania, the Ottoman Conquest and Skanderbeg
Sources: Skanderbeg (Gjergj Kastrioti) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Albania · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand
The union of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon joined the two leading Iberian crowns, creating the dynastic foundation of a unified Spain under the 'Catholic Monarchs'.
Era: The Catholic Monarchs and the Golden Age Empire
Sources: Spain · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- South America
Empire at its height
Under Pachacuti's successors the Inca extend Tawantinsuyu from present-day Colombia to Chile and Argentina, bound by roads, storehouses and the mita labour system.
Era: The Inca Empire of Tawantinsuyu
Sources: Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui · Encyclopaedia Britannica, City of Cuzco · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Europe
The Habsburg inheritance
After Charles the Bold of Burgundy was killed, his daughter Mary married the Habsburg archduke Maximilian of Austria, passing the Low Countries to the Habsburg dynasty.
Era: The Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands
Sources: Belgium: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Habsburg inheritance
Mary of Burgundy marries Maximilian of Habsburg, bringing the Low Countries under Habsburg rule after the death of Charles the Bold.
Era: Burgundian and Habsburg Rule
Sources: Netherlands · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Valley divided into three kingdoms
Yaksha Malla partitions the valley among his sons, founding the rival city-states of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, which compete over Tibet–India trade.
Era: The Malla City-States and the Valley of Art
Sources: Yaksha Malla · Encyclopædia Britannica, Malla era · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Asia
Accession of Sultan Bolkiah
Bolkiah, the fifth sultan, comes to the throne and presides over Brunei's golden age, expanding the sultanate's dominion across Borneo and the surrounding seas.
Era: The Golden Age of the Maritime Empire
Sources: History of Brunei · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Cyprus ceded to Venice
Caterina Cornaro, widow of the last Lusignan king, ceded Cyprus to the Republic of Venice, which ruled it as a fortified colonial outpost and bulwark against the Ottomans.
Era: Crusader Kingdom, Venetian Colony and Ottoman Conquest
Sources: Cyprus: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- South America
Huayna Capac completes the conquest
Huayna Capac extends Inca rule over all of highland Ecuador and makes Quito a northern capital of the empire.
Era: The Inca Conquest and the Last Emperor
Sources: History of Ecuador · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Atahuallpa · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Songhai ascendancy in the western Sudan
Askia Muhammad seizes power and expands the Songhai Empire, which dominates much of the Niger valley and the western Sudan into the sixteenth century.
Era: The Mande Heartland and the Sahelian Empires
Sources: Songhai Empire · World History Encyclopedia, Songhai Empire · EBSCO Research Starters
- Africa
Askia Muhammad founds the Askiya dynasty
A former general seizes power as Askia Muhammad, reorganising the empire and ushering in the golden age of Timbuktu's scholarship.
Era: The Songhai Empire and Its Fall
Sources: The Songhai Empire (HIST103) · Saylor Academy, Askia Muhammad I · Wikipedia
- Asia
Reign of Husain Shah
Alauddin Husain Shah presides over a golden age of the Bengal Sultanate, patronising Bengali literature and extending the kingdom's frontiers.
Era: The Bengal Sultanate and the Spread of Islam
Sources: Ḥusayn Shah ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Europe
Treaty of Tordesillas
Portugal and Castile divided the unexplored world along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, an agreement that underpinned Portugal's claim to Brazil.
Era: The Age of Discovery
Sources: Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
Politics & PowerThe 15th century
Politics & Power in the 15th century
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged politics and power — dynasties, constitutions, revolutions and changes of regime, narrowed to the 15th century — 28 of them, drawn from 26 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
- 28
- Nations
- 26
- Earliest
- 1400
- Latest
- 1494
- Europe
- 14
- Africa
- 5
- Asia
- 5
- South America
- 3
- North America
- 1
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.