The 15th century

Africa

1. 🇧🇫BFA

   Burkina Faso · Economy & Trade · 14th–17th century

   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.

   Loropéni and the Gold Frontier

   Sources: Ruins of Loropéni — World Heritage Centre (UNESCO) · Ruins of Loropéni (Wikipedia)

2. 🇬🇲GMB

   Gambia · Economy & Trade · c. 14th–15th centuries

   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.

   The Mali Empire and the Mandinka kingdoms

   Sources: Kingdom of Niumi (Wikipedia) · The Gambia (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇬🇼GNB

   Guinea-Bissau · Politics & Power · c. 14th–15th centuries

   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.

   Kaabu and the peoples of the Rivers of Guinea

   Sources: Kaabu (Wikipedia) · History of Guinea-Bissau (Wikipedia)

4. 🇱🇷LBR

   Liberia · Peoples & Migration · before 15th century

   Settlement by Mande, Kwa, and Mel peoples

   Over centuries the region was settled by Niger-Congo-speaking peoples — Mande groups such as the Vai and Kpelle, Kwa groups such as the Kru, Grebo, and Bassa, and Mel groups such as the Gola and Kisi, the last regarded as among the oldest inhabitants.

   Indigenous peoples of the Grain Coast

   Sources: Liberia — People (Ethnic Groups, Languages) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Liberia — peoples and minorities (Minority Rights Group)

5. 🇳🇬NGA

   Nigeria · Politics & Power · c. 1400

   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.

   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)

6. 🇷🇼RWA

   Rwanda · Formation · c. 15th century

   Clans coalesce into kingdoms

   Across the highlands, clans containing Hutu, Tutsi and Twa form into small kingdoms; the Nyiginya dynasty of the Tutsi begins to extend its authority, founding the kingdom of Rwanda.

   The Kingdom of the Mwami

   Sources: History of Rwanda (Wikipedia) · Kingdom of Rwanda (Wikipedia) · Rise of Rwanda (EBSCO Research Starters)

7. 🇸🇸SDS

   South Sudan · Peoples & Migration · c. 14th century

   Nilotic expansion across the upper Nile

   Western Nilotic peoples including the Dinka and Nuer spread out from the Sudd, a dispersal linked to the decline of the Christian Nubian kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia.

   Peoples of the Upper Nile

   Sources: History of South Sudan (Wikipedia) · Precolonial History of South Sudan (Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History)

8. 🇹🇬TGO

   Togo · Culture & Ideas · before c. 1600

   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.

   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)

9. 🇺🇬UGA

   Uganda · Formation · c. 14th–15th century

   Foundation of Buganda

   Buganda takes shape east of Bunyoro under its first kabakas; tradition credits its founding to Kintu or, in Bunyoro accounts, to Kato Kimera of the Babito dynasty.

   Peoples and the Great Lakes Kingdoms

   Sources: History of Buganda (Wikipedia) · Ebyafayo — History of Buganda (Buganda Kingdom (official))

Asia

1. 🇲🇾MYS

   Malaysia · Formation · c. 1400

   Founding of Malacca by Paramesvara

   The Sumatran prince Paramesvara, having fled Palembang and Tumasik before Majapahit's forces, settles at Malacca and founds a city that becomes the leading port of the Malay world.

   The Malacca Sultanate, Islam and the Spice Trade

   Sources: Paramesvara, Malay ruler and founder of Malacca (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Portuguese Malacca (World History Encyclopedia)

Europe

1. 🇮🇹ITA

   Italy · Culture & Ideas

   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.

   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

1. 🇹🇷TUR

   Türkiye · War & Rupture · 28 July 1402

   Battle of Ankara and the Interregnum

   Timur (Tamerlane) crushed and captured Sultan Bayezid I at Ankara, plunging the Ottoman state into a decade of civil war before it recovered.

   The Rise of the Seljuks and Ottomans

   Sources: Ottoman Empire (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇨🇿CZE

   Czechia · Religion

   Jan Hus preaches at the Bethlehem Chapel

   Appointed preacher at the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague, Hus began to denounce church corruption and indulgences and to champion reform and vernacular preaching, drawing on the ideas of John Wycliffe.

   Jan Hus, the Hussite Wars and the Bohemian Reformation

   Sources: Jan Hus (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇷🇸SRB

   Serbia · Politics & Power · 1402–1459

   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.

   The Battle of Kosovo and the Ottoman Conquest

   Sources: Serbia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇳🇪NER

   Niger · Formation · early 15th century (c. 1405)

   Founding of the Sultanate of Aïr

   Tuareg clans of the Aïr massif organised the Sultanate of Aïr, choosing a sultan to mediate their rivalries; its capital Agadez became a major trans-Saharan trading and religious centre. (Some accounts place the city's rise nearer 1449.)

   Aïr, the caravans, and the eastern reach of Songhai

   Sources: Sultanate of Agadez (Wikipedia) · Agadez (Wikipedia) · History of Niger (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇦🇫AFG

   Afghanistan · Culture & Ideas · 15th century CE

   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.

   Islam, the Ghaznavids, Ghurids and Timurids

   Sources: Herat — Afghanistan, History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Afghanistan: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

2. 🇨🇳CHN

   China · Economy & Trade · 1405 CE

   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.

   Empires of Conquest and Restoration: Yuan, Ming, Qing

   Sources: China (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇻🇳VNM

   Vietnam · Colonisation · 1407 CE

   Ming China occupies Dai Viet

   The Chinese Ming dynasty conquers Dai Viet and imposes two decades of harsh direct rule, provoking widespread resistance.

   Independent Dynasties: Ly, Tran, and Le

   Sources: Le Loi (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Vietnam (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇬🇱GRL

   Greenland · Catastrophe

   The Norse settlements vanish

   A wedding at Hvalsey Church in 1408 is the last dated record of Norse Greenland; the Eastern Settlement was abandoned within decades, the colony's disappearance still debated and linked to the Little Ice Age.

   Erik the Red and the Norse Colony

   Sources: Greenland: History (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Kujataa Greenland: Norse and Inuit Farming at the Edge of the Ice Cap (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Asia

1. 🇲🇾MYS

   Malaysia · Religion · early 15th c.

   Malacca, Islam and ties with Ming China

   Through marriage to a Muslim princess and the adoption of the title Sultan, Malacca's court embraces Islam, while tributary relations with Ming China, marked by Zheng He's visits, secure its trade.

   The Malacca Sultanate, Islam and the Spice Trade

   Sources: Paramesvara, Malay ruler and founder of Malacca (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Portuguese Malacca (World History Encyclopedia)

Europe

1. 🇱🇹LTU

   Lithuania · War & Rupture · 15 Jul 1410

   Battle of Grunwald (Zalgiris)

   Polish and Lithuanian forces under Wladyslaw II Jagiello and Grand Duke Vytautas annihilated the army of the Teutonic Knights, ending the Order's expansion in the Baltic.

   Union with Poland, Christianization and the Age of Vytautas

   Sources: Battle of Grunwald (1410) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Vytautas the Great (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇱POL

   Poland · War & Rupture · 15 Jul 1410

   Battle of Grunwald

   Polish and Lithuanian forces under Wladyslaw II Jagiello destroyed the army of the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald, halting the Order's eastward expansion in the Baltic.

   The Piast and Jagiellonian Kingdom

   Sources: Battle of Grunwald (1410) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇦🇿AZE

   Azerbaijan · Culture & Ideas · 15th century

   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.

   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)

Africa

1. SOL

   Somaliland · Politics & Power · early 15th century

   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.

   An Ancient Coast: Zeila, Islam and Adal

   Sources: The Sultanates of Somalia (World Civilization) (Lumen Learning) · Zeila (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇨🇿CZE

   Czechia · Religion · 6 Jul 1415

   Jan Hus burned at the Council of Constance

   Condemned as a heretic despite a promise of safe conduct, Hus was burned at the stake at Constance on 6 July 1415, becoming a martyr whose death set off the Hussite movement.

   Jan Hus, the Hussite Wars and the Bohemian Reformation

   Sources: Jan Hus (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Hussite (Bohemian Reformation) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇹PRT

   Portugal · War & Rupture

   Capture of Ceuta

   Portuguese forces took the North African port of Ceuta, the starting point of overseas expansion and of Prince Henry's interest in exploring the African coast.

   The Age of Discovery

   Sources: Henry the Navigator (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇰🇪KEN

   Kenya · Economy & Trade

   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.

   Migrations and the Swahili Coast

   Sources: History of Kenya (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇦🇩AND

   Andorra · Politics & Power

   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.

   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)

2. 🇨🇿CZE

   Czechia · War & Rupture · 1419–1436

   The Hussite Wars

   Followers of Hus fought a series of wars against the Catholic crown and papal crusades; under Jan Zizka the Hussite armies proved nearly invincible before the conflict ended in compromise.

   Jan Hus, the Hussite Wars and the Bohemian Reformation

   Sources: Hussite (Bohemian Reformation) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Czechoslovak history (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇭🇷HRV

   Croatia · Politics & Power

   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.

   Venetian Dalmatia, the Republic of Ragusa and the Ottoman Wars

   Sources: Croatia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇳🇱NLD

   Netherlands · Catastrophe · 18–19 Nov 1421

   St. Elizabeth's flood

   A storm surge breaks the dikes of the Grote Hollandse Waard, drowning villages and thousands of people and creating the Biesbosch wetlands.

   Burgundian and Habsburg Rule

   Sources: St. Elizabeth's flood (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Rijksmuseum collection and the Dutch Golden Age (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

Asia

1. 🇺🇿UZB

   Uzbekistan · Culture & Ideas · c. 1428 CE

   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.

   The Mongol Storm and the Empire of Timur

   Sources: Ulūgh Beg — astronomer, mathematician, ruler (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇻🇳VNM

   Vietnam · Independence · 1428 CE

   Le Loi expels the Ming and founds the Le dynasty

   After a ten-year war of liberation, Le Loi drives out the Ming, restores independence, and establishes the Le dynasty, which would rule, nominally, for centuries.

   Independent Dynasties: Ly, Tran, and Le

   Sources: Le Loi (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇲🇽MEX

   Mexico · Politics & Power · 1428 CE

   The Triple Alliance

   Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan ally, inaugurating the tribute empire of the Aztecs across central Mexico.

   The Mexica (Aztec) Empire

   Sources: Aztec Civilization (National Geographic Education) · Aztec (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇫🇷FRA

   France · War & Rupture

   Joan of Arc at Orléans

   Joan lifts the siege of Orléans, reversing English fortunes; she is executed in 1431.

   The Medieval & Early-Modern Kingdom

   Sources: St. Joan of Arc (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇰🇭KHM

   Cambodia · War & Rupture · 1431 CE

   Thai capture of Angkor

   After repeated Tai attacks, Angkor is captured in 1431 and subsequently abandoned as a capital, marking the end of the imperial era.

   The Khmer Empire and Angkor

   Sources: Khmer empire (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Cambodia: The Khmer state (Angkor) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇮🇹ITA

   Italy · Politics & Power

   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.

   The Renaissance and the City-States

   Sources: Italy from c. 1380 to c. 1500 (Renaissance, city-states, humanism) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇸🇪SWE

   Sweden · Politics & Power · 15th c.

   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.

   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)

Europe

1. 🇨🇿CZE

   Czechia · Religion

   Compact of Iglau

   The moderate Utraquist Hussites secured a peace settlement, the Compact of Iglau, that granted communion in both kinds and an independent Bohemian Catholic church, ending the main phase of the wars.

   Jan Hus, the Hussite Wars and the Bohemian Reformation

   Sources: Hussite (Bohemian Reformation) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇹🇭THA

   Thailand · Politics & Power · by 1438

   Sukhothai absorbed by Ayutthaya

   After a century of decline, Sukhothai is reduced to a vassal and finally incorporated into the expanding kingdom of Ayutthaya.

   Tai Origins and the Sukhothai Kingdom

   Sources: Sukhothai kingdom (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Thailand (Encyclopædia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇵🇪PER

   Peru · Politics & Power · c. 1438 CE

   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.

   The Inca Empire of Tawantinsuyu

   Sources: Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Peru: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇰🇷KOR

   South Korea · Culture & Ideas · 1443-1446 CE

   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.

   The Joseon Dynasty

   Sources: Joseon dynasty (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Hunminjeongeum Manuscript (UNESCO Memory of the World)

Europe

1. 🇦🇱ALB

   Albania · War & Rupture

   Skanderbeg's revolt and the return to Kruje

   Gjergj Kastrioti (Skanderbeg) broke with the Ottomans after 1443, reconverted to Christianity and seized his ancestral fortress of Kruje, launching a national revolt against Ottoman rule.

   Medieval Albania, the Ottoman Conquest and Skanderbeg

   Sources: Skanderbeg (Gjergj Kastrioti) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Albania (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇱🇺LUX

   Luxembourg · War & Rupture

   Burgundy seizes Luxembourg

   Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, took Luxembourg in 1443, ending the rule of the House of Luxembourg and absorbing the duchy into the Burgundian dominions.

   The House of Luxembourg and the Imperial Duchy

   Sources: History of the city of Luxembourg (Luxembourg City Tourist Office) · History of the City of Luxembourg (Ville de Luxembourg (City of Luxembourg))

Africa

1. 🇸🇳SEN

   Senegal · Economy & Trade

   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.

   The Jolof Empire and Its Successor Kingdoms

   Sources: The Roots of African Trade (World History Vol. 2) (OpenStax) · French conquest of Senegal (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇦🇱ALB

   Albania · Politics & Power

   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.

   Medieval Albania, the Ottoman Conquest and Skanderbeg

   Sources: Skanderbeg (Gjergj Kastrioti) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇧🇫BFA

   Burkina Faso · Formation · 15th century (traditional)

   Foundation of the Mossi states

   Tradition attributes the Mossi kingdoms of Tenkodogo, Ouagadougou and Yatenga to the line of Ouédraogo, son of the princess Yennenga; the dating is uncertain and some accounts place the origins earlier.

   The Mossi Kingdoms

   Sources: Mossi states (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Mossi Kingdoms (Wikipedia) · Mossi (people) (EBSCO Research Starters)

2. 🇬🇶GNQ

   Equatorial Guinea · Peoples & Migration · pre-colonial era

   Annobón peopled from Angola

   The remote island of Annobón, uninhabited before Atlantic navigation, was settled by Africans brought by the Portuguese largely from Angola via São Tomé; the Annobonese came to speak a Portuguese-based creole.

   Peoples of the island and the mainland

   Sources: History of Equatorial Guinea (Wikipedia) · Equatorial Guinea (Encyclopedia.com)

3. 🇬🇼GNB

   Guinea-Bissau · Peoples & Migration · pre-colonial

   The coastal and island peoples

   The coast and rivers held the Balanta, Jola, Fula, Papel, Manjaco and Biafada, while the offshore Bijagós formed matrilineal warrior societies of seafarers and raiders — a fragmented mosaic of peoples and small states.

   Kaabu and the peoples of the Rivers of Guinea

   Sources: History of Guinea-Bissau (Wikipedia) · Guinea-Bissau (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · A Guide to the History of Recognition: Guinea-Bissau (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian)

4. 🇰🇪KEN

   Kenya · Peoples & Migration · c. 15th century

   Southern Luo migrate into western Kenya

   Nilotic-speaking Luo communities move into the Lake Victoria basin of western Kenya, the last major wave of the migrations that formed the country's peoples.

   Migrations and the Swahili Coast

   Sources: History of Kenya (Wikipedia)

5. 🇲🇿MOZ

   Mozambique · Formation · c. 15th century

   Rise of the Mutapa state

   The Mutapa (Monomotapa) state emerges on the Zimbabwean plateau, its gold and ivory passing down the Zambezi and out through the Mozambican ports.

   The Swahili Coast and the Gold of Sofala

   Sources: Mozambique (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · A history of the medieval coastal towns of Mozambique (c. 500–1890 CE) (African History Extra)

6. 🇸🇸SDS

   South Sudan · Formation · c. mid-15th century

   Founding of the Shilluk Kingdom

   The Shilluk establish a centralised kingdom on the White Nile under the sacred kingship of the Reth, traditionally traced to the founder-figure Nyikang.

   Peoples of the Upper Nile

   Sources: Shilluk Kingdom (Wikipedia) · Precolonial History of South Sudan (Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History)

7. 🇿🇲ZMB

   Zambia · Economy & Trade · c. 15th century

   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.

   Iron Age farmers and the Bantu migrations

   Sources: History of Zambia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Zambia (Wikipedia)

8. 🇿🇼ZWE

   Zimbabwe · Catastrophe · c. 15th century

   Decline and abandonment

   Great Zimbabwe was abandoned, probably owing to resource exhaustion and shifting trade routes, as the centre of power moved north toward the Zambezi and successor states.

   Great Zimbabwe and the gold trade

   Sources: Great Zimbabwe (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Great Zimbabwe (Wikipedia) · Zimbabwe: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

9. 🇿🇼ZWE

   Zimbabwe · Formation · c. 15th century

   Rise of the Mutapa empire

   The Mutapa (Mwenemutapa) empire emerged toward the Zambezi, inheriting Great Zimbabwe's gold trade and ruling much of the northern plateau and parts of present-day Mozambique.

   Mutapa, Torwa and Rozvi

   Sources: Zimbabwe: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Mutapa Empire (Wikipedia) · Torwa: historical state, Africa (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

10. 🇿🇼ZWE

    Zimbabwe · Formation · c. 1450–1680

    The Torwa state and Khami

    In the south-west the Torwa state built its capital at Khami near present-day Bulawayo, continuing the stone-walling tradition in decorated terraces; Khami is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

    Mutapa, Torwa and Rozvi

    Sources: Torwa: historical state, Africa (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Khami Ruins National Monument (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. 🇦🇱ALB

   Albania · War & Rupture · 1450 & 1466-67

   The sieges of Kruje

   From his stronghold at Kruje Skanderbeg withstood repeated Ottoman sieges, including those of 1450 and 1466-67, keeping much of Albania free for some twenty-five years.

   Medieval Albania, the Ottoman Conquest and Skanderbeg

   Sources: Skanderbeg (Gjergj Kastrioti) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Albania (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇧🇦BIH

   Bosnia and Herzegovina · Culture & Ideas · 12th–16th c.

   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.

   Medieval Bosnia: Banate, Kingdom and the Bosnian Church

   Sources: Stećci Medieval Tombstones Graveyards (inscribed 2016) (worldheritagesite.org)

South America

1. 🇧🇴BOL

   Bolivia · War & Rupture · 15th century

   Inca conquest of the highlands

   The Inca empire expands south into the region the Spanish would call Charcas, absorbing the Aymara lands while permitting them their language and identity.

   Tiwanaku, the Aymara, and the Inca

   Sources: Bolivia: Early period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇪PER

   Peru · Culture & Ideas · c. 15th century

   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.

   The Inca Empire of Tawantinsuyu

   Sources: Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Asia

1. 🇹🇷TUR

   Türkiye · War & Rupture · 29 May 1453

   Fall of Constantinople

   After a 53-day siege, Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire; the city became the Ottoman capital and Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque.

   The Rise of the Seljuks and Ottomans

   Sources: Fall of Constantinople, 1453 (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Ottoman Empire (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇬🇷GRC

   Greece · War & Rupture · 29 May 1453

   Fall of Constantinople

   Ottoman forces under Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire and clearing the way for Ottoman rule over the Greek lands.

   Roman and Byzantine Greece

   Sources: Fall of Constantinople (1453) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Byzantine Empire (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇬🇲GMB

   Gambia · Economy & Trade · 1455–1456

   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.

   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)

2. 🇬🇼GNB

   Guinea-Bissau · Colonisation · 1455–1456

   Portuguese ships reach the Rivers of Guinea

   Expeditions under Alvise Cadamosto, sailing for Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator, explored the coast and estuaries of Guinea, opening European trade in the labyrinth of rivers that gave the region its name.

   The Rivers of Guinea and the Atlantic slave trade

   Sources: Portuguese Guinea (Wikipedia) · History of Guinea-Bissau (Wikipedia) · Guinea-Bissau (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇽🇰KOS

   Kosovo · Politics & Power · 1455–1912

   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.

   Ottoman Rule and the Albanian National Awakening

   Sources: Kosovo: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇽🇰KOS

   Kosovo · War & Rupture · mid-15th c.

   Ottoman conquest completed

   By the mid-15th century the Ottomans had established direct rule over all of Serbia, including Kosovo, ending the medieval Serbian state in the region.

   The Medieval Serbian Heartland and the Battle of Kosovo

   Sources: Kosovo: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇨🇻CPV

   Cape Verde · Colonisation · c. 1456

   Portuguese reach the uninhabited islands

   Sailing for Prince Henry the Navigator, the Venetian captain Alvise Cadamosto and others made landfall on the empty Cape Verde archipelago; further islands were charted over the next decade by Diogo Gomes and António de Noli.

   Uninhabited islands and the first town in the tropics

   Sources: History of Cabo Verde (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Cape Verde (Wikipedia) · The Portuguese Colonization of Cape Verde (World History Encyclopedia)

Europe

1. 🇭🇺HUN

   Hungary · War & Rupture

   Siege of Belgrade

   Hungarian forces under John Hunyadi broke an Ottoman siege of Belgrade, checking the Turkish advance into central Europe for decades and becoming a celebrated victory of the medieval kingdom.

   Mohács and the Three-Part Kingdom

   Sources: Battle of Mohács (1526) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇵🇭PHL

   Philippines · Religion · mid-15th c.

   Founding of the Sultanate of Sulu

   Islam takes political form as the Sultanate of Sulu rises around Jolo, becoming a powerful maritime state controlling trade across the Sulu Sea and toward Borneo.

   Barangays, Indianised Polities and the Islamic Sultanates

   Sources: Sulu Archipelago (Sultanate of Sulu) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇲🇩MDA

   Moldova · Politics & Power · 1457–1504

   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.

   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

1. 🇭🇷HRV

   Croatia · Economy & Trade · 15th–16th c.

   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.

   Venetian Dalmatia, the Republic of Ragusa and the Ottoman Wars

   Sources: Old City of Dubrovnik (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Croatia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇷🇸SRB

   Serbia · War & Rupture

   Ottoman conquest of Serbia

   The Ottomans captured the fortress of Smederevo and extinguished the Despotate, absorbing the Serb lands into the empire and beginning nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule.

   The Battle of Kosovo and the Ottoman Conquest

   Sources: Serbia: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇬🇷GRC

   Greece · War & Rupture

   Ottoman conquest of the Morea

   The Ottomans completed their conquest of the Greek mainland with the fall of the Byzantine Despotate of the Morea, including Mystras, bringing the Greek lands under Ottoman rule.

   Ottoman Rule and the War of Independence

   Sources: Greece under Ottoman rule (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Ottoman conquest of the Morea (Wikipedia)

Africa

1. 🇱🇷LBR

   Liberia · Economy & Trade · 15th–16th centuries

   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.

   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

1. 🇨🇻CPV

   Cape Verde · Formation

   Ribeira Grande founded on Santiago

   Portuguese settlers established Ribeira Grande (today Cidade Velha) on Santiago — the first permanent European city in the tropics — drawing Portuguese, Genoese and Flemish settlers, convicts and Sephardic Jews.

   Uninhabited islands and the first town in the tropics

   Sources: Cidade Velha, Historic Centre of Ribeira Grande (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Cidade Velha (Wikipedia) · History of Cape Verde (Wikipedia)

2. 🇸🇱SLE

   Sierra Leone · Culture & Ideas · c. 1460s

   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.

   The Rice Coast peoples and the Mane

   Sources: Sierra Leone (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Pedro de Sintra (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇷🇴ROU

   Romania · War & Rupture · c. 1456–1462

   Vlad III the Impaler resists the Ottomans

   Vlad III of Wallachia, remembered for impaling his enemies, fought a savage campaign against Ottoman power; his reputation later inspired the literary figure of Dracula.

   Wallachia, Moldavia and the Ottoman centuries

   Sources: Vlad the Impaler (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇧🇦BIH

   Bosnia and Herzegovina · Politics & Power

   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.

   Ottoman Bosnia and the Making of a Multi-Confessional Land

   Sources: Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ottoman Bosnia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bosnia and Herzegovina: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇧🇦BIH

   Bosnia and Herzegovina · War & Rupture

   Ottoman conquest of Bosnia

   The armies of Sultan Mehmed II conquered most of Bosnia in 1463, ending the medieval kingdom and beginning more than four centuries of Ottoman rule.

   Medieval Bosnia: Banate, Kingdom and the Bosnian Church

   Sources: Bosnia and Herzegovina: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ottoman Bosnia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇰🇿KAZ

   Kazakhstan · Formation · c. 1465

   Foundation of the Kazakh Khanate

   The Jochid sultans Janibek and Kerei break with Abu'l-Khayr Khan and lead their followers into Zhetysu, founding the Kazakh Khanate, the realm Kazakhs regard as the root of their nation and statehood.

   The Kazakh Khanate and the Three Jüz

   Sources: Establishment of the Kazakh Khanate (Portal 'History of Kazakhstan' (e-history.kz), National Academic Library) · History of Kazakhstan (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇨🇻CPV

   Cape Verde · Economy & Trade

   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.

   Uninhabited islands and the first town in the tropics

   Sources: History of Cape Verde (Wikipedia) · The Portuguese Colonization of Cape Verde (World History Encyclopedia)

Asia

1. 🇯🇵JPN

   Japan · War & Rupture · 1467-1477 CE

   Onin War

   A succession dispute ignites a decade of warfare that devastates Kyoto, cripples shogunal authority, and tips Japan into the fragmented Sengoku era.

   Kamakura and Muromachi: The Age of the Shogun

   Sources: Muromachi period (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Sengoku period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇸🇰SVK

   Slovakia · Culture & Ideas

   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.

   A Thousand Years in the Kingdom of Hungary

   Sources: History of Slovakia (Slovakia.travel (official tourism portal))

Africa

1. 🇲🇱MLI

   Mali · War & Rupture

   Sonni Ali takes Timbuktu

   Sonni Ali captures Timbuktu, and in 1473 Djenné, bringing the Niger trade cities under Songhai control and laying the foundation of the empire.

   The Songhai Empire and Its Fall

   Sources: The Songhai Empire (HIST103) (Saylor Academy) · Sonni Ali (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇦🇱ALB

   Albania · Politics & Power

   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.

   Medieval Albania, the Ottoman Conquest and Skanderbeg

   Sources: Skanderbeg (Gjergj Kastrioti) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Albania (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇪🇸ESP

   Spain · Politics & Power

   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'.

   The Catholic Monarchs and the Golden Age Empire

   Sources: Spain (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇸🇹STP

   São Tomé and Príncipe · Formation · c. 1470–1471

   Portuguese reach the uninhabited islands

   Portuguese navigators, by tradition João de Santarém and Pero Escobar, reached São Tomé and Príncipe, finding the equatorial islands entirely uninhabited and suited to bases for mainland trade.

   Empty islands and the first plantation society

   Sources: São Tomé and Príncipe (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of São Tomé and Príncipe (Wikipedia) · São Tomé and Príncipe (Wikipedia)

South America

1. 🇨🇱CHL

   Chile · War & Rupture · late 15th century

   Inca expansion reaches the Maule

   The Inca empire extends its influence into northern and central Chile but is unable to subdue the Mapuche, whose resistance checks imperial control near the Maule River.

   Indigenous Peoples and the World of Rapa Nui

   Sources: History of Chile (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Araucanian wars (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇬🇭GHA

   Ghana · Economy & Trade · 1470s

   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.

   European forts, gold, and the Atlantic slave trade

   Sources: Ghana (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Elmina Castle (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇻🇳VNM

   Vietnam · War & Rupture · 1471 CE

   Conquest of Champa's capital

   Emperor Le Thanh Tong's forces capture Vijaya, the capital of Champa, accelerating the southward expansion (Nam tien) of Vietnamese settlement.

   Independent Dynasties: Ly, Tran, and Le

   Sources: Vietnam (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇪🇨ECU

   Ecuador · War & Rupture · c. 1471-1493

   Inca advance into the northern Andes

   Topa Inca Yupanqui begins the conquest of the Ecuadorian highlands, met by fierce resistance from the Cañari and the peoples around Quito.

   The Inca Conquest and the Last Emperor

   Sources: History of Ecuador (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Atahuallpa (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇵🇪PER

   Peru · Politics & Power · c. 1471-1493

   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.

   The Inca Empire of Tawantinsuyu

   Sources: Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · City of Cuzco (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Africa

1. 🇨🇲CMR

   Cameroon · Culture & Ideas · 1470s

   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.

   Grassfields kingdoms, the Douala coast and the Fulani north

   Sources: Wouri River (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Cameroon (Wikipedia)

2. 🇬🇶GNQ

   Equatorial Guinea · Colonisation

   Fernão do Pó sights the island

   The Portuguese navigator Fernão do Pó sighted the volcanic island in the Gulf of Guinea in 1472, reportedly naming it Formosa; it soon took his own name as Fernando Pó, the island later renamed Bioko.

   Fernão do Pó, the Portuguese, and the cession to Spain

   Sources: History of Equatorial Guinea (Encyclopædia Britannica) · History of Equatorial Guinea (Wikipedia) · Equatorial Guinea (New World Encyclopedia)

3. 🇬🇦GAB

   Gabon · Colonisation

   Portuguese reach the estuary and name it Gabão

   Portuguese navigators arrived at the estuary of the Komo River in 1472 and named it Gabão, the Portuguese word for a hooded cloak, after the estuary's shape; the country's name derives from it.

   The Myènè coast, the Fang, and the Atlantic trade

   Sources: History of Gabon (Encyclopædia Britannica) · History of Gabon (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇮🇩IDN

   Indonesia · Religion · c. 1475

   Rise of the Demak Sultanate on Java

   Demak emerges as the first major Islamic state on Java and a base from which Islam spreads across the island as Majapahit's power collapses.

   The Spread of Islam and the Spice-Trade Sultanates

   Sources: History of Indonesia (Islamic influence; Dutch rule) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇲🇩MDA

   Moldova · War & Rupture

   Battle of Vaslui

   Stephen the Great destroyed a much larger Ottoman army at Vaslui, a victory celebrated across Christian Europe that briefly halted the Turkish advance into Moldavia.

   The Principality of Moldavia and the Golden Age of Stephen the Great

   Sources: Stephen (Stephen the Great), prince of Moldavia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇷🇴ROU

   Romania · War & Rupture · 10 Jan 1475

   Stephen the Great's victory at Vaslui

   Stephen the Great of Moldavia crushed a much larger Ottoman army at Vaslui, one of his celebrated victories in a long resistance to the Turks that won him renown across Christian Europe.

   Wallachia, Moldavia and the Ottoman centuries

   Sources: Stephen, prince of Moldavia (Stephen the Great) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Churches of Moldavia (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. 🇲🇩MDA

   Moldova · War & Rupture

   Defeat at Valea Alba

   An Ottoman counter-offensive under Sultan Mehmed II defeated Stephen at Valea Alba; though he survived and recovered, the campaign exposed the mounting pressure on the small principality.

   The Principality of Moldavia and the Golden Age of Stephen the Great

   Sources: Stephen (Stephen the Great), prince of Moldavia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇨🇭CHE

   Switzerland · War & Rupture · 1476–1477

   The Burgundian Wars

   Swiss and allied armies defeated Charles the Bold of Burgundy at Grandson and Murten in 1476 and at Nancy in 1477, where Charles fell; victory destroyed Burgundy as a power and made Swiss pikemen the most feared infantry in Europe.

   The Oath of the Forest Cantons and the Old Swiss Confederacy

   Sources: Switzerland: The Swiss Confederation during the Late Middle Ages (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · The story of Switzerland's federal borders (Swiss National Museum (blog.nationalmuseum.ch))

Europe

1. 🇧🇪BEL

   Belgium · Politics & Power

   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.

   The Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands

   Sources: Belgium: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇳🇱NLD

   Netherlands · Politics & Power

   Habsburg inheritance

   Mary of Burgundy marries Maximilian of Habsburg, bringing the Low Countries under Habsburg rule after the death of Charles the Bold.

   Burgundian and Habsburg Rule

   Sources: Netherlands (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇪🇸ESP

   Spain · Religion

   Establishment of the Spanish Inquisition

   Authorised under the Catholic Monarchs, the Spanish Inquisition prosecuted suspected heretics, especially conversos, through trials, torture and executions, enforcing religious uniformity for centuries.

   The Catholic Monarchs and the Golden Age Empire

   Sources: Spanish Inquisition (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇦🇱ALB

   Albania · Religion · from 1479

   Albania within the Ottoman Empire

   Following the fall of Kruje and Shkoder, Albania was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, beginning nearly five centuries of rule during which most Albanians converted to Islam.

   Five Centuries of Ottoman Rule and the National Awakening

   Sources: History of Albania (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Albania (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇲🇼MWI

   Malawi · Formation · c. 1480

   Founding of the Maravi Confederacy

   The Amaravi, ancestors of the Chewa, established a confederacy under the Kalonga on the southwestern shores of Lake Nyasa, ruling from Mankhamba — the state that gave Malawi its name.

   The Maravi Confederacy

   Sources: Maravi Confederacy (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Maravi (Wikipedia) · History of Malawi (Wikipedia)

Europe

1. 🇷🇺RUS

   Russia · Independence

   The Great Stand on the Ugra ends the Mongol yoke

   Ivan III, having stopped paying tribute, faces down the Great Horde at the Ugra River; the bloodless standoff is traditionally regarded as the end of Mongol overlordship and the rise of a sovereign Muscovite state.

   Kievan Rus' and the Mongol Yoke

   Sources: Russia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇬🇭GHA

   Ghana · Colonisation

   Portugal builds Elmina Castle

   The Portuguese raised Castelo de São Jorge da Mina (Elmina Castle) to protect the gold trade — the first European fortress in sub-Saharan Africa and the oldest surviving European building south of the Sahara.

   European forts, gold, and the Atlantic slave trade

   Sources: Elmina Castle (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Elmina Castle, Ghana (International Coalition of Sites of Conscience)

Asia

1. 🇳🇵NPL

   Nepal · Politics & Power · c. 1482

   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.

   The Malla City-States and the Valley of Art

   Sources: Yaksha Malla (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Malla era (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇦🇴AGO

   Angola · Peoples & Migration

   Portuguese reach the Kingdom of Kongo

   The navigator Diogo Cão reached the mouth of the Congo River and made contact with the Kingdom of Kongo, opening relations between this powerful Central African monarchy and Portugal.

   Kongo, Ndongo and the kingdoms of Central Africa

   Sources: Angola — Colonialism, Independence, Civil War (history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Portuguese Angola (World History Encyclopedia) · Kingdom of Kongo (Wikipedia)

2. 🇨🇮CIV

   Ivory Coast · Economy & Trade

   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.

   The ivory coast, the French, and the conquest

   Sources: History of Ivory Coast (Wikipedia) · History of Côte d'Ivoire (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇻🇦VAT

   Vatican City · Culture & Ideas · 1481–1483

   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.

   The Renaissance Papacy and the New Saint Peter's

   Sources: History of the Sistine Chapel (Vatican Museums (museivaticani.va))

Africa

1. 🇳🇦NAM

   Namibia · Colonisation

   Diogo Cão reaches the coast

   The Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão landed on the Namib coast and raised a stone cross at Cape Cross; the waterless, harbourless shore — later the Skeleton Coast — long deterred European settlement.

   The desert coast, the Orlam migration and the Nama polities

   Sources: Namibia (country, history and government) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Namibia (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇧🇳BRN

   Brunei · Politics & Power · c. 1485

   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.

   The Golden Age of the Maritime Empire

   Sources: History of Brunei (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇬🇧GBR

   United Kingdom · War & Rupture · 22 August 1485

   Battle of Bosworth ends the Wars of the Roses

   Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field, ending the Plantagenet dynasty and the Wars of the Roses and founding the Tudor line as Henry VII.

   The Norman Conquest and medieval England

   Sources: House of Tudor (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇵🇹PRT

   Portugal · Colonisation

   Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope

   Bartolomeu Dias led the first European expedition to round the southern tip of Africa, showing that the Atlantic and Indian oceans were connected and opening the route to Asia.

   The Age of Discovery

   Sources: Bartolomeu Dias (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇨🇾CYP

   Cyprus · Politics & Power

   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.

   Crusader Kingdom, Venetian Colony and Ottoman Conquest

   Sources: Cyprus: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇸🇮SVN

   Slovenia · Economy & Trade

   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.

   The Habsburg Duchies and the Birth of Written Slovene

   Sources: Heritage of Mercury. Almaden and Idrija (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Africa

1. 🇦🇴AGO

   Angola · Religion · c. 1491

   Kongo adopts Christianity

   The Kongo ruler was baptised and, under his son Afonso I, the kingdom embraced Catholicism, literacy and sustained diplomatic ties with Portugal and the papacy.

   Kongo, Ndongo and the kingdoms of Central Africa

   Sources: Kingdom of Kongo (Wikipedia) · Angola — Colonialism, Independence, Civil War (history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇨🇩COD

   DR Congo · Religion

   Kongo's king baptised as João I

   After Diogo Cão's 1483 landfall, King Nzinga a Nkuwu accepts Catholic baptism, taking the name João I and opening close ties with Portugal.

   Kongo & the Savanna Kingdoms

   Sources: Kingdom of Kongo (Wikipedia) · Afonso I, king of Kongo kingdom (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇪🇸ESP

   Spain · Colonisation

   Columbus's first voyage and the Alhambra Decree

   Columbus reached the Americas under the crown of Castile, beginning Spain's overseas empire; the same year the Alhambra Decree expelled Spain's Jews who refused conversion.

   The Catholic Monarchs and the Golden Age Empire

   Sources: Spain (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Alhambra Decree / Edict of Expulsion of the Jews (1492) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇪🇸ESP

   Spain · War & Rupture · 2 Jan 1492

   Fall of Granada

   Muhammad XII (Boabdil) surrendered Granada, the last Muslim state in Iberia, to the Catholic Monarchs, completing the Reconquista after nearly eight centuries.

   Al-Andalus and the Reconquista

   Sources: Al-Andalus (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

North America

1. 🇧🇸BHS

   Bahamas · Colonisation · 12 October 1492

   Columbus's first landfall at Guanahani

   Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in the Americas at the Lucayan island of Guanahani, which he renamed San Salvador and claimed for Castile, opening the European encounter with the New World.

   The Lucayans and Columbus's landfall

   Sources: Oct 12, 1492 CE: Columbus Makes Landfall in the Caribbean (National Geographic Society) · The Bahamas — British colonization (History) (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Bahamas: Local History and Genealogy — Research Guide (Library of Congress)

2. 🇨🇺CUB

   Cuba · Colonisation · 27 Oct 1492

   Columbus reaches Cuba

   On his first voyage Christopher Columbus anchors off the northern coast of Cuba and claims the island for Spain, his first encounter with the Taino there.

   The Taino and the Spanish Conquest

   Sources: Taino (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Cuba: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

3. 🇩🇴DOM

   Dominican Republic · Colonisation · 5 Dec 1492

   Columbus reaches Hispaniola

   On his first voyage Christopher Columbus lands on the island the Taino call Quisqueya and claims it for Spain as La Isla Espanola, opening the European conquest of the Americas.

   Quisqueya, Columbus, and the First Colony

   Sources: History of the Dominican Republic (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Hispaniola (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

4. 🇭🇹HTI

   Haiti · Colonisation · 6 Dec 1492

   Columbus lands on Hispaniola

   Christopher Columbus reaches the Taino island of Quisqueya and names it La Isla Espanola, beginning Spanish colonisation of the Americas.

   Quisqueya: The Taino and Spanish Hispaniola

   Sources: Columbus and the Taino (Library of Congress) · Hispaniola (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

5. 🇺🇸USA

   United States · Colonisation · 1492 CE

   Columbus reaches the Caribbean

   Christopher Columbus's landfall opened sustained contact between Europe and the Americas, beginning an era of conquest, colonisation, and devastating disease for Indigenous peoples.

   Indigenous America before contact

   Sources: Jamestown Colony (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇬🇳GIN

   Guinea · Politics & Power

   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.

   The Mande Heartland and the Sahelian Empires

   Sources: Songhai Empire (World History Encyclopedia) · Songhai Empire (EBSCO Research Starters)

2. 🇲🇱MLI

   Mali · Politics & Power

   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.

   The Songhai Empire and Its Fall

   Sources: The Songhai Empire (HIST103) (Saylor Academy) · Askia Muhammad I (Wikipedia)

3. 🇸🇹STP

   São Tomé and Príncipe · Peoples & Migration

   Deportation of Jewish children and convicts

   The early colonists included Portuguese degredados and some two thousand children taken from expelled Jewish families and deported to be raised as Christians, most of whom died — part of the forced human mixture that founded Creole society.

   Empty islands and the first plantation society

   Sources: History of São Tomé and Príncipe (Wikipedia) · São Tomé and Príncipe (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

4. 🇸🇹STP

   São Tomé and Príncipe · Colonisation

   São Tomé settled by Álvaro Caminha

   The first successful settlement of São Tomé was established under a crown grant to Álvaro Caminha, beginning the islands' colonisation.

   Empty islands and the first plantation society

   Sources: History of São Tomé and Príncipe (Wikipedia) · São Tomé and Príncipe (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇵🇷PRI

   Puerto Rico · Colonisation · 19 Nov 1493

   Columbus claims the island

   On his second voyage, Christopher Columbus reaches the island and claims it for Spain, naming it San Juan Bautista.

   Borikén of the Taíno and Columbus's Arrival

   Sources: Puerto Rico: History (Encyclopædia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇪🇨ECU

   Ecuador · Politics & Power · c. 1493-1525

   Huayna Capac completes the conquest

   Huayna Capac extends Inca rule over all of highland Ecuador and makes Quito a northern capital of the empire.

   The Inca Conquest and the Last Emperor

   Sources: History of Ecuador (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Atahuallpa (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇧🇩BGD

   Bangladesh · Politics & Power

   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.

   The Bengal Sultanate and the Spread of Islam

   Sources: Ḥusayn Shah ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇮🇹ITA

   Italy · War & Rupture

   French invasion and the Italian Wars

   The French invasion of 1494 opened decades of warfare in which France and Spain fought for control of Italy, exposing the weakness of its divided states.

   The Renaissance and the City-States

   Sources: Italy (country overview and history) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇲🇪MNE

   Montenegro · Culture & Ideas · 4 Jan 1494

   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.

   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)

3. 🇵🇹PRT

   Portugal · Politics & Power · 7 Jun 1494

   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.

   The Age of Discovery

   Sources: Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇯🇲JAM

   Jamaica · Colonisation · 5 May 1494

   Columbus reaches Jamaica

   On his second voyage Christopher Columbus arrives off the north coast, claiming the island for Spain and naming a harbour Santa Gloria.

   Xaymaca: The Taino Island

   Sources: Jamaica: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Columbus and the Taino (Library of Congress)

Africa

1. 🇨🇻CPV

   Cape Verde · Religion · 1493–1495

   The Nossa Senhora do Rosário church

   Construction of the church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário at Ribeira Grande, among the oldest surviving colonial churches anywhere, reflected the town's new role as a bishopric and religious centre of the islands.

   Uninhabited islands and the first town in the tropics

   Sources: Cidade Velha (Wikipedia) · Cidade Velha, Historic Centre of Ribeira Grande (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

North America

1. 🇩🇴DOM

   Dominican Republic · Formation · 1496 CE

   Founding of Santo Domingo

   Bartholomew Columbus founds Santo Domingo on the Ozama River; refounded soon after, it becomes the oldest permanent European city in the Americas and the seat of Spanish power.

   Quisqueya, Columbus, and the First Colony

   Sources: Santo Domingo (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Colonial City of Santo Domingo (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

North America

1. 🇨🇦CAN

   Canada · Colonisation

   John Cabot reaches the Atlantic coast

   Sailing for England, John Cabot reached the coast of present-day Atlantic Canada in 1497, beginning the sustained European interest in the region's fisheries and lands that would follow.

   Indigenous peoples and First Nations before contact

   Sources: Canada (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · First Nations and Indigenous peoples in Canada (The Canadian Encyclopedia)

Africa

1. 🇧🇫BFA

   Burkina Faso · War & Rupture · c. 1498

   Songhai campaigns against the Mossi

   The Songhai emperor Askia Muhammad I campaigns against the non-Muslim Mossi, defeating Mossi of Yatenga but failing to subdue the kingdoms, which retain their religion and independence.

   The Mossi Kingdoms

   Sources: Muhammad I Askia (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Reign of Mohammed I Askia (EBSCO Research Starters) · Mossi Kingdoms (Wikipedia)

2. 🇰🇪KEN

   Kenya · Colonisation · April 1498

   Vasco da Gama reaches the Kenyan coast

   The Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama calls at Mombasa and Malindi en route to India, beginning a century of Portuguese involvement on the Swahili coast.

   Portuguese and Omani Rule on the Coast

   Sources: History of Kenya (Wikipedia) · Vasco da Gama (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇲🇿MOZ

   Mozambique · Colonisation · 2 March 1498

   Vasco da Gama reaches the coast

   Bound for India, Vasco da Gama anchors off the Island of Mozambique, where Muslim merchants receive him with suspicion; he sails on, marking the first European contact with the coast.

   Da Gama and the Portuguese Seizure of the Coast

   Sources: Vasco da Gama (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · History of Mozambique (Wikipedia) · Vasco da Gama (The Mariners' Museum — Ages of Exploration)

4. 🇹🇿TZA

   Tanzania · Colonisation

   Vasco da Gama reaches the coast

   The Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama arrives on the East African coast en route to India, opening an era of Portuguese intrusion that disrupted the Swahili city-states.

   The Portuguese and Omani Zanzibar

   Sources: Portuguese conquest of the East African coast (Wikipedia) · The Portuguese in East Africa (World History Encyclopedia)

Europe

1. 🇵🇹PRT

   Portugal · Colonisation

   Vasco da Gama reaches India

   Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to Calicut, completing the sea route from western Europe to India and inaugurating direct trade with Asia.

   The Age of Discovery

   Sources: Vasco da Gama (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

North America

1. 🇹🇹TTO

   Trinidad and Tobago · Colonisation

   Columbus sights Trinidad and Tobago

   On his third voyage Christopher Columbus reached Trinidad, naming it after the Holy Trinity, and sighted Tobago — the first European contact with islands then inhabited by Arawak and Carib peoples.

   The first peoples

   Sources: Trinidad and Tobago: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · T&T History Timeline (National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago) · A Guide to the History of Recognition: Trinidad and Tobago (U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian)

South America

1. 🇸🇷SUR

   Suriname · Colonisation · 1498-1500

   European voyages sight the coast

   Columbus sights the Guiana coast in 1498 and Spanish expeditions sail along it soon after, but no lasting settlement follows.

   Indigenous Peoples and Early Contact

   Sources: Suriname: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇻🇪VEN

   Venezuela · Colonisation · Aug 1498

   Columbus reaches the Gulf of Paria

   On his third voyage Christopher Columbus enters the Gulf of Paria near the Orinoco, the only South American mainland he ever set foot on.

   Indigenous Peoples and the Encounter of 1498

   Sources: Venezuela: A Country Study (U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division) · Venezuela (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

South America

1. 🇻🇪VEN

   Venezuela · Colonisation · 1499 CE

   The naming of 'little Venice'

   Navigators of the Ojeda expedition, on which Amerigo Vespucci sailed, name the coast around Lake Maracaibo 'Venezuela', or 'little Venice', after its stilt dwellings.

   Indigenous Peoples and the Encounter of 1498

   Sources: Venezuela (Encyclopaedia Britannica)