1431
Joan of Arc is burnt at the stake.
1435
Count John IV of Katzenelnbogen plants the first Riesling vineyard.
1437
Brandy is created in Katzenelnbogen, between Frankfurt and Koblenz.
1438 - 1529
The Inca Empire spreads along the West coast of South America.
1439
Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press.
1441
Antao Gonclaves sails to Cape Bronco in West Africa and takes two slaves, helping to launch the Portuguese slave trade.
1445 - 1510
Sandro Botticelli.
1449
French forces recapture Rouen from the English.
1450
The alphabetic movable type printing press is invented by Johann Gutenberg.
1450 - 1502
Murata Shuko, a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk, introduces the Japanese Tea Ceremony.
1450
Possett becomes a popular drink in Britain, seasoned with nutmeg or ginger.
1450
Machu Picchu was constructed at about this time.
1451
French forces recapture Caen, Bayonne and Bordeaux.
1452 - 1519
Leonardo da Vinci.
1452
Frederick III, Duke of Austria and King of Germany, is made Holy Roman Emperor.
1452 - 1456
The Slave Trade is sanctioned by the Pope.
1453
The Ottoman Turks under Mehmet II capture Constantinople and bring Venice's commercial dominance to an end. Turkey now dominates the Spice trade.
1453
Battle of Castillon - a decisive victory for Charles VII of France over the English forces, which ends the Hundred Years War. England withdraws from France save for Calais and the Channel Islands.
1455 - 1485
The War of the Roses in England leads to the accession of the Tudor monarch, Henry VII.
1458 - 1481
Mehmet II expands the Ottoman Empire capturing Serbia, Bosnia, Albania and Otranto in Italy.
1461
Sultan of Egypt sends Pasquale Malipiero, the Doge of Venice, a diplomatic gift of 20 pieces of blue and white porcelain.
1466 - 1536
Desiderius Erasmus.
1469 - 1539
Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism.
1469 - 1681
Spain's Golden Age, marked by significant contributions to art, architecture, music, literature and drama.
1469
Queen Isabella of Castile marries King Ferdinand of Aragon uniting Spain's two main kingdoms.
1469 - 1474
Fernao Gomes gradually explores the West African coast, reaching what is now Ghana and the Ivory Coast. He is given a monopoly over the 'Guinea trade'.
1470
The Inca Empire engulfs the nearby Chimu people, extending their influence to Quito in Ecuador.
1471 - 1528
Albrecht Durer.
1475 - 1564
Michelangelo.
1475
Kiva Han, the first coffee shop in the world is opened in Constantinople following the introduction of coffee by Arab traders.
1480
The Spanish Inquisition is established.
1481
The Portuguese establish a fort in Ghana to protect their gold.
1483 - 1520
Raphael.
1483 - 1546
Martin Luther.
1483
The Muscovite Kingdom commences a series of campaigns against the Siberians to gain control of territory and the fur trade.
1484
Shogun Yoshimasa encourages tea drinking at court.
1484
Diego Cao discovers the mouth of the River Congo.
1486 - 1488
Bartolomew Dias discovers the Cape of Good Hope and a viable maritime route to India and the Spice Islands.
1487 - 1493
Pedro da Covilha is sent by John II of Portugal to explore trade in spices with India. He journeys overland via Alexandria, Cairo and Ormuz. He then completes a second mission to Ethiopia via Mecca and Medina.
1487
Lorenzo di Medici desires to create trading relations between Florence and India, thus creating a connection to China. An ambassador from Egypt brings him many gifts, including porcelain.
1488 - 1576
Titian.
1491
The Duke of Medina Sidonia reduces taxes on wine, encouraging the sale of Sack to English merchants.
1492
The Nurnberg Terrestrial Globe is compiled by the mapmaker Martin Behaim.
1492
Columbus is given tobacco leaves by Bahamaian natives, but throws them away.
1492
Sailing with Columbus, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres see natives smoking on Cuba and become the first Europeans to try smoking.
1492
Ferdinand and Isabella retake all Muslim held land in Spain, completing the Reconquista. Jews are also expelled.
1492
Santo Domingo becomes a Spanish colony.
1492 - 1493
Christopher Columbus's first voyage, intending to reach Asia by a Western route, results in his discovery of the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola before returning to Spain.
1493
Columbus takes sugar cane to the Americas, where it grows easily. This marks the foundation of the sugar industries in Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba.
1493 - 1519
Maximilian I is made Holy Roman Emperor and expands the Empire through marrying Mary of Burgundy and linking his son with the Spanish Royal family.
1493 - 1496
Columbus. Second voyage reaches Leeward Islands, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola.
1494 - 1553
Rabelais.
1494
Columbus discovers Allspice and Chili Peppers (capsicums) in the Caribbean.
1494
The Treaty of Tordesillas divides territories discovered outside Europe between Portugal and Spain. Working on a meridian 370 leagues West of the Cape Verde Islands, the Pope's decision gives Spain most of South America (except Brazil) and gives Portugal all of Africa.
1494 - 1559
The Italian wars. Charles VIII invades Naples and sacks Rome with the aid of German mercenaries in 1527, but is eventually repulsed and forced to give up all claims to Italy in 1559.
1495
The first written mention is made of Scotch Whisky, distilled in Fife.
1497 - 1543
Hans Holbein, the Younger. Finds patronage in England.
1497
John and Sebastian Cabot sail in the 'Matthew' to Newfoundland in an attempt to find a North-West passage to the East. Their landfall in June 1497 is the first corroborated landing in North America.
1497 - 1499
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama is the first European to successfully sail to India. He reaches the spice centre at Calicut via the Cape of Good Hope and Malindi, East Africa, where he establishes relations and encounters Indian traders.
1498 - 1595
Portugal dominates the Spice Trade.
1498
Columbus names Tobago after the tobacco pipe used by natives.
1498 - 1500
Columbus. Third voyage reaches Trinidad, Venezuela and Hispaniola.
1499 - 1502
Italian cartographer and explorer Amerigo Vespucci makes several voyages to the Americas, visiting Guyana, Brazil, the Amazon, Trinidad and Hispaniola.
1499 - 1503
Rodrigo de Bastidas explores Central America including Venezuela, Colombia, the Gulf of Darien and Panama.
1499
The explorer Vasco de Gama presents Manuel I of Portugal with porcelain containers.
1500
Leonardo da Vinci is credited with inventing flying machines.
1500
Cabral discovers tobacco in Brazil.
1500 - 1595
Portugal introduce tobacco smoking to Indonesia and South and East Asia.
1500
Cotton is grown in Peru.
1500 - 1800
Roughly 85% (75,000 - 100,000 tonnes) of the world's silver is mined in Mexico and Peru.
1500
Henry VIII expands the Royal Navy, increasing the demand for timber, much of which comes from the New Forest.
1500
German scientist Hieronymous Braunschweig writes Liber de arte distillandi, 'The Art of Distilling'.
1500
Portugal challenges Arab influence in Mozambique.
1500 - 1501
Pedro Alvares Cabral leads the second Portuguese fleet to India, but is blown off course and discovers Brazil. Continuing to Calicut, Cabral was faced with riots at the Portuguese factory, lead by Arab and Indian traders.
1502
Columbus notices that cacao beans are used as currency by local people.
1502 - 1503
Vasco da Gama makes a return visit to India, exacting gold tribute from tribes in East Africa, sinking Arab vessels and bombarding Calicut in an attempt to force open trade once again. He collects spices at Cochin and Cannanore.
1502 - 1504
Columbus. Fourth voyage reaches Hispaniola, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Jamaica, looking for gold mines.
1502 - 1507
Italian explorer Ludovico di Varthema follows the path of Covilha and treks to Cairo, Damascus, Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Goa, Calicut, Malabar, Sri Lanka, Sumatra and the Moluccas (the Spice Islands) before returning home to describe his journeys.
1503
The first African slaves are brought to Hispaniola.
1505 - 1509
Francisco de Almeida is sent on an expedition to build forts, subdue Indian resistance and to displace Arab trade with the Spice Islands and India. Almeida is killed.
1505
Lourenço de Almeida discovers Sri Lanka, source of cinnamon.
1507
Martin Waldseemuller publishes a world map and uses the name 'America' in honour of Amerigo Vespucci whose letters describing his voyages were very popular.
1507
Afonso de Albuquerque raids Muscat and captures the Ormuz, which controls traffic into the Persian Gulf.
1508 - 1516
The War of the League of Cambrai. Combined French, Papal, German and Spanish forces seek to curb Venetian power, but the alliance collapses when Pope Julius II switches sides.
1508
Amerigo Vespucci is appointed Chief Navigator and put in charge of voyages to the Indies.
1508 - 1509
Vicente Pinzon searches for passage to the East Indies, but finds Honduras and Yucatan.
1509 - 1564
John Calvin, Protestant reformer.
1509
African slaves are brought to Jamaica by the Spanish to work the sugar plantations.
1509 - 1515
Afonso de Albuquerque replaces Almeida as Governor of the Portuguese Indies and establishes the Portuguese trading centre at Goa.
1510
The French Royal Palace of Chambord commences construction.
1511
Khair Beg, Governor of Constantinople, bans coffee. After a week he is executed and replaced and coffee is reinstated.
1511
Spanish settlers establish coffee, sugar and tobacco plantations on Cuba.
1511
Afonso de Albuquerque conquers Malacca on the Malay peninsula, and discovers the location of the Spice Islands.
1512
Antonio de Abreu and Francisco Serrao sail from Malacca to the Spice Islands, trade for nutmeg at the Banda Islands and establish a fort at Ternate.
1512
The first tin-glazed pottery is made in Antwerp by Guido de Savino. This type of pottery was later to become well known from the Delftware produced by Dutch potters at Delft.
1513
Juan Ponce de Leon sails from Puerto Rico and discovers Florida and the Gulf Stream currents.
1513
Vasco Nunez de Balboa leads a party across the Panama isthmus and becomes the first European to see the Pacific Sea.
1513
Jorge Alvarez and Rafael Perestrello sail from Malacca to Canton, China, and are the first Europeans to trade with merchants there.
1514 - 1517
Selim I expands the Ottoman Empire capturing Jerusalem and Cairo and gaining control over Persia and Egypt.
1516
Pietro d'Anghiera describes the taking of tobacco as snuff on Haiti.
1516
Thomas More ridicules the arbitrary value of gold in Utopia.
1516
William IV of Bavaria regulates the ingredients of beer as water, hops and barley-malt.
1517
Vines are planted in the Canaries.
1517
Selim I, Sultan of the Ottomans, captures Al-Mutawakkil, the final Caliph, and takes him to Constantinople, ending the Caliphate.
1517
The Portuguese establish a fort at Colombo, Sri Lanka.
1517
Portuguese merchants begin to trade Chinese porcelain along sea routes. The term porcelain is purported to originate from the Portuguese ‘porcellana’ – little pig.
1518 - 1594
Tintoretto. Later leader of the Venetian school.
1518
Alonso Alvarez de Pineda explores Florida and discovers the Mississippi River.
1519
Cortez observes Aztecs in Mexico smoking cigarettes.
1519
Hernando Cortes lands on the Gulf Coast and discovers the Aztec Empire.
1519 - 1522
Ferdinand Magellan sails from Spain to South America and discovers the Straits of Magellan. Despite losses they continue to the Philippines where Magellan is killed. Sebastiano del Cano returns home via the Moluccas (where he picks up 26 tons of cloves) and the Cape of Good Hope to complete the first circumnavigation of the world.
1520
Austrian scientist Paracelsus invents laudanum, a solution of opium alkaloids in alcohol. It was used to suppress pain and remained popular in Europe for over 400 years.
1520 - 1521
Smallpox wipes out a large portion of the Aztec people.
1520 - 1566
Suleiman the Magnificent reigns as Ottoman Emperor.