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Age of Exploration

1450 CE – 1600 CE

The early-modern world as sea routes first linked every continent — Constantinople falls, Granada is taken, Columbus and Zheng He set sail, and empires reach across oceans.

2212 events · 2180 people · 10 eras

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Key events

  1. Fall of Constantinople1453 CE
    1453 capture of the Byzantine capital by the Ottoman Empire
  2. Ōnin War1467 CE
    15th-century civil war in Japan
  3. Battle of Bosworth Field1485 CE
    The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England and Wales in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 August 1485, the battle was won by an alliance of Lancastrians and disaffected Yorkists. Their leader Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became the first Welsh monarch of England from the Tudor dynasty by his victory and subsequent marriage to the de facto Yorkist heiress, Elizabeth of York. His opponent Richard III, the last king of the House of York, was killed during the battle, the last English monarch to fall in battle. Historians consider Bosworth Field to mark the end of the Plantagenet dynasty, making it one of the defining moments of English history.
  4. Treaty of Tordesillas1494 CE
    treaty dividing territory between Portugal and Spain
  5. Wars of the Roses1500 CE
    The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, and also the Cousins' War, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought for control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fought between supporters of the House of Lancaster and House of York, two rival cadet branches of the royal House of Plantagenet. The conflict resulted in the end of Lancaster's male line in 1471, leaving the Tudor family to inherit, through the female line, the Lancaster claim to the throne. Conflict was largely brought to an end upon the union of the two houses through marriage, creating the Tudor dynasty that would subsequently rule England.
  6. Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire1519 CE
    16th-century Spanish invasion of Mesoamerica
  7. Stockholm Bloodbath1520 CE
    The Stockholm Bloodbath was a trial that led to a series of executions in Stockholm between 7 and 9 November 1520. The event is also known as the Stockholm massacre. The events occurred after the coronation of Christian II as the new king of Sweden, when guests in the crowning party were invited to a meeting at Tre Kronor castle. Archbishop Gustav Trolle, demanding economic compensation for things such as the demolition of Almarestäket's fortress, questioned whether the former Swedish regent Sten Sture the Younger and his supporters had been guilty of heresy.
  8. Swedish War of Liberation1521 CE
    rebellion and a civil war in which the Swedish nobleman Gustav Vasa successfully deposed the king Christian II as regent of the Kalmar Union in Sweden
  9. Battle of Pavia1525 CE
    The Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–1526 between the Kingdom of France and the Habsburg Empire of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor as well as ruler of Spain, Austria, the Low Countries, and the Two Sicilies.
  10. Battle of Mohács1526 CE
    The Battle of Mohács took place on 29 August 1526 near Mohács, in the Kingdom of Hungary. It was fought between the forces of Hungary, led by King Louis II, and the invading Ottoman Empire, commanded by Suleiman the Magnificent and his grand vizier, Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha. The Ottomans achieved a decisive victory through superior planning, firepower, and a well-executed encirclement that overwhelmed the Hungarian forces.
  11. Sack of Rome, 15271527 CE
    The Sack of Rome, then part of the Papal States, followed the capture of Rome on 6 May 1527 by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, during the War of the League of Cognac. Charles V only intended to threaten military action to make Pope Clement VII come to his terms. However, the Imperial army were largely unpaid and mutinied. Despite being ordered not to storm Rome, they broke into the scarcely defended city and began looting, killing, and holding citizens for ransom without any restraint. Clement VII took refuge in Castel Sant'Angelo after the Swiss Guard were annihilated in a delaying rear guard action; he remained there until a ransom was paid to the pillagers.
  12. Treaty of Zaragoza1529 CE
    peace treaty between Spain and Portugal signed on 22 April 1529

Notable people

Eras spanning this view

Byzantine Empire330 CE – 1453 CEEthiopian Empire1270 CE – 1974 CEOttoman Empire1299 CE – 1922 CEMuromachi period1336 CE – 1573 CEMing dynasty1368 CE – 1644 CEAztec Empire1428 CE – 1521 CESonghai Empire1430 CE – 1591 CEInca Empire1438 CE – 1533 CEMughal Empire1526 CE – 1857 CEAzuchi–Momoyama period1573 CE – 1603 CE

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Events from Wikipedia/Wikidata (CC-BY-SA); boundaries from OpenHistoricalMap (ODbL). Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected].