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1492, Columbus opens the route to the New World for Spain. Beginning of the Modern Age.

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was the century which lasted from 1401 to 1500.

Events

• 1401: Dilawar Khan establishes the Malwa Sultanate in present-day central India
• 1402: Ottoman and Timurid Empires fight at the Battle of Ankara resulting in Timur's capture of Bayezid I.
• 1402: Sultanate of Malacca founded by Parameshwara.
• 1403: The Yongle Emperor moves the capital of China from Nanjing to Beijing.
• 1403: The settlement of the Canary Islands signals the beginning of the Spanish Empire.
• 1405–33: Zheng He of China sails through the Indian Ocean to India, Arabia, and East Africa.
• 1410: The Battle of Grunwald was the decisive battle of the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War leading to the downfall of the Teutonic Knights.
• 1410–13: Foundation of St Andrews University in Scotland
• 1414: Khizr Khan, deputised by Timur to be the governor of Multan takes over Delhi founding the Sayyid dynasty
• 1415: Henry the Navigator leads the conquest of Ceuta from the Moors marking the beginning of the Portuguese Empire.
• 1415: Battle of Agincourt fought between the Kingdom of England and France
• 1415: Jan Hus is burned at the stake as a heretic at the Council of Constance.
• 1420: Construction of the Chinese Forbidden City is completed in Beijing.
• 1425: Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) founded by Pope Martin V.
• 1420–34: Hussite Wars in Bohemia

Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl, directly influenced the result of the Hundred Years' War.

• 1424: James I returns to Scotland after being held hostage under three Kings of England since 1406
• 1424: Deva Raya II succeeds his father Veera Vijaya Bukka Raya as monarch of the Vijayanagara Empire
• 1429: Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans and turns the tide of the Hundred Years' War.
• 1438: Pachacuti founds the Inca Empire.
• 1440s: The Golden Horde breaks up into the Siberia Khanate, the Khanate of Kazan, the Astrakhan Khanate, the Crimean Khanate, and the Great Horde.
• 1440–69: Under Moctezuma I, the Aztecs become the dominant power in Mesoamerica.
• 1441: Jan van Eyck, flemish painter dies
• 1441: Portuguese navigators cruise West Africa and reestablish the European slave trade with a shipment of African slaves sent directly from Africa to Portugal.
• 1441: Eton College founded by Henry VI.
• 1443: Abdur Razzaq visits India
• 1444: The Albanian league is established in Lezha, Skanderbeg is elected leader
• 1444: Ottoman Empire under Sultan Murad II defeats the Polish and Hungarian armies under Władysław III of Poland and János Hunyadi at the Battle of Varna.
• 1445: Kazan Khanate defeats Grand Duchy of Moscow at the Battle of Suzdal
• 1446: King Sejong the Great published a hangul, the native phonetic alphabet system for the Korean language.
• 1446: Mallikarjuna Raya succeeds his father Deva Raya II as monarch of the Vijayanagara Empire
• 1449: Esen Tayisi leads an Oirat Mongol invasion of China which culminate in the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor at Battle of Tumu Fortress.
• 1451: Bahlul Khan Lodhi ascends the throne of the Delhi sultanate starting the Lodhi dynasty
• 1453: The Fall of Constantinople marks the end of the Byzantine Empire and the beginning of the Growth of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1453: The Battle of Castillon is the last engagement of the Hundred Years' Warand the first battle in European history where cannons were a major factor in deciding the battle .
• 1454–66: After defeating the Teutonic Knights in the Thirteen Years' War, Poland annexes Royal Prussia.
• 1455–85: Wars of the Roses - English civil war between the House of York and the House of Lancaster.

Richard III of England

• 1456: The Siege of Belgrade halts the Ottoman's advance into Europe.
• 1462: Sonni Ali Ber, the ruler of the Songhai (or Songhay) Empire, along the Niger River, conquered Mali in the central Sudan by defeating the Tuareg contingent at Tombouctou (or Timbuktu) and capturing the city. He developed both his own capital, Gao, and the main centres of Mali, Timbuktu and Djenné, into major cities. Ali Ber controlled trade along the Niger River with a navy of war vessels.
• 1462: Mehmed the Conqueror is driven back by Wallachian prince Vlad III Dracula at The Night Attack.
• 1467: Uzun Hasan defeats the Black Sheep Turkoman leader Jahān Shāh.
• 1467–1615: The Sengoku period is one of civil war in Japan.

The 1480 Siege of Rhodes. Ships of the Hospitaliers in the forefront, and Turkish camp in the background.

• 1469: The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile leads to the unification of Spain.
• 1469: Birth of Guru Nanak Dev. Beside followers of Sikhism, Guru Nanak is revered by Hindus and Muslim Sufis across the Indian subcontinent.
• 1470: The Moldavian forces under Stephen the Great defeat the Tatars of the Golden Horde at the Battle of Lipnic.
• 1471: The kingdom of Champa suffers a massive defeat by the Vietnamese king Lê Thánh Tông.
• 1474–77: Burgundy Wars of France, Switzerland, Lorraine and Sigismund II of Habsburg against the Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.
• 1478: Muscovy conquers Novgorod.
• 1480: After the Great standing on the Ugra river, Muscovy gained independence from the Great Horde.
• 1481: Spanish Inquisition begins in practise with the first auto de fe.
• 1485: Henry VII defeats Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth and becomes King of England
• 1485: Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya drives out Praudha Raya ending the Sangama Dynasty
• 1486: Sher Shah Suri ,is born in Sasaram,Bihar
• 1492: The death of Sunni Ali Ber left a leadership void in the Songhai Empire, and his son was soon dethroned by Mamadou Toure who ascended the throne in 1492 under the name Askia (meaning "general") Muhammad. Askia Muhammad made Songhai the largest empire in the history of West Africa. The empire went into decline, however, after 1528, when the now-blind Askia Muhammad was dethroned by his son, Askia Musa.
• 1492: Boabdil's surrender of Granada marks the end of the Reconquista and Al-Andalus.
• 1492: Jews expelled from Spain.
• 1492: Christopher Columbus founds Spain's first New World colony on Hispaniola.
• 1494: Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas and agree to divide the World outside of Europe between themselves.
• 1494–1559: The Italian Wars lead to the downfall of the Italian city-states.
• 1497–1499: Vasco da Gama's first voyage from Europe to India and back.
• 1499: Ottoman fleet defeats Venetians at the Battle of Zonchio.