📜 The Late Middle Ages (1300–1500)
Mansa Musa's pilgrimage displays the wealth of Mali, the Black Death sweeps through Europe, England and France fight the Hundred Years War, and Zheng He's fleets sail to Africa. The period ends with printing in Europe, the Ottoman capture of Constantinople, and Columbus's 1492 voyage.
Every entry below comes from our timeline dataset (27 events in this era). 24 carry a source link we checked against the cited article.
ACT I
Wealth and Empire (1300–1347)
Mali, the Aztec capital, and the start of a long war in Europe.
1324
Mansa Musa's pilgrimage: Legendary wealth display destabilizes gold prices.
Source: Wikipedia: Mansa Musa
1325
Tenochtitlan founded: Aztec capital established on lake island.
Source: Wikipedia: Tenochtitlan
~1330
Timbuktu flourishes as a learning center: Under Mali Empire rule, Timbuktu grows into a center of trade and Islamic scholarship; Mansa Musa commissions the Djinguereber Mosque. Its libraries later preserve hundreds of thousands of manuscripts.
Source: Wikipedia: Timbuktu
1337
Hundred Years War begins: England and France clash over the French throne in a conflict that lasts 116 years. It forges French national identity, transforms medieval warfare—longbowmen end chivalric cavalry charges—and produces the remarkable story of Joan of Arc.
Source: Wikipedia: Hundred Years' War
ACT II
Plague and Upheaval (1347–1440)
Pandemic, revolt, and new dynasties from England to China.
1347
Black Death reaches Europe: The bubonic plague arrives by ship in Sicily in October 1347. Within five years, one-third to half of Europe's population is dead. Labor shortages empower surviving peasants, accelerate feudalism's end, and shock European civilization into new patterns of thought about mortality, faith, and social order.
Source: Wikipedia: Black Death
1351
Ayutthaya becomes Siam's capital: The kingdom of Ayutthaya unites the Chao Phraya basin and dominates trade between China, India, and the Malay world. For four centuries it is the heart of what becomes modern Thailand—one of Southeast Asia's most durable states.
Source: Wikipedia: Ayutthaya Kingdom
1368
Ming Dynasty: Han Chinese reclaim China from Mongols.
Source: Wikipedia: Ming dynasty
~1370
Timur (Tamerlane) builds Samarkand empire: Timur campaigns from Anatolia to Delhi—conquering Persia, sacking Delhi (1398), and defeating the Ottomans at Ankara (1402). He patronizes scholars and the arts at Samarkand, while his campaigns kill millions.
Source: Wikipedia: Timur
1381
Peasants' Revolt: English uprising against poll tax; Wat Tyler killed.
Source: Wikipedia: Peasants' Revolt
~1400
Islamic conversion of Southeast Asia: Malay traders, Sufi missionaries, and Muslim merchants bring Islam to the Indonesian archipelago and Malay peninsula. By 1500, Malacca—one of Asia's busiest ports—is a Muslim sultanate, reshaping Southeast Asia's religious landscape permanently.
1415
Ceuta captured: Portugal takes North African city; age of exploration begins.
Source: Wikipedia: Conquest of Ceuta
1405–1433
Zheng He voyages: Ming treasure fleets to Africa and beyond.
Source: Wikipedia: Zheng He
1431
Joan of Arc burned at the stake: The teenage peasant girl who rallied French forces against the English at Orléans is convicted of heresy by a pro-English tribunal and burned alive at 19. Rehabilitated posthumously in 1456, she becomes France's patron saint and an enduring symbol of courage, faith, and resistance.
Source: Wikipedia: Joan of Arc
ACT III
Print, Conquest, and Voyages (1440–1500)
Movable type, a fallen capital, and ships that connect the hemispheres.
1440
Renaissance humanism reshapes learning: Scholars inspired by recovered Greek and Roman texts place humanity—not only theology—at the center of inquiry. Humanists from Petrarch (14th century) to Pico della Mirandola and, north of the Alps, Erasmus redefine education, art, and statecraft, setting the stage for the Scientific Revolution and Reformation.
c. 1450
Machu Picchu built: Inca mountain city; architectural marvel.
Source: Wikipedia: Machu Picchu
c. 1450
Printing press: Gutenberg's movable type ignites ideas.
Source: Wikipedia: Johannes Gutenberg
1453
Ottomans take Constantinople: Byzantine Empire ends; new era begins.
1453
Ottomans control the routes to Asia: The conquest of Constantinople gives the Ottomans control of key trade routes between Europe and Asia. It is often said to have triggered the search for sea routes, but Portuguese voyages down the African coast had begun decades earlier.
1455
Gutenberg Bible: First major book printed with movable type.
Source: Wikipedia: Gutenberg Bible
1468
Songhai Empire rises: Sunni Ali captures Timbuktu and builds the Songhai Empire—one of the largest states in African history—controlling trans-Saharan gold and salt trade routes.
Source: Wikipedia: Songhai Empire
1485
Tudor Dynasty: Henry VII wins War of Roses; new English dynasty.
Source: Wikipedia: Henry VII of England
1492
Columbus reaches Americas: Begins Columbian Exchange.
1492
Reconquista ends: Granada falls, ending Muslim rule in Iberia; Spain expels its Jews the same year.
Source: Wikipedia: Reconquista
1494
Treaty of Tordesillas: Spain and Portugal divide New World.
Source: Wikipedia: Treaty of Tordesillas
1498
Vasco da Gama: Portuguese explorer reaches India via Cape of Good Hope.
Source: Wikipedia: Vasco da Gama
1498
Savonarola executed: Florentine reformer burned; Renaissance continues.
Source: Wikipedia: Girolamo Savonarola
1499
Sikhism founded by Guru Nanak: Guru Nanak begins teaching in the Punjab (traditionally dated 1499), emphasizing devotion to one God, the equality of all people, and service to others, and rejecting caste and religious division. Sikhism today has 25–30 million adherents.
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