1400 world map

Border history

The interactive map lets you inspect named territories in 1400 and compare them to earlier or later snapshots on the timeline.

Biographical context

This page highlights figures close to 1400 so readers can move from geography to biography without leaving the Historiqly ecosystem.

Era-based reading

The related chronicles below surface long-form reading connected to the renaissance period.

1390 – 1709

Wars of the Kingdom of Kongo

Kingdom of Kongo vs Portuguese, Imbangala, Jaga, rival vassals

The Kingdom of Kongo fought Portuguese expansion, slave-raiding Imbangala, and internal succession wars that culminated in its catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Mbwila.

Key battles: Battle of Mbwila (1665); Battle of Ambuila (1665)

1380 – 1480

Muscovite–Mongol Wars

Grand Duchy of Moscow vs Golden Horde

Moscow's century-long struggle to throw off Mongol suzerainty. Dmitry Donskoy's victory at Kulikovo in 1380 was the first major defeat of the Horde, and Ivan III's 'Great Stand on the Ugra River' in 1480 ended Mongol overlordship forever.

Key battles: Battle of Kulikovo (1380); Tokhtamysh's sack of Moscow (1382)

1371 – 1459

Ottoman Conquest of the Balkans

Ottoman Empire vs Serbian Empire, Bulgarian Empire, Byzantine remnants

The Ottomans systematically conquered the Balkans over nearly a century, culminating in the fall of Serbia — reshaping southeastern Europe for the next five centuries.

Key battles: Battle of Maritsa (1371); Battle of Kosovo (1389)

1370 – 1405

Conquests of Timur (Tamerlane)

Timurid Empire vs Golden Horde, Delhi Sultanate, Mamluks & Ottoman Empire

Timur carved out a vast empire from Central Asia, defeating the Golden Horde, sacking Delhi, destroying Damascus and Baghdad, and crushing the Ottomans at Ankara — leaving an estimated 17 million dead.

Key battles: Sack of Delhi (1398); Sack of Damascus (1401)

1354 – 1453

Ottoman Wars in Europe

Ottoman Empire vs Byzantine Empire, Serbia, Bulgaria & Crusader coalitions

The Ottomans crossed into Europe at Gallipoli in 1354 and systematically conquered the Balkans, crushing Serbian and Crusader resistance before capturing Constantinople in 1453, ending the Byzantine Empire.

Key battles: Battle of Kosovo (1389); Battle of Nicopolis (1396)

1353 – 1707

Wars of Lan Xang

Kingdom of Lan Xang vs Siam, Burma, Đại Việt, Champa

The Lao kingdom of Lan Xang fought for survival against its powerful neighbours for 350 years, at its peak controlling territory from the Mekong to the Vietnamese highlands.

Key battles: Fa Ngum's unification (1353); Burmese invasion (1574)

1351 – 1767

Wars of Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya Kingdom (Siam) vs Khmer Empire, Sukhothai, Lan Na, Burma

The Ayutthaya Kingdom fought expansionist wars for over four centuries, conquering Angkor and dominating mainland Southeast Asia until its catastrophic destruction by Burma in 1767.

Key battles: Sack of Angkor (1431); Fall of Ayutthaya (1569)

1337 – 1453

Hundred Years' War

Kingdom of England vs Kingdom of France

The 116-year dynastic struggle between England and France that saw longbowmen shatter knightly armies, a peasant girl save a kingdom, and the birth of national identity in both countries.

Key battles: Crécy (1346); Poitiers (1356)

Spain / Atlantic / Caribbean

Christopher Columbus

c. 1451 – 1506

“No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Saviour, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service.”

Four voyages across the Atlantic, opening sustained European contact with the Americas

Florence, Milan, France

Leonardo da Vinci

1452 – 1519

“Wisdom is the daughter of experience.”

Painter of the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, inventor, anatomist, engineer, and the supreme polymath of the Renaissance

Florence

Niccolò Machiavelli

1469 – 1527

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”

Political philosopher, diplomat, author of The Prince, founder of modern political science

Poland / Prussia

Nicolaus Copernicus

1473 – 1543

“In the middle of all sits the Sun enthroned. In this most beautiful temple, could we place this luminary in any better position from which he can illuminate the whole at once?”

Formulating the heliocentric model of the universe, placing the Sun at the centre

Florence & Rome

Michelangelo

1475 – 1564

“I am not in the right place — I am not a painter.”

Sculptor, painter, architect, poet — creator of the David, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and the dome of St. Peter's

Germany

Martin Luther

1483 – 1546

“My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything.”

Protestant Reformation, 95 Theses, Bible translation, theology of grace

Built 1400 · Europe

Antwerp

Europe's most important commercial hub in the 16th century, center of the diamond trade and gateway to the Spanish Netherlands

Built 1400 · South America

Ingapirca

Ecuador's most important Inca site, a fortress-temple complex built atop an earlier Cañari settlement in the Andes

Built 1400 · Asia

Malacca

Strategic strait controlling the spice trade between East and West

Built 1400 · Oceania

Marae Arahurahu

Restored open-air Polynesian temple on Tahiti with tiered stone altar (ahu) and standing slabs, the best-preserved marae in the Society Islands

Built 1400 · Oceania

Orongo

Ceremonial stone village on the rim of Rano Kau crater on Easter Island, center of the birdman cult with elaborate petroglyphs of Make-make

Built 1400 · Oceania

Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau

Sacred Hawaiian place of refuge where law-breakers could be absolved by priests

Spain / Atlantic / Caribbean · Explorer

Christopher Columbus

The Admiral of the Ocean Sea

The Genoese weaver’s son who convinced a queen, crossed an ocean, and changed the world forever — told in his own words in a first-person ePub.

Florence, Milan, France · Artist

Leonardo da Vinci

He Filled 13,000 Pages With the Future. Then the World Lost Them for 300 Years.

The life of the ultimate Renaissance man — illegitimate son, apprentice, painter, engineer, anatomist, and visionary. A first-person ePub told in Leonardo's own voice.

Florence · Thinker

Niccolò Machiavelli

The Man Who Taught Princes to Rule

The Florentine diplomat who watched republics fall, served tyrants and statesmen alike, was tortured for conspiracy, and in exile wrote the most dangerous book in Western political thought — told in his own voice.

Poland / Prussia · Scientist

Nicolaus Copernicus

The Man Who Stopped the Sun

The quiet canon who rewrote the cosmos — how a church administrator in a remote Baltic province overturned two thousand years of astronomy and launched the Scientific Revolution.