World map in 1500

Border history

The interactive map lets you inspect named territories in 1500 and compare them to earlier or later snapshots on the timeline.

Biographical context

Meet figures alive in, or close to, 1500 and move from political geography to the people connected to the period.

Era-based reading

The related chronicles below provide long-form reading tied closely to the renaissance period.

1500 – 1510

Shaybanid Conquest of Transoxiana

Uzbek Shaybanids (Muhammad Shaybani Khan) vs Timurids (Babur, Sultan Husayn Bayqara, Badi' al-Zaman) vs Safavid Iran (Shah Ismail I)

Muhammad Shaybani rallied Uzbek tribes from the Qipchaq steppe, drove the Timurids out of Samarkand and Bukhara in 1500–01, took Herat in 1507, and pushed Babur into exile in Kabul — before being killed by Safavid forces at Merv in 1510.

Key battles and events: Capture of Samarkand (1500–1501); Conquest of Herat (1507)

1494 – 1559

Italian Wars

France vs Spain vs Holy Roman Empire vs Italian city-states

Sixty-five years of conflict that turned Renaissance Italy into a battleground for European great powers — ending Italian independence for centuries.

Key battles and events: Fornovo (1495); Ravenna (1512)

1468 – 1769

Crimean Khanate Slave Raids

Crimean Khanate, Ottoman Empire vs Poland-Lithuania, Muscovy/Russia, Cossack Hetmanate

Three centuries of devastating slave raids by the Crimean Tatars into Eastern Europe, capturing an estimated 2–3 million people for Ottoman slave markets.

Key battles and events: Sack of Moscow (1571); Battle of Molodi (1572)

1467 – 1615

Sengoku Period (Japanese Warring States)

Rival daimyō clans (Oda, Toyotomi, Tokugawa, Takeda, Uesugi, etc.) vs Various feudal lords & Ashikaga Shogunate

Nearly 150 years of civil war as feudal warlords fought for supremacy across Japan. Three great unifiers — Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu — progressively reunified the country, culminating in the Tokugawa Shogunate that would rule for 250 years.

Key battles and events: Ōnin War / Fall of Kyoto (1467–1477); Battle of Okehazama (1560)

1464 – 1591

Wars of the Songhai Empire

Songhai Empire (Sunni Ali, Askia Muhammad) vs Mali Empire remnants, Mossi states

Sunni Ali Ber transformed Songhai into West Africa's largest empire, conquering Timbuktu and Djenné. Under the Askia dynasty, Songhai became a center of Islamic learning until Moroccan musketeers destroyed it at Tondibi in 1591.

Key battles and events: Capture of Timbuktu (1468); Capture of Djenné (1473)

1445 – 1556

Russo–Kazan Wars

Tsardom of Russia (Ivan IV) vs Khanate of Kazan, Khanate of Astrakhan

Ivan the Terrible's conquest of the Tatar khanates of Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556) was a transformative moment in Russian history, opening the Volga trade route and beginning Russia's expansion into a multi-ethnic empire.

Key battles and events: Siege of Kazan (1552); Fall of Astrakhan (1556)

1438 – 1533

Inca Empire Expansion

Inca Empire (Pachacuti, Huayna Capac) vs Chimú, Chanka & other Andean peoples

Beginning with Pachacuti's defeat of the Chanka, the Incas expanded from a small kingdom near Cusco into the largest empire in pre-Columbian America, stretching 4,000 km along the Andes. They built an extraordinary road system without the wheel or writing.

Key battles and events: Battle of Yahuarpampa / Chanka War (1438); Conquest of the Chimú (1470)

1428 – 1521

Aztec Triple Alliance Expansion

Aztec Triple Alliance (Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, Tlacopan) vs Various Mesoamerican city-states

The Aztec Triple Alliance rapidly expanded from the Valley of Mexico to dominate most of central Mesoamerica. Through a combination of military conquest and the ritualized 'Flower Wars', the Aztecs built an empire of 5-6 million people with Tenochtitlan as one of the world's largest cities.

Key battles and events: Tepanec War (1428); Conquest of Tlatelolco (1473)

Spain / Atlantic / Caribbean

Christopher Columbus

c. 1451 – 1506

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

England

Henry VIII

1491 – 1547

Break with Rome, English Reformation, six marriages, founding the Church of England

Florence, Milan, France

Leonardo da Vinci

1452 – 1519

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

Germany

Martin Luther

1483 – 1546

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

Florence & Rome

Michelangelo

1475 – 1564

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

Florence

Niccolò Machiavelli

1469 – 1527

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

Built 1500 · Africa

Royal Hill of Ambohimanga

Sacred royal hill and burial site of Malagasy kings, a place of worship and pilgrimage in Madagascar

Built 1495 · Africa

Tomb of the Askia

Pyramidal mud-brick royal tomb in Gao, Mali, built by Askia Muhammad of the Songhai Empire, the largest pre-colonial structure in West Africa

Built 1481 · Asia

Blue Mosque of Mazar-i-Sharif

Sacred blue-tiled shrine in Afghanistan believed by many to hold the tomb of Ali ibn Abi Talib, a major pilgrimage destination

Built 1459 · Asia

Sixty Dome Mosque

UNESCO-listed medieval mosque in Bagerhat, Bangladesh, the largest in the Sultanate period with 77 low domes and thick brick walls

Built 1450 · South America

Machu Picchu

Inca citadel set high in the Andes Mountains

Natural wonder · Oceania

Rangitoto Island

Symmetrical shield volcano in New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf that erupted around 600 years ago, hosting the world's largest pohutukawa forest on its cooled lava fields.

England · Leader

Henry VIII

The King Who Broke with Rome

The Tudor king who shattered a thousand years of papal authority, married six wives, dissolved the monasteries, and forged the Church of England — transforming his kingdom and reshaping the course of Western civilisation forever.

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.