The world in 1500

In 1500, the timeline shows 187 states, empires and colonies and 120 peoples across 12 regions. The most significant include Republic of Venice, Holy Roman Empire, Swahili city-states, Ethiopian Empire (Solomonic dynasty), Ottoman Empire, Portuguese Empire, Kingdom of Kongo and Ayutthaya Kingdom.

See 1500 on the interactive chart

What was happening around 1500

1478 Spanish Inquisition established, Europe. Pope Sixtus IV authorizes the tribunal in 1478, and Ferdinand and Isabella appoint its first inquisitors in 1480. Over its existence it is estimated to have prosecuted 150,000 people and sent 3,000 to 5,000 to execution.
1482 Diogo Cão reaches the Congo River, Central and Southern Africa. The Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão sails into the mouth of the Congo and opens contact with the Kingdom of Kongo.
1482 Portuguese build Elmina, North and West Africa. Portugal builds the fortress of São Jorge da Mina on the Gold Coast, the first European trading post on the Gulf of Guinea. It later becomes a major stop in the Atlantic slave trade.
1491 Kongo's king is baptised, Central and Southern Africa. Nzinga a Nkuwu is baptised as João I on 3 May 1491. His son Afonso I, who ruled from 1509 to about 1542, worked to convert Kongo to Catholicism and wrote long letters to the kings of Portugal.
1492 Fall of Granada and Columbus's voyage, Europe. Ferdinand and Isabella take Granada, the last Muslim state in Iberia, and send Columbus west across the Atlantic.
1492 Columbus reaches the Caribbean, Mesoamerica and Caribbean. Columbus lands in the Bahamas on 12 October and goes on to Cuba and Hispaniola. His voyages led to the European colonization of the Americas.
1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, Europe. Portugal and Castile divide the newly discovered lands outside Europe along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, with lands to the east going to Portugal and lands to the west to Castile.
1497 John Cabot reaches Newfoundland, North America. Sailing from Bristol for Henry VII of England, Cabot makes landfall on 24 June, most likely on Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island, the earliest known European exploration of the coast since the Norse.
1498 Vasco da Gama on the Swahili coast, Central and Southern Africa. Da Gama's fleet calls at Mozambique, Mombasa and Malindi, where he hires a pilot to guide him across the Indian Ocean to Calicut.
1498 Vasco da Gama reaches Calicut, South Asia. The Portuguese fleet lands on the Malabar coast after sailing around Africa, opening a direct sea route from Europe to India.
1500 Cabral lands in Brazil, South America. Pedro Álvares Cabral's fleet, bound for India, anchors near Monte Pascoal on 22 April and claims for Portugal the land later known as Brazil.
1505 Portuguese sack Kilwa and Mombasa, Central and Southern Africa. Francisco de Almeida's fleet sacks Kilwa and builds a fort there, then sacks Mombasa. By 1515 Portugal dominates much of the south-east African coast.
1511 Portuguese capture Malacca, Southeast Asia. Afonso de Albuquerque storms Malacca, giving Portugal control of the main gateway between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.
1514 Battle of Chaldiran, Middle East. Selim I's Ottoman army, with heavy artillery the Safavids lack, defeats Ismail I. The Ottomans annex Eastern Anatolia and briefly occupy the Safavid capital Tabriz.
1517 Luther's Ninety-five Theses, Europe. Martin Luther attacks the sale of indulgences in Wittenberg, starting the Protestant Reformation.
1521 Magellan killed at Mactan, Southeast Asia. Ferdinand Magellan's expedition reaches the Philippines, converts the ruler of Cebu and loses Magellan in battle with Lapulapu on Mactan.
1521 Fall of Tenochtitlan, Mesoamerica and Caribbean. Cortés's Spanish force and thousands of Indigenous allies, mostly Tlaxcalans, besiege the Aztec capital, already devastated by smallpox, until it surrenders on 13 August 1521.
1522 First circumnavigation completed, Europe. The Victoria, the only ship of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition to finish, reaches Spain on 6 September under Juan Sebastián Elcano. About 40 men complete the first voyage around the Earth; Magellan died in the Philippines in 1521.

Central and Southern Africa

Swahili city-states c. 800 to 1600 CE
Kingdom of Kongo c. 1390 to 1914 CE
Central African forest foragers c. 3200 BCE to the present
San hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to the present
Khoekhoe herders c. 100 BCE to 1904 CE
Bantu farmers of the Congo basin c. 500 BCE to 1500 CE
Kingdom of Buganda c. 1300 to 1966 CE
Kilwa Sultanate c. 957 to 1513 CE
Mutapa Empire c. 1430 to 1760 CE
Kingdom of Butua c. 1425 to 1683 CE
Kingdom of Ndongo c. 1500 to 1671 CE
East African hunter-gatherers c. 3200 BCE to the present
Kikuyu people c. 1200 CE to the present
Malagasy chiefdoms and trading towns c. 1000 to 1600 CE
Tio Kingdom (Anziku) c. 1350 to 1880 CE
Sotho-Tswana chiefdoms c. 1300 to 1830 CE
Nguni chiefdoms c. 1300 to 1820 CE
Kingdom of Nkore (Ankole) c. 1450 to 1967 CE
Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe 1470 to 1975 CE
Ntusi and Bigo culture c. 1000 to 1500 CE
Xhosa chiefdoms c. 1400 to 1879 CE
Kingdom of Rwanda c. 1500 to 1961 CE
Maravi Confederacy c. 1400 to 1860 CE
Herero pastoralists c. 1450 to 1904 CE
Kingdom of Karagwe c. 1450 to 1890 CE
Comorian sultanates c. 1500 to 1912 CE
Antemoro kingdom c. 1500 to 1890 CE

North and West Africa

Ethiopian Empire (Solomonic dynasty) 1270 to 1974 CE
Mali Empire c. 1235 to 1610 CE
Mamluk Sultanate 1250 to 1517 CE
Songhai Empire 1464 to 1591 CE
Kingdom of Benin c. 1180 to 1897 CE
Oyo Empire c. 1300 to 1835 CE
Bornu Empire c. 1387 to 1893 CE
Hafsids 1229 to 1574 CE
Adal Sultanate 1415 to 1577 CE
Medjay, Blemmyes and Beja nomads c. 2300 BCE to the present
Cushitic-speaking peoples c. 2000 BCE to the present
Sahelian cereal farmers c. 1500 BCE to the present
West African yam and oil palm farmers c. 1500 BCE to the present
Amazigh (Berber) tribes c. 1400 BCE to the present
Sao culture c. 500 BCE to 1600 CE
Coptic Christians c. 300 CE to the present
Saharan camel nomads (Sanhaja and Tuareg) c. 300 CE to the present
Chadic-speaking farmers c. 700 CE to the present
Kingdom of Nri c. 900 to 1911 CE
Alodia c. 500 to 1504 CE
Arab tribes of Sudan c. 1150 CE to the present
Hausa city-states c. 1000 to 1808 CE
Kwararafa c. 1000 to 1800 CE
Mossi kingdoms c. 1250 to 1896 CE
Hadiya c. 1300 to 1893 CE
Kingdom of Bamum 1394 to 1923 CE
Portuguese Cape Verde 1462 to 1975 CE
Sultanate of Agadez c. 1405 to 1906 CE
Kingdom of Dagbon c. 1400 to 1896 CE
Ajuran Sultanate c. 1300 to 1700 CE
Shilluk Kingdom c. 1490 to 1861 CE
Sultanate of Mogadishu c. 1250 to 1600 CE
Zayyanids c. 1235 to 1556 CE
Jolof Empire c. 1350 to 1549 CE
Portuguese Gold Coast (Elmina) 1482 to 1642 CE
Wattasids 1472 to 1554 CE

Europe

Republic of Venice c. 697 to 1797 CE
Holy Roman Empire 962 to 1806 CE
Ottoman Empire 1299 to 1922 CE
Portuguese Empire 1415 to 1999 CE
Gaelic Ireland c. 500 BCE to 1607 CE
Papal States 756 to 1870 CE
Kingdom of Scotland c. 843 to 1707 CE
Kingdom of Portugal 1139 to 1910 CE
Kingdom of Bohemia 1198 to 1918 CE
Republic of Genoa c. 1099 to 1797 CE
Grand Duchy of Lithuania c. 1236 to 1795 CE
Kingdom of Naples 1282 to 1816 CE
Kingdom of Hungary 1000 to 1526 CE
Republic of Florence 1115 to 1532 CE
Crown of Aragon 1162 to 1516 CE
Crimean Khanate 1441 to 1783 CE
Hanseatic League c. 1356 to 1669 CE
State of the Teutonic Order 1230 to 1525 CE
Crown of Castile 1230 to 1516 CE
Grand Principality of Moscow 1263 to 1547 CE
Kingdom of France (Valois) 1328 to 1589 CE
Golden Horde 1242 to 1502 CE
Kingdom of Poland (Jagiellonian) 1386 to 1569 CE
Kalmar Union 1397 to 1523 CE
Tudor England 1485 to 1603 CE
Sami people c. 1000 BCE to the present
Basques c. 500 BCE to the present
County of Flanders 862 to 1795 CE
Duchy of Lorraine c. 959 to 1766 CE
San Marino c. 1243 CE to the present
Andorra 1278 CE to the present
Bavaria (Wittelsbach) 1180 to 1918 CE
Monaco 1297 CE to the present
County and Duchy of Savoy c. 1003 to 1720 CE
Kingdom of Navarre c. 824 to 1512 CE
Kingdom and Duchy of Brittany 851 to 1532 CE
Duchy of Brabant 1183 to 1795 CE
Kingdom of Sicily (island) 1282 to 1816 CE
Wallachia 1330 to 1859 CE
Moldavia c. 1346 to 1859 CE
Old Swiss Confederacy 1291 to 1798 CE
Margraviate of Brandenburg 1157 to 1618 CE
Venetian Crete 1211 to 1669 CE
Republic of Ragusa 1358 to 1808 CE
Duchy of Milan 1395 to 1796 CE
Lordship of Ireland 1171 to 1542 CE
Duchy (later Archduchy) of Austria 1156 to 1526 CE
Terra Mariana (Livonia) 1207 to 1561 CE
Khanate of Kazan 1438 to 1552 CE
Habsburg Netherlands 1482 to 1581 CE
Khanate of Astrakhan 1466 to 1556 CE

Middle East

Ottoman Empire 1299 to 1922 CE
Zaydi Imamate of Yemen 897 to 1918 CE
Mamluk Sultanate (Syria) 1260 to 1516 CE
Timurid Empire 1370 to 1507 CE
Aq Qoyunlu 1378 to 1508 CE
Arab Bedouin tribes c. 900 BCE to the present
Kurdish tribes and emirates c. 640 CE to the present
Sharifate of Mecca c. 967 to 1916 CE
Shirvanshahs 861 to 1538 CE
Oghuz Turkmen nomads c. 1040 to 1600 CE
Kingdom of Imereti 1260 to 1810 CE
Mahra Sultanate 1432 to 1967 CE
Kingdom of Hormuz c. 1100 to 1622 CE
Nabhani dynasty c. 1154 to 1624 CE
Kingdom of Kakheti 1465 to 1762 CE
Kingdom of Kartli 1478 to 1762 CE
Tahirids of Yemen 1454 to 1517 CE

South Asia

Ahom Kingdom 1228 to 1826 CE
Kingdom of Mysore c. 1399 to 1950 CE
Kingdom of Kandy 1469 to 1815 CE
Delhi Sultanate 1206 to 1526 CE
Vijayanagara Empire 1336 to 1646 CE
Bengal Sultanate 1352 to 1576 CE
Bahmani Sultanate 1347 to 1527 CE
Timurid Empire 1370 to 1507 CE
Munda-speaking peoples c. 1500 BCE to the present
Tibeto-Burman hill peoples c. 1000 BCE to the present
Vedda people c. 900 BCE to the present
Kingdom of Mewar c. 728 to 1948 CE
Pashtun tribes c. 1000 CE to the present
Kingdom of Manipur c. 1110 to 1949 CE
Sultanate of the Maldive Islands c. 1153 to 1887 CE
Kingdom of Marwar c. 1226 to 1947 CE
Zamorins of Calicut c. 1124 to 1766 CE
Dimasa Kachari Kingdom c. 1250 to 1832 CE
Malla dynasty of Nepal 1201 to 1769 CE
Twipra Kingdom c. 1400 to 1949 CE
Jaffna Kingdom c. 1215 to 1619 CE
Shah Mir Sultanate of Kashmir 1339 to 1561 CE
Bijapur Sultanate 1490 to 1686 CE
Kingdom of Kotte 1412 to 1597 CE
Samma dynasty 1351 to 1524 CE
Malwa Sultanate 1392 to 1562 CE
Gujarat Sultanate 1407 to 1573 CE
Ahmadnagar Sultanate 1490 to 1636 CE
Bidar Sultanate 1492 to 1619 CE
Gajapati Empire c. 1434 to 1541 CE
Berar Sultanate 1490 to 1574 CE
Lodi dynasty 1451 to 1526 CE

Central and North Asia

Timurid Empire 1370 to 1507 CE
Kazakh Khanate 1465 to 1847 CE
Khanate of Bukhara 1500 to 1785 CE
Northern Yuan 1368 to 1635 CE
Golden Horde 1242 to 1502 CE
Yukaghir peoples c. 1000 BCE to the present
Chukchi, Koryak and Itelmen peoples c. 1000 BCE to the present
Evenki and Even reindeer herders c. 500 CE to the present
Khanty, Mansi and Samoyedic peoples c. 1000 CE to the present
Buryats c. 1200 CE to the present
Turkmen tribes c. 1100 to 1881 CE
Sakha (Yakuts) c. 1250 CE to the present
Four Oirat 1399 to 1634 CE
Moghulistan c. 1347 to 1514 CE
Khanate of Sibir c. 1468 to 1598 CE

East Asia

Ming dynasty 1368 to 1644 CE
Joseon 1392 to 1897 CE
Muromachi shogunate 1336 to 1573 CE
Formosan Austronesian peoples before 3200 BCE to the present
Qiang peoples c. 1250 BCE to the present
Ainu c. 1200 CE to the present
Jurchen tribes c. 926 to 1616 CE
Guge kingdom c. 967 to 1630 CE
Ryukyu Kingdom 1429 to 1879 CE
Phagmodrupa dynasty c. 1354 to 1618 CE
Sengoku period c. 1467 to 1600 CE

Southeast Asia

Ayutthaya Kingdom 1351 to 1767 CE
Majapahit Empire c. 1293 to 1527 CE
Malacca Sultanate c. 1400 to 1511 CE
Champa c. 192 to 1832 CE
Bruneian Sultanate c. 1368 to 1888 CE
Lan Na 1292 to 1775 CE
Sultanate of Sulu c. 1457 to 1915 CE
Aceh Sultanate c. 1496 to 1903 CE
Later Le dynasty 1428 to 1789 CE
Lan Xang 1353 to 1707 CE
Hanthawaddy Kingdom 1287 to 1539 CE
Ava Kingdom 1364 to 1555 CE
Philippine Negrito foragers c. 3200 BCE to the present
Orang Asli (Semang and Senoi) c. 1800 BCE to the present
Dayak peoples of Borneo c. 1000 BCE to the present
Kutai Martadipura c. 399 to 1635 CE
Shan States c. 1215 to 1959 CE
Tondo c. 900 to 1589 CE
Barangay chiefdoms c. 900 to 1565 CE
Sunda Kingdom c. 932 to 1579 CE
Butuan c. 1001 to 1597 CE
Balinese kingdoms 1343 to 1908 CE
Pattani Sultanate c. 1400 to 1902 CE
Pagaruyung Kingdom 1347 to 1833 CE
Post-Angkor Cambodia 1431 to 1863 CE
Ternate and Tidore sultanates c. 1486 to 1914 CE
Gowa Sultanate (Makassar) c. 1300 to 1669 CE
Mrauk U Kingdom (Arakan) 1429 to 1785 CE
Samudera Pasai Sultanate c. 1267 to 1521 CE
Sultanate of Cirebon 1445 to 1677 CE
Rajahnate of Cebu c. 1450 to 1565 CE
Demak Sultanate c. 1475 to 1568 CE
Maynila c. 1500 to 1571 CE

North America

Mississippian culture c. 900 to 1600 CE
Thule culture c. 1000 to 1600 CE
Pacific Northwest peoples c. 500 CE to the present
Pueblo peoples (Hopi, Zuni, Rio Grande) c. 1300 CE to the present
Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee) c. 1450 CE to the present
Navajo (Diné) c. 1500 CE to the present
Unangan (Aleut) peoples c. 2500 BCE to the present
Dene (Northern Athabaskan) peoples c. 750 BCE to the present
Belle Glade culture c. 1000 BCE to 1700 CE
Caloosahatchee culture 500 BCE to 1750 CE
Chumash c. 500 CE to the present
California peoples (Ohlone, Miwok, Pomo, Tongva) c. 500 CE to the present
Caddo confederacies c. 800 to 1859 CE
Cree peoples c. 1000 CE to the present
Numic peoples (Shoshone, Paiute, Ute) c. 1000 CE to the present
Plains Village tradition c. 900 to 1780 CE
Fort Ancient culture c. 1000 to 1750 CE
Oneota culture c. 1000 to 1650 CE
Apache peoples c. 1400 CE to the present
Monongahela culture 1050 to 1635 CE
Wichita peoples (Quivira) c. 1450 CE to the present
O'odham peoples c. 1450 CE to the present
Mandan and Hidatsa villages c. 1300 to 1837 CE
Plaquemine culture c. 1200 to 1700 CE
Beothuk c. 1500 to 1829 CE
Fort Walton culture c. 1200 to 1500 CE
Cherokee c. 1500 to 1794 CE
Huron-Wendat Confederacy c. 1400 to 1650 CE
Natchez c. 1500 to 1731 CE
Coosa chiefdom c. 1400 to 1600 CE

Mesoamerica and Caribbean

Taíno chiefdoms c. 1200 to 1550 CE
Aztec Empire (Triple Alliance) 1428 to 1521 CE
Chibchan chiefdoms (Costa Rica and Panama) c. 500 BCE to 1570 CE
Mixtec kingdoms c. 900 to 1522 CE
Captaincy General of Santo Domingo 1493 to 1821 CE
K'iche' kingdom c. 1225 to 1524 CE
Tarascan state c. 1300 to 1530 CE
Gran Coclé chiefdoms c. 1200 BCE to 1520 CE
Greater Nicoya cultures c. 500 BCE to 1522 CE
Cholula c. 300 BCE to 1519 CE
Diquís culture c. 700 to 1530 CE
Island Caribs (Kalinago) c. 1200 CE to the present
Lucayan Taíno c. 800 to 1520 CE
Chichimeca peoples c. 900 to 1600 CE
Zapotec city-states (Zaachila, Mitla) c. 850 to 1521 CE
Huastec (Teenek) peoples c. 900 to 1530 CE
Totonac (Cempoala) c. 1150 to 1519 CE
Nicarao chiefdoms c. 1200 to 1524 CE
Itza kingdom (Nojpetén) c. 1450 to 1697 CE
Tlaxcala c. 1350 to 1521 CE
Yucatec Maya provinces c. 1441 to 1546 CE
Kaqchikel kingdom c. 1470 to 1530 CE

South America

Portuguese Brazil 1500 to 1815 CE
Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu) c. 1438 to 1533 CE
Tupi-Guarani peoples c. 500 CE to the present
Mapuche c. 1000 CE to the present
Muisca Confederation c. 800 to 1540 CE
Fuegian canoe peoples (Yaghan, Kawésqar) before 3200 BCE to the present
Jê peoples c. 1 CE to the present
Patagonian peoples (Tehuelche, Selk'nam) c. 1 CE to the present
Zenú culture c. 200 BCE to 1535 CE
Tairona c. 200 to 1600 CE
Arawakan peoples of the Amazon c. 1000 CE to the present
Carib peoples of the Guianas c. 1000 CE to the present
Guaraní c. 1000 CE to the present
Charrúa c. 1000 to 1831 CE
Manteño-Huancavilca culture c. 850 to 1600 CE
Diaguita c. 1000 to 1667 CE
Santarém culture (Tapajó) c. 1000 to 1650 CE
Cañari c. 1000 to 1532 CE
Upper Xingu garden cities c. 1250 to 1650 CE

Oceania

Aboriginal Australian peoples before 3200 BCE to the present
Māori iwi c. 1500 CE to the present
Papuan farmers and foragers before 3200 BCE to the present
Kuk Swamp agriculture before 3200 BCE to 1900 CE
Tu'i Tonga Empire c. 950 to 1865 CE
Saudeleur dynasty c. 1100 to 1628 CE
Archaic Māori (moa-hunter period) c. 1280 to 1500 CE
Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples before 3200 BCE to the present
Torres Strait Islanders c. 500 BCE to the present
Island Melanesian societies c. 500 BCE to the present
Fijian chiefdoms c. 500 BCE to 1874 CE
Eastern Micronesian islanders c. 200 BCE to the present
Samoan chiefdoms c. 1000 to 1900 CE
Society Islands chiefdoms c. 1000 to 1788 CE
Latte period Chamorro c. 900 to 1668 CE
Rapa Nui society c. 1200 to 1888 CE
Hawaiian chiefdoms c. 1200 to 1795 CE
Moriori c. 1500 to 1835 CE

Questions

What countries existed in 1500?

The timeline shows 187 states, empires and colonies alive in 1500. Among the most significant: Republic of Venice, Holy Roman Empire, Swahili city-states, Ethiopian Empire (Solomonic dynasty), Ottoman Empire, Portuguese Empire, Kingdom of Kongo and Ayutthaya Kingdom. The full list by region is on this page.

What was happening in the world in 1500?

Within 25 years of 1500, the timeline records Spanish Inquisition established (1478), Diogo Cão reaches the Congo River (1482), Portuguese build Elmina (1482), Kongo's king is baptised (1491), Fall of Granada and Columbus's voyage (1492) and Columbus reaches the Caribbean (1492).

Which empires existed in 1500?

Holy Roman Empire, Ethiopian Empire (Solomonic dynasty), Ottoman Empire, Portuguese Empire, Mali Empire, Ming dynasty, Majapahit Empire, Songhai Empire, Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu) and Aztec Empire (Triple Alliance).

Where do these dates come from?

Each row's dates were checked against the sources listed on that row's own page, mostly English Wikipedia articles, which cite the underlying scholarship. Dates that are uncertain are marked c.