Middle Ages
Forbidden City (1406–1420): Building the Ming Imperial Palace
A vast walled palace complex was completed in 1420 and served as the seat of Chinese emperors until 1912; it became the Palace Museum in 1925.
Region
Asia
Middle Ages
Ming Tombs and Changling: The Yongle Emperor's Burial Site
Changling became the first and largest tomb of an imperial necropolis where 13 Ming emperors were eventually buried.
Middle Ages
Porcelain Tower of Nanjing: Lost Wonder of Ming China (1412)
A nine-storey glazed pagoda about 70–80 m tall stood for over four centuries and became famous in Europe before it was destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion.
Middle Ages
The Tribute Giraffe of 1414: An African Animal at the Ming Court
The giraffe was celebrated at court as a qilin, an auspicious sign of good rule, and further giraffes from East Africa followed in later years.
Middle Ages
Lam Son Uprising (1418-1427): Le Loi Expels the Ming from Vietnam
Ming forces withdrew from Vietnam; Le Loi became emperor as Le Thai To and founded the Later Le dynasty in 1428.
Middle Ages
Ulugh Beg Observatory: Astronomy in Timurid Samarkand
The observatory produced the Zij-i Sultani, with the most accurate star catalogue of its age, before it was abandoned after Ulugh Beg's murder in 1449.
Middle Ages
Fall of Angkor (1431): Ayutthaya and the Khmer Decline
Ayutthaya captured and plundered Angkor; the Khmer court soon moved south to the Phnom Penh area and Angkor ceased to be the royal capital.
Middle Ages
Hangul: King Sejong Creates the Korean Alphabet (1443)
Korea gained a phonetic alphabet of 28 letters, promulgated in the Hunminjeongeum of 1446, which in the twentieth century became the main script of Korean.
Middle Ages
Tumu Crisis (1449): A Ming Emperor Captured by the Mongols
Oirat victory and the capture of the Ming emperor; Beijing held out under Yu Qian, and the Ming turned to a more defensive frontier policy.
Middle Ages
Fall of Trebizond (1461): The Last Byzantine Successor State
Trebizond surrendered to the Ottomans, ending the last Byzantine Greek empire; Emperor David and most of his family were executed in 1463.
Middle Ages
Onin War (1467-1477): Kyoto Burns and Sengoku Japan Begins
No clear victor; Kyoto was largely destroyed, the Ashikaga shoguns lost real power, and Japan slid into more than a century of regional warfare.
Middle Ages
Fall of Vijaya (1471): Le Thanh Tong Conquers Champa
Dai Viet captured Vijaya and annexed northern Champa; a much smaller Cham state survived in the far south until the 19th century.