Benin earthworks
Earthworks running for thousands upon thousands of km
For centuries ditches were dug and ramparts raised around Benin's capital and its villages. Their total length across the country is estimated at 16,000 km; Guinness lists them as the longest earthworks of the pre-mechanical era.
Wikipedia (English) · 15th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- c. 1450 Gutenberg's printing press — 10 years earlier
Eastern Europe & Russia
- c. 1469 Afanasy Nikitin's journey to India — 9 years later
- 1478 Annexation of Novgorod by Moscow — 18 years later
- 1480 Great Stand on the Ugra River — 20 years later
Middle East
- 1453 Fall of Constantinople — 7 years earlier
Asia
- 1446 King Sejong promulgates Hangul — 14 years earlier
Americas
- c. 1438 Pachacuti founds the Inca Empire — 22 years earlier
- c. 1450 Building of Machu Picchu — 10 years earlier
- c. 1450 Founding of the Iroquois Confederacy — 10 years earlier
Oceania
- c. 1445 Extinction of the moa — 15 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Johannes Gutenberg (aged 60)
- Mehmed II (aged 28)
- Christopher Columbus (aged 9)
- Leonardo da Vinci (aged 8)
- Charles VII (aged 57)
- Pachacuti (aged 42)
- Louis XI (aged 37)
- Ashikaga Yoshimasa (aged 24)
- Ivan III (aged 20)
- Isabella I of Castile (aged 9)