Bonfire of the Vanities
Florence burns mirrors, cards, perfumes and paintings
At the 1497 carnival, followers of the preacher Savonarola piled mirrors, cosmetics, playing cards, books and paintings in the Piazza della Signoria and burned them. A year later Savonarola himself was executed in the same square.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 15th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1478 Annexation of Novgorod by Moscow — 19 years earlier
- 1480 Great Stand on the Ugra River — 17 years earlier
Middle East
- 1501 Founding of Safavid Iran — 4 years later
- 1520–1566 Reign of Suleiman the Magnificent — 23 years later
Africa
- 1488 Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope — 9 years earlier
Asia
- 1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India — 1 year later
- 1511 Portuguese capture of Malacca — 14 years later
Americas
- 1492 Columbus reaches the Americas — 5 years earlier
- 1519–1522 Magellan's circumnavigation — 22 years later
- 1521 Fall of Tenochtitlan — 24 years later
Alive at the time
- Christopher Columbus (aged 46)
- Leonardo da Vinci (aged 45)
- Nicolaus Copernicus (aged 24)
- Michelangelo (aged 22)
- Martin Luther (aged 14)
- Ivan III (aged 57)
- Isabella I of Castile (aged 46)
- Amerigo Vespucci (aged 43)
- Henry VII (aged 40)
- Maximilian I (aged 38)