Korean rain gauge
King Sejong sent identical rain gauges across the country
In 1441 King Sejong had an iron rain gauge cast, and a year later identical vessels were placed in every province to plan taxes and rice planting. It was the world's first network of standard rain gauges.
Wikipedia (English) · 15th century
Did you know
Korea's rain gauges are 198 years older than Europe's. King Sejong set up a network of identical gauges in 1441, while Europe's first was made by Benedetto Castelli only in 1639. Share →
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- 1429 Joan of Arc relieves Orléans — 12 years earlier
- c. 1450 Gutenberg's printing press — 9 years later
Middle East
- 1453 Fall of Constantinople — 12 years later
Americas
- c. 1438 Pachacuti founds the Inca Empire — 3 years earlier
- c. 1450 Building of Machu Picchu — 9 years later
- c. 1450 Founding of the Iroquois Confederacy — 9 years later
Oceania
- c. 1445 Extinction of the moa — 4 years later
Alive at the time
- Johannes Gutenberg (aged 41)
- Mehmed II (aged 9)
- Sejong the Great (aged 44)
- Charles VII (aged 38)
- Murad II (aged 37)
- Pachacuti (aged 23)
- Louis XI (aged 18)
- Ashikaga Yoshimasa (aged 5)
- Ivan III (aged 1)
- Ulugh Beg (aged 47)