Spanish Inquisition established
A crown-run tribunal that lasted 356 years
At the request of Ferdinand and Isabella, Pope Sixtus IV allowed them in 1478 to appoint their own inquisitors; the first auto-da-fé was held in Seville in 1481. Unlike the papal Inquisition it answered to the crown, and it was abolished only in 1834.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 15th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- c. 1469 Afanasy Nikitin's journey to India — 9 years earlier
- 1478 Annexation of Novgorod by Moscow — same year
- 1480 Great Stand on the Ugra River — 2 years later
Middle East
- 1453 Fall of Constantinople — 25 years earlier
- 1501 Founding of Safavid Iran — 23 years later
Africa
- 1488 Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope — 10 years later
Asia
- 1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India — 20 years later
Americas
- 1492 Columbus reaches the Americas — 14 years later
Alive at the time
- Mehmed II (aged 46)
- Christopher Columbus (aged 27)
- Leonardo da Vinci (aged 26)
- Nicolaus Copernicus (aged 5)
- Michelangelo (aged 3)
- Louis XI (aged 55)
- Ashikaga Yoshimasa (aged 42)
- Ivan III (aged 38)
- Isabella I of Castile (aged 27)
- Richard III (aged 26)