Askia Muhammad I
c. 1443 – 1538 · 95 years · Gao · Africa
Ruler who made Songhai the largest empire in West African history, with Timbuktu flourishing as a centre of learning.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 15th century
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Leonardo da Vinci — painter, scientist and inventor, 9 years younger
- Nicolaus Copernicus — astronomer, 30 years younger
- Michelangelo — sculptor, painter and architect, 32 years younger
- Martin Luther — church reformer, 40 years younger
- Johannes Gutenberg — inventor of the printing press, 43 years older
- Maximilian I — "the Last Knight", who raised the Habsburgs through shrewd marriages, 16 years younger
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Ivan III — Grand Prince of Moscow, 3 years older
- Vasily III — grand prince who completed the unification of the Russian lands, 36 years younger
- Sophia Palaiologina — Grand Princess of Moscow, 12 years younger
- Vasily II the Blind — grand prince blinded in a dynastic civil war, 28 years older
Middle East
- Mehmed II — Ottoman sultan, 11 years older
- Selim I the Grim — sultan who took Cairo and Mecca, 27 years younger
- Suleiman the Magnificent — Ottoman sultan, 51 years younger
- Hurrem Sultan (Roxelana) — wife of Sultan Suleiman I, 62 years younger
- Selim II — sultan who took Cyprus and lost at Lepanto, 81 years younger
- Bayezid II — sultan who took in the Jews expelled from Spain, 4 years younger
Africa
- Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi — Adal imam and general, 63 years younger
Asia
- Guru Nanak — founder of Sikhism, 26 years younger
- Vasco da Gama — navigator, 26 years younger
- Ashikaga Yoshimasa — shogun of the Ōnin War and the Silver Pavilion, 7 years older
- Babur — founder of the Mughal Empire, 40 years younger
- Ashikaga Yoshitane — shogun who held office twice and was driven out twice, 23 years younger
- Mirabai — mystic poet, 55 years younger
Americas
- Christopher Columbus — navigator, 8 years younger
- Moctezuma II — Aztec emperor, 23 years younger
- Bartolomé de las Casas — friar and defender of Native Americans, 41 years younger
- Hernán Cortés — conquistador, 42 years younger
- Ferdinand Magellan — navigator, 37 years younger
- Atahualpa — last Inca emperor, 59 years younger
The world in their lifetime
- c. 1445 Extinction of the moa — aged 2, Oceania
- 1446 King Sejong promulgates Hangul — aged 3, Asia
- c. 1450 Gutenberg's printing press — aged 7, Europe
- c. 1450 Building of Machu Picchu — aged 7, Americas
- c. 1450 Founding of the Iroquois Confederacy — aged 7, Americas
- 1453 Fall of Constantinople — aged 10, Middle East
- 1478 Annexation of Novgorod by Moscow — aged 35, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1480 Great Stand on the Ugra River — aged 37, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1488 Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope — aged 45, Africa
- 1492 Columbus reaches the Americas — aged 49, Americas
- 1492 Fall of Granada — aged 49, Europe
- 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas — aged 51, Europe
- 1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India — aged 55, Asia
- 1501 Founding of Safavid Iran — aged 58, Middle East
- 1508–1512 Sistine Chapel ceiling — aged 65, Europe
- 1511 Portuguese capture of Malacca — aged 68, Asia
- 1517 Luther's Ninety-five Theses — aged 74, Europe
- 1519–1522 Magellan's circumnavigation — aged 76, Americas
- 1520–1566 Reign of Suleiman the Magnificent — aged 77, Middle East
- 1521 Fall of Tenochtitlan — aged 78, Americas
- 1526 First Battle of Panipat — aged 83, Asia
- 1526 Battle of Mohács — aged 83, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1529–1543 Ahmad Gragn invades Ethiopia — aged 86, Africa
- 1532 Capture of Atahualpa at Cajamarca — aged 89, Americas
- 1534 Henry VIII breaks with Rome — aged 91, Europe