Ivan III
1440 – 1505 · 65 years · Moscow · Eastern Europe & Russia
Reign: 1462 – 1505 (Rus and Russia)
'Gatherer of the Russian lands' who annexed Novgorod, ended Horde overlordship in 1480 and rebuilt the Kremlin.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 15th century
Portrait: Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Leonardo da Vinci — painter, scientist and inventor, 12 years younger
- Nicolaus Copernicus — astronomer, 33 years younger
- Michelangelo — sculptor, painter and architect, 35 years younger
- Johannes Gutenberg — inventor of the printing press, 40 years older
- Martin Luther — church reformer, 43 years younger
- Isabella I of Castile — Queen of Castile, 11 years younger
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Vasily III — grand prince who completed the unification of the Russian lands, 39 years younger
- Sophia Palaiologina — Grand Princess of Moscow, 15 years younger
- Vasily II the Blind — grand prince blinded in a dynastic civil war, 25 years older
Middle East
- Mehmed II — Ottoman sultan, 8 years older
- Selim I the Grim — sultan who took Cairo and Mecca, 30 years younger
- Murad II — sultan who crushed the crusaders at Varna, 36 years older
- Suleiman the Magnificent — Ottoman sultan, 54 years younger
- Bayezid II — sultan who took in the Jews expelled from Spain, 7 years younger
Africa
- Askia Muhammad I — Emperor of Songhai, 3 years younger
Asia
- Ashikaga Yoshimasa — shogun of the Ōnin War and the Silver Pavilion, 4 years older
- Guru Nanak — founder of Sikhism, 29 years younger
- Vasco da Gama — navigator, 29 years younger
- Babur — founder of the Mughal Empire, 43 years younger
- Sejong the Great — King of Joseon Korea, 43 years older
- Ashikaga Yoshitane — shogun who held office twice and was driven out twice, 26 years younger
Americas
- Christopher Columbus — navigator, 11 years younger
- Moctezuma II — Aztec emperor, 26 years younger
- Pachacuti — Sapa Inca, 22 years older
- Ferdinand Magellan — navigator, 40 years younger
- Bartolomé de las Casas — friar and defender of Native Americans, 44 years younger
- Hernán Cortés — conquistador, 45 years younger
The world in their lifetime
- c. 1445 Extinction of the moa — aged 5, Oceania
- 1446 King Sejong promulgates Hangul — aged 6, Asia
- c. 1450 Gutenberg's printing press — aged 10, Europe
- c. 1450 Building of Machu Picchu — aged 10, Americas
- c. 1450 Founding of the Iroquois Confederacy — aged 10, Americas
- 1453 Fall of Constantinople — aged 13, Middle East
- 1478 Annexation of Novgorod by Moscow — aged 38, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1480 Great Stand on the Ugra River — aged 40, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1488 Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope — aged 48, Africa
- 1492 Columbus reaches the Americas — aged 52, Americas
- 1492 Fall of Granada — aged 52, Europe
- 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas — aged 54, Europe
- 1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India — aged 58, Asia
- 1501 Founding of Safavid Iran — aged 61, Middle East