Pope Alexander VI

Borgia pope

c. 1431 – 1503 · 72 years · Xàtiva · Europe

Rodrigo Borgia, a Spaniard, became pope in 1492 and in 1493 issued bulls confirming Spain's claim to the lands Columbus had found. He openly advanced his children — Cesare, a model for Machiavelli's The Prince, and Lucrezia.

Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 15th century

Portrait: Wikimedia Commons

Contemporaries around the world

Europe

Leonardo da Vinci — painter, scientist and inventor, 21 years younger
Johannes Gutenberg — inventor of the printing press, 31 years older
Nicolaus Copernicus — astronomer, 42 years younger
Michelangelo — sculptor, painter and architect, 44 years younger
Martin Luther — church reformer, 52 years younger
Louis XI — the "universal spider" who pieced France together, 8 years older

Eastern Europe & Russia

Ivan III — Grand Prince of Moscow, 9 years younger
Vasily III — grand prince who completed the unification of the Russian lands, 48 years younger
Sophia Palaiologina — Grand Princess of Moscow, 24 years younger
Vasily II the Blind — grand prince blinded in a dynastic civil war, 16 years older

Middle East

Mehmed II — Ottoman sultan, 1 year younger
Selim I the Grim — sultan who took Cairo and Mecca, 39 years younger
Murad II — sultan who crushed the crusaders at Varna, 27 years older
Bayezid II — sultan who took in the Jews expelled from Spain, 16 years younger

Africa

Askia Muhammad I — Emperor of Songhai, 12 years younger

Asia

Ashikaga Yoshimasa — shogun of the Ōnin War and the Silver Pavilion, 5 years younger
Guru Nanak — founder of Sikhism, 38 years younger
Vasco da Gama — navigator, 38 years younger
Babur — founder of the Mughal Empire, 52 years younger
Sejong the Great — King of Joseon Korea, 34 years older
Ashikaga Yoshitane — shogun who held office twice and was driven out twice, 35 years younger

Americas

Christopher Columbus — navigator, 20 years younger
Pachacuti — Sapa Inca, 13 years older
Moctezuma II — Aztec emperor, 35 years younger
Ferdinand Magellan — navigator, 49 years younger
Bartolomé de las Casas — friar and defender of Native Americans, 53 years younger
Hernán Cortés — conquistador, 54 years younger

The world in their lifetime

c. 1431 Fall of Angkor — aged 0, Asia
c. 1438 Pachacuti founds the Inca Empire — aged 7, Americas
c. 1445 Extinction of the moa — aged 14, Oceania
1446 King Sejong promulgates Hangul — aged 15, Asia
1449 Tumu Crisis — aged 18, Asia
c. 1450 Gutenberg's printing press — aged 19, Europe
c. 1450 Building of Machu Picchu — aged 19, Americas
c. 1450 Founding of the Iroquois Confederacy — aged 19, Americas
1453 Fall of Constantinople — aged 22, Middle East
1453 Battle of Castillon — aged 22, Europe
1455–1487 Wars of the Roses — aged 24, Europe
1467–1477 Ōnin War — aged 36, Asia
c. 1469 Afanasy Nikitin's journey to India — aged 38, Eastern Europe & Russia
1469 Marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella — aged 38, Europe
1478 Annexation of Novgorod by Moscow — aged 47, Eastern Europe & Russia
1478 Spanish Inquisition established — aged 47, Europe
1480 Great Stand on the Ugra River — aged 49, Eastern Europe & Russia
1488 Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope — aged 57, Africa
1492 Columbus reaches the Americas — aged 61, Americas
1492 Fall of Granada — aged 61, Europe
1494 Treaty of Tordesillas — aged 63, Europe
1497 John Cabot reaches North America — aged 66, Americas
1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India — aged 67, Asia
1500–1785 Muhammad Shaybani takes Samarkand — aged 69, Asia
1501 Founding of Safavid Iran — aged 70, Middle East