1493 Timeline (Open Source)

[Glen]

The 1493 Timeline

[Glen]

1493:

England:

John Cabot, after failed attempts to interest the Portuguese and Spanish in his services, moves his family to England in hopes of being engaged as an explorer.

Thomas Wittingham of Middlewich, Cheshire, England invents the toothbrush. Wittingham family tradition claims he was inspired by a dream.

France:

1493 Spring: Cem the Pretender, claimant to the Ottoman throne, flees his confinement in Paris.

Spain:

1493 March 15: Christopher Columbus regales Spain with tales of the riches he has seen in Asia after returning from his first voyage.

1493 April: Some of Christopher Columbus' companions on the journey tell a less flamboyant tale, bringing some of Columbus' claims into question. Word of this reaches the Spanish Court, making Ferdinand and Isabella weigh how much support to give to a second journey under Columbus.

1493 Summer: Word reaches the Spanish Court of the increased persecution of Christians throughout the Mameluke Empire, even in Jerusalem. Rather than causing a rescension of the expulsion of the Muslims or a softening of the Inquisition's attempts to find secret Muslims in Spain, it instead provokes an opposite reaction. Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain are incensed by the persecution of Christians in Mameluke lands. The Spanish begin considering actions directly against the Mamelukes.

1493 Fall: When word reaches the Spanish Court of renewed war between the Ottomans and Mamelukes along their border, the Spanish see an opportunity. They prepare the Spanish navy and call upon their ally and fellow Trastámaran, the King of Naples to join with them.

Holy Roman Empire:

1493 August 19: The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III dies.

1943 September: In Wien, an obscure, but well spoken, priest from a middling background begins preaching about the need to reform the Catholic church. His message is clear and he is charismatic - he soon begins to attract a following.

Saxony:

Henry, second son of duke Albert of Saxony, is attacked by bandits while riding to Leipzig. After reportedly praying to God for deliverance, Henry is rescued by a party of armsmen in service to his father. Henry thanks God for his deliverance, and promptly announces his intention to enter the priesthood. His father and brother are shocked, but they will not go against a calling from God. So Henry enters the priesthood, thus taking him out of the Albertine succession.

Northern Italy:

1493 March 20: William Palaeologus, the six year old eldest son of Margrave Boniface of Montferrat, dies from a fall. His young brother Boniface is now the defacto heir to Montferrat.

Milan:

An attempt is made on Duke Gian Galeazzan Sforza. The assassin is killed. He is linked to the Duke's uncle Ludovico Sforza. This kind of familial 'tension' is common in Renaissance Italy. Ludovico still looses his head.

Italian Peninsula:

Florence:

1493 April 1: Piero de' Medici dies in a drunken fall down the stairs of his palace. Some believe he did not fall but instead was pushed, but there is no proof. His brother, Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, is now the head of the family.
The Cardinal immediately sets to work expanding his families' interests. He first turns his eyes to the small independent Republic of Lucca...

The small Republic of Lucca lives in peace while warily watching surrounding lands. Especially of concern is Florence, again growing in power and influence. Florence has long sought bring Lucca under its sway. The ascension of the powerful and cunning Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici in place of his dead fool brother Piero was especially alarming. The commune decided late in 1493 that the defenses of the Republic had to be improved, and the hiring of mercenaries was authorized. Lucca would also need allies, and many options considered.

Meanwhile, Savonarola, a fiery orator who had often blasted the Medicis in his sermons for their wickedness and impiety from his pulpit at San Marco, gained a large following after the death of Piero, who was often a target for his extravagance. Savonarola's preaching of the end of days and of the judgment of God upon all men scared the normally free wheeling Florentines into contrition. He also made attacks on the immorality of the Church, which many saw as veiled attacks on the Cardinal de' Medici. There was also the prospect of invasion from France on the horizon, which just served to increase the tension

Naples:
Renaissance sculptor Francesco Laurana returns to Naples from France. He is commissioned to build a statue of King Ferrante (Ferdinand I).

A medical school is built in Salerno to attract physicians and natural philosophers from across Europe.

Papal States:

1493 May 5: Inter Caetera of Pope Alexander VI issued:

We (the Papacy) command you (Spain) to instruct the aforesaid inhabitants and residents and dwellers therein in the Catholic faith, and train them in good morals. Further, grants of land are to be given unto the Holy Catholic Church, in so that churches and missions may be established, to bring them more fully into Grace.

1493-98: Pope tries to bring under control the territories of the Papal States, in an effort to create a new Duchy of Romagna for his son Giuffre. By 1498 he has largely succeeded, and the creation of the Duchy is pronounced.

Scandinavia/Baltic:

King Hans (John) of Sweden enters an alliance with Russian ruler Ivan III.

King Hans has the Sjaelland Thing recognize his claim to Copenhagen effectively removing the city from the Bishop of Roskilde. His sole claim to Copenhagen makes him able to better support English merchants traveling to the Scania herring market.

King Hans encourages merchants to take up state responsibilities by working for the King and offers the possibility of being created nobility.

A letter is sent to the Friedrich von Sachsen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights from the Hansa:

At present our trade is being severely curtailed by the Dutch and Scandinavians. I propose that we work toward a cooperative understanding with one or the other, and work to undermine our remaining competitor in whatever way possible. We are also interested in possibly capitalizing on the discovery of the new world by establishing a trading colony there.
Finally, I will be moving the Baltic cities toward a more official federation of free cities, and hope to invite both the Rhenish and Prussian cities to join. Should this not be possible, the Wendish Federation would simply act as a unified entity within the league.

This letter is the answer the Grand Master had been looking for. As far as he was concerned, the writing was on the wall. Prussia would sooner or later have to be abandoned. There were simply not enough knights to control and defend the land. A letter was sent in response, and a partnership begun.

1493-99: The Teutonic Order begins working with the Hanseatic League. Knights begin to be stationed in Hansa Cities for defense, and the island of Gota and Teutonic possessions in Prussia are open for Hansa trade and settlement. Shipyards are built in Konigsberg, and a new Teutonic fleet is built, financed and manned partly by the Hansa. Finances began to improve, and more knights were recruited. The local economy also improved and the people were mostly left alone, so they were content.

There was involvement in Sweden, with the League and Knights supporting Sten Sture in return for trade concessions.

There was also talk within the League of possibilities in the new western route to the Indies. Perhaps exploration and profit could be made there. But that would cost a lot of money, and even with the increase in wealth, more was needed.

Eastern Europe:

Moldavia, Wallachia, and Austria form the Anti-Ottoman League to drive the Muslims out of Europe.

Poland:

John Albert, newly elected King of Poland, is not pleased by the abrupt formation of the Anti-Ottoman League. Not only does he think he should be at least informed of this by his Moldavian vassals, he also dreams of his own victories against the unholy Turk; yet he is hamstrung in his ambition by the need to pacify his unruly Polish nobility and wheedle money for his military enterprises from the Seim. So he swallows his pride (or, at least, the most prickly parts of it), and by the next year at Leutschau, the Polish king met not only with his brother Wladislaw of Hungary, Elector John Hohenzollern of Brandenburg and Moldavian gospodar Stephen, but also - with great reluctance - with representatives of Maximilian, whom he would rather see as an open enemy. Hopes that any kind of united Christian front against Ottomans would be established were small...

Russia/Muscovy:

1493 July: The Great Fire destroys a large part of the old portion of Moscow. Ivan declares that no new building anywhere in Moscow is to be built out of wood or other flammable materials. A large area around the Kremlin is left open for the market (roughly equivalent to 240 meters in OTL), but the shops must be temporary and portable.

Rhodes:

1493 Summer: Cem the Pretender, claimant to the Ottoman throne returns to Rhodes, calling on Pierre DAubusson, the grand-master of the order, to lead a crusade on Cem's behalf. Cem makes vague half-formed promises about converting to Christianity. Debate rages across Rhodes as to what should be done. DAubusson knows that the order is in far too vulnerable a position for a crusade at this point. Yet can he pass up the possibility of a Christian Ottoman emperor? As time passes however, it becomes clear that Cem's promised conversion to Christianity is less than genuine. Cem still promises the Rhodeans rich gifts of territory and possible restoration to Jerusalem (on which promise he's in little position to make good). Ultimately, DAubusson rejects this call for a crusade, claiming that "as the last Christian presence in Ionia it is paramount upon me, as grand-master, to look first to the order and it's preservation." Later historians have claimed that DAubusson truly was the first grand master to turn away from the crusader ideal, but this is far from the truth. In reality, DAubusson did not want a crusade which he could not win.

1493 Fall - Winter: DAubusson learns through his connections with the Neapolitan Court that the Spanish and Neapolitans are considering a foray against the Mamelukes in retaliation for their persecution of Christians, especially now that they are tied up in a war with the Ottomans. This seems to be the opportunity DAubusson was waiting for. He sends messages of alliance to Spain and Naples. He ponders what use Cem could be in this endeavor, but for the time being decides to hold him in reserve.

Ottoman Empire:

1493 April: Prince Ahmed enters into secret negotiations with the Mamelukes to assist him in overthrowing his father, Sultan Bayezid of the Ottoman Empire.

1493 November: As the Ottoman navy masses to assist in repelling Ahmed's faction and their Mameluke allies, a terrible storm strikes, causing the loss of a large number of Ottoman ships, and damaging most.

Mameluke Empire:

1493 Summer: The Mamelukes increase persecution of Christians throughout the Empire, not just in Syria, in response to the expulsion of Muslims from Spain the previous year.

The Mameluke Sultan, az-Zahir Sayf-ad-Din Jaqmaq, orders the mobilization of all troops in Eastern Egypt and Sinai to confront the advancing Ottoman troops. Upon reaching an agreement concerning Prince Ahmed's claim to the Ottoman throne, and adjustments to the border in favor of the Mamelukes, the Mameluke troops of Eastern Egypt and Sinai were deployed to Syria to assist Prince Ahmed in his quest. He also sends some troops with supplies for the Arab/Berber kingdoms fighting Alodi.

1493 Summer: Makuria and Nobatia begin winning some battles pushing Alodi away from the Coast. The king of Alodi sends envoys to Ethiopia requesting aid.

1493 Fall: Ahmed leads a faction of Ottomans and a large Mameluke army over the border between Syria and Anatolia, intent on wresting the Ottoman Empire from his father, Bayezid II.

Maghreb:

1493 Spring: Muhammahad XII has a fight with his Mother, and moves along with most of the Army of Granada [and the Treasury] to Zarzis in southern Tunisa. Most of Moorish Granadians fleeing from Spain go either to Tielsim [small kingdom now part of Morocco] if followers of Muhammad XII’s Mother, or to Zarzis if a followers of Muhammad XII.

1493 Spring: The Mamelukes begin their westward expansion toward the Barbary Coast. The Sultan sends a small but powerful army he believes will be able to conquer Tripolitania and Tunisia easily, as both are suffering from warlordism.

1493 Summer: The Mamelukes recapture all of Libya east of Tripolitania. The remains of the Granadian army have settled in Zarzisi; they prevent the Mameluke from conquering Zarzisi when they take the rest of Libya.

Yemen:

The Tahirid Sultan, having examined the shape of the world around him, with the Mamelukes to the north and the Europeans beginning to move forcefully into the traditionally Arab trade routes of the Indian Ocean, decided to embark upon a series of policy initiatives in order to buttress Yemeni economic and military strength against potential outside threats.

The main portions of this initiative were threefold. First, a proclamation was made of the willingness of Yemen to accept the expelled Jews and Muslims of the Iberian Peninsula, along with other such unwanted (and productive) minority religions that other states might wish to dispose of. This proclamation was disseminated throughout the Indian Ocean by Arab traders, reaching throughout the known world by spring of 1494.

Second, the Yemeni Sultan, after consultation with learned scholars as to the legality of such a move, proclaimed himself the Defender of the Hajj, in so far as that the Tahirid Sultanate would escort shipbound hajjis from Socotra to Jiddah, protecting them from pirates (and other potential marauders) along the way. Furthermore, it was announced that any attempt by merchants to take advantage of the hajj with exorbitant price increases would not be tolerated by the Sultanate.

Third, in order to fulfill the above duty, and incidentally to safeguard the Indian Ocean trade network that was Yemen's lifeblood, a major increase in naval construction was to occur. Realizing that Yemen itself did not possess an abundance of forests from which to harvest wood for shipbuilding, the decision was made to look southward, toward the heavily forested island of Madagascar. With longstanding trade contacts already present there, particularly with the Sakalava tribe along the island's western coast, the Sultanate would use Madagascar as its primary source of raw material for new naval construction.

Contacts would also be strengthened with the Swahili city-states along the East African coast, as certain other materials (hemp, for example) would be needed for the naval expansion. Over the next two years, a series of marriages would be arranged between the Yemeni throne and the ruling families of those city-states. In particular, a series of emissaries were sent to Sofala, offering the local ruler Tahirid protection in the event that ill-intentioned European visitors came to call. While the Sofalan emir declined the full Yemeni offer, he did agree to allow a small Yemeni garrison to remain in the area in order to safeguard the expanded degree of trade visiting the port.

Sub-Saharan Africa:

The king of Benin, marries one of his daughters to a high chief of the Oyo. He also builds up his contacts with the surrounding area, with a mind to marrying into, or outright taking the lands to the North West he thinks are in need of better leadership.

Delhi and Mewar:

1493 April: Sultan Sikandar Lodhi orders a massive Survey of All the Sultan’s Lands & Peoples in the Delhi Sultanate. The Sultan had been looking for a way to solidify his rule, and appears to have chosen to emphasize his knack for administration.

Barbak Shah Lodhi interprets his brother’s survey not as a show of strength but as an opportunity for his own advancement. He begins audaciously building and training his army. Sikandar decides to revoke Barbak’s title as Shah of Jaunpur and instead make him Grand General of the Armies. Barbak accepts. Both seem convinced that the other is the fool.

1493 May: Rawat Surjamal, cousin of the Rana of Mewar Raimal, strikes and spits on the Rana’s son Jaimal after an argument. All Mewar is aghast at his rudeness.

1493 June: Rana Raimal has had enough of his sons’ and cousins’ feuding. He sends them all off on “humility quests.” His sons are all sent to religious schools – Prithviraj to a Jain colony, Jaimal to a Buddhist monastery, and Sangramsingh to apprentice to the young Hindu theologian Nanak Dev (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Nanak_Dev). His cousins are given much more humiliating assignments – Rawat Surjamal is to manage a farm, and Rawat Sarangdeo is to manage a construction company. The cousins are furious that they are to be treated so far below their caste, but they know that the alternative is death.

1493 July: Rana Raimal sets about creating a detailed Oligarchic system, based on what scholars have told him of the great administrations of the past. His guiding principle is to make no one man have so much power over anything that he could abuse it for corrupt purposes. For now, this system is just a way to improve Mewar’s government, but it is clear that Raimal has designs on converting it into a far grander system.

Gowan Domestic Affairs: 1492-1500

The new Karaeng of Gowa, I-Pakere'tau Karaeng Tunijallo'-ri Pasukki' Somba-ri Gowa (henceforth referred to as I'Pakere'tau I, or just 'the king'), was crowned in 1492, as in OTL. Subsequently, Gowan politics split into two predominant factions, or 'parties', each trying to gain influence over the young and inexperienced king:

The 'imperial court' faction, centered on those ministers directly responsible to the Karaeng, who sought an isolationist foreign policy and conservatism. The predominant figure in this movement was the Tuma'bicara-butta ('spokesman of the land', or prime minister) until 1493; after his death, the movement splintered into competing factions. The movement's prime goal was protectionism; they felt that Macassar, the capital of Gowa (and often identified with it), needed to be protected from foreign influences. They can be considered the 'Tories' of Makassar.

The 'noble' or 'parliamentary' faction, centered on the Bate Salapang (the supreme council of nobles, akin to a Parliament). These nobles, eager to increase their own wealth and power, aimed for a program of rapid economic and military expansion. This faction was largely responsible for the Yolgnu Wars, the conquest of Garassik, and the establishment of trading stations on Marege. They also urged the expansion of foreign trade and the liberalizing of trade barriers. They can be considered the 'Whigs' of Makassar.

{In OTL, the conservatives triumphed; delaying Makassar's rise for centuries. By then, the Dutch had gained a strong enough foothold to conquer the region. In TTL, however, the economic opportunities provided by Marege prove sufficient inducement for the triumph of the nobles, who dominated the decade and the rest of I'Pakere'tau I's reign.}

A virus mutates randomly in Indonesia some time in 1493. The virus, although harmless to humans, proves virulent when introduced into trepang (sea cucumber) stocks. This results in a 50% reduction of trepang stocks around the Indonesian archipelago by 1500, and with the almost complete extinction of trepang in the waters surrounding Makassar.

Thus deprived of their prize catch, the trepangers of Gowa, a small kingdom centered on the port city of Makassar, are forced to look further afield...

Majahapit:

King Girindrawarddhana is informed by his ministers that the price of trepang has more than tripled recently due to local stocks dying off. The King decides that trepang is too important to the economy, and sends ships to scout out and secure new island sources.

Excerpt from The Birth of the Yolgnu Nation: 1493-1501

In 1493, the Yolgnu existed primarily as a concept; a series of traditions, religious practices, and linguistic dialects, with all those identifying themselves as 'Yolgnu' linking themselves to a particular territory: specifically, eastern Marege (OTL's eastern Top End)

Beyond that, however, there was very little in the way of unity. The Yolgnu were divided into clan groups and bands, who functioned largely autonomously. Without any significant foreign threats, there was no reason for unity-or, indeed, technological developments. So the Yolgnu survived, for tens of thousands of years, largely as they always had.

However, Yolgnu history can be said to have truly begun, from the day the Invaders arrived. The first contact with the traders dubbed generally the 'Macassans' could not have begun more inauspiciously. The exhausted and lonely traders attempted to abduct a party of Yolgnu women; the Yolgnu reacted violently, spearing several Macassans. Unlike the other Aboriginal tribes of Marege, who generally experienced positive first contacts, the Yolgnu recognised, from the beginning, the threat which Macassan influence posed to traditional tribal culture.

To this end, the Yolgnu began to unify politically, through a series of corroborees and tribal meetings. It was decided to oppose the Macassans, and hopefully to drive them back where they came from. A previously insignificant band 'headman' rose to prominence for his vitriolically anti-Macassan stance. According to legend, one of his sisters was one of those women attacked by the Macassans. His name has been lost to history, but Gowan records call him Gallarang-the leader.

The Macassans had no understanding of tribal borders. As such, trepangers frequently strayed into Yolgnu territory, where they were immediately set upon by hunters.

Due to their comparative size (unlike many other tribes in the region, who comprised only hundreds of individuals, there were over two thousand Yolgnu), the Yolgnu came to dominate the burgeoning anti-Macassan movements. Through both ideological sympathy and intimidation, a loose confederacy of tribes began to form, devoted to opposing the Macassans. Over the next decade, an undeclared war for influence would develop between the two nations, as both sides sought allies and prestige in the region.

The First Yolgnu War of 1507-1511 proved disastrous for both sides. The Macassan invasion force floundered, unable to strike at the Yolgnu, and proved a heavy drain on the Gowan treasury. The Yolgnu, however, faced even harsher conditions. The Macassans' tribal allies, eager to gain favour, committed atrocities against Yolgnu civilian populations, most notably in the Gagadju Massacre.

Far more deadly, however, was a virus brought by the soldiers: smallpox. The disease wreaked havoc on the Yolgnu population, killing over half the population, most notably the previously dominant elders. The Yolgnu were devastated, reduced to only a few hundred individuals from a height of thousands-all radicalised against the Macassan invasion. This allowed Gallarang, already a hero for his guerrilla activities, to gain effective political control over the Yolgnu.

But even he realised that the Macassans could not be driven out. Instead, he decided that to preserve Yolgnu independence, an accomodation must be made. In the Makaratta (treaty) that ended the war in 1511, predictably harsh terms were imposed: the Yolgnu allies were annexed, and they were forced to swear friendship to Gowa and send hostages to Makassar guarantee the peace. Yet they were granted their independence, and Djerrkura was recognised as bate (prince) of Yolgnu. He quickly set about creating the foundations for an independent Yolgnu state. Within a few years, hostages returning from Gowa told Gallarang of the ways of the Gowans. A council of elders was convened to serve a similar role to the Bate Salapang.

However, the Yolgnu still faced formidable difficulties. Their population had been ravaged, the war had led to the burning and destruction of much of their territories, and their population were inevitably beginning to gravitate towards settlements on the coast. However, such challenges remained for another decade to resolve.

Japan:

In 1493, Hojo Soun set the precedent for aspiring samurai after he acquired Kokukuji castle in Izu. Following his lead in the next decades many other men will rise from obscurity to greatness at the expense of their former masters, rivals, or even family members.

Shogun Ashikaga Yoshitane attacks Hosokawa Masamoto over a dispute regarding the accession of a new Shogun following the death of Ashikaga Yoshihisa in 1489. Yoshitane is defeated and exiled; Ashikaga Yoshizumi becomes puppet Shogun. However, the authority of both the Imperial court and the Shogunate is is sharp decline, and the country is plagued by civil war, insurrection, and rife political instability. There is little faith in either the court or the Shogunate and many Samurai are showing aspirations of grandeur. Hojo Soun acquires Kokukuji castle in Izu (Shizuoka prefecture), becoming the first 'sengoku daimyo'.

On the occasion of the birth of an heir to the Ming throne, the Ashikaga shogunate commissions an embassy to the Chinese court, presenting gifts to the Imperial family, especially the Emperor, the new heir, and the child's mother. Shogun Ashikaga Yoshitane is looking to foster better relations with Ming China (although relations between the two countries are not bad).

Ryukyku likewise sends an embassy. Although humble, it is still lavish. Ryukyu is of course a Chinese quasi-vassal, so the Ryukyuan embassy is not as surprising as the Japanese one.

New World:

Word of the arrival of people from the sea, has trickled throughout the Caribbean. They seem to have a lust for Yellow metal, spreading over-all distrust of these foreign wizards.

The Narragansett, claiming to be responding to an insult (the story, of course, varies widely depending on who it telling it), stage a major, successful raid on the Poccaset, a Wampanoag tribe that lives near the border between the two groups. An overly quick counter attack fails to do much, leaving many young Wampanoags angry. The older chiefs start looking for allies.

April 1493: The Seneca send out scouting parties to found new villages in the fertile lands to the south that have been abandoned after the recent wars. They set up a string of tiny farming communities at Kinzua Rapids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinzua_Dam).

June 1493: The Susquehanna get word of the Seneca’s expansion and send out their own scouts. They will eventually set up several small fishing and trading posts along the Juniata River (http://www.rootsweb.com/~paperry/perry_indians.htm), pushing the crippled remnants of the Onojutta onto even more marginal land.

December 1493: A bitter winter forces some Cayuga and Onondaga villages to head further south than usual in their search for game, into the lands of the weak Wyoming Tribe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming_Valley). The Onondaga Eldest – oral tradition holds that it was the legendary Hiawatha – states his opposition, not only because this abuses the last peace treaty with the Wyomings, but also because it may provoke the Susquehanna, whom he calls the “warm blood brothers” of the Haudenosaunee.

1493-1495: The princess Porâsaia, only child of a major Guaraní community-Chief Abaangui, dies, leaving Chief Abaangui heirless. The old man wanders off in mourning, and is never heard from again. In an unheard-of move, a young man named Kurepi, declares himself a living god, and performs several "miracles," in various Guaraní communities. Guaraní priests throughout all the communities reaffirm his claims. By the fall of 1495, he has formed a substantial following, and tentatively united the Guaraní people.

Incan Empire:

Thupa inca dies. Wayna Qapac accedes to the throne. He begins consolidation which will last until about 1520.

[Glen]

1494:

England:

1494 January 14: Princess Mary Rose Tudor of England is born.

Holy Roman Empire:

Brunswick:

Henry IV of Brunswick and Eric I of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel divide the territory between them; Eric becomes duke of Brunswick-Kalenburg

Burgundy:

Philip of Burgundy turns 16 and takes over the rule of Burgundy from his father who had been regent.

Florence:

A young man named Niccolò Machiavelli is appointed as a clerk to the Florentine government of Giovanni de Medici.

The firebrand Savonarola is killed by street thugs one night. Rumors persist that it was not a random encounter, but there is no proof.

Naples:

King Errant dies. His son Alfonso II is crowned. He manages to diffuse tensions with Milan. Royal marriages are established between the two nations.

In a departure from his Spanish brethren, the Neapolitan King Alphonso II welcomed Jews (esp. merchants, scholars and other people concerned with economic) into his Kingdom, as it was in dire need of economic reform.

Scandinavia:

During Easter, the Royal Steward Poul Laxmand meets representatives of the Swedish nobility who make the Swedish Council of the Realm agree to Sweden’s re-joining the Kalmar Union.

A commoner member of the chancellery, Anders Nielsen is hanged accused of embezzlement - a reaction from the nobility to the King’s encouragement of the previous year. The King, however, decides to continue getting merchants to work for him, if only to get access to their wealth.

Ottoman Empire:

1494 Winter:

Led by Prince Selim, the army of the Ottoman Empire marches toward their southeast border, intent on repelling the Mamelukes and Ahmed Ottomans from the area. The majority of those Janissary's who aren't in the Rumeli of the Empire are accompanying the army. The remnant of the Ottoman navy takes anchor outside of cannon range for now, off the coast of the Mameluke encampment.

A significant portion of the janissaries who were in the Ottoman army meant to fight the Mamelukes join with Ahmed (their favorite to inherit the Ottoman throne). The other half of the janissaries, fearing loss of privilege and status - not to mention the very existence of their Order - met them in open and pitched battle on the plains north of Damascus. The Bayezid-loyalists under the command of Selim win the day. The disloyal ones flee to Egypt and Mesopotamia, while the loyal ones were given residences in Rumeli. Poets in the ensuing weeks and months would call this the Janissary Civil War.

1494 – 1519: In the Ottoman Empire, the recruiting and training of janissaries was not interrupted by the Janissary Civil War (ref: the War against the Mamluk). However, the Janissary Civil War *did* disrupt the flow of new janissaries; it had always been traditional for a young janissary, upon the completion of his training and education, to be an apprentice in another part of the Empire…ie, apprenticed to carpenters, shipbuilders, etc. What the Janissary Civil War did was leave a lot of apprentices in the field they were apprenticed to; over the next two decades, through a policy of what one might consider benign neglect, very few janissary apprentices were brought into the military after the end of their apprenticeship.

Mameluke Empire:

1494 Winter: Taking advantage of the fighting to the North, Spanish, Neapolitan, and Rhodean ships launch an invasion of Lebanon and Palestine, eventually marching for Jerusalem, laying siege to the city and calling for it's surrender. While the army encamps and part of the navy begins ferrying supplies inland, a large portion of the Rhodean and Spanish fleet begin harrying the Egyptian coast, feinting toward Alexandria. DAubusson also calls on the Maronite Christians of Lebanon to aid his army, as well as the Lebanese Druze.

1494 Summer: Mameluke forces have been nearly driven out of the Levant, and European and Ottoman forces meet on the plains of Megiddo. Tense negotiations between the two forces go forward, with both seeing the threat of the other combining with the Mamelukes to oppose them. Eventually, an agreement is hammered out leaving the Holy City of Jerusalem as a free city, though with a Knights Hospitaler commandry being allowed to be stationed there. The King and Queen of Spain being unacceptable to the Ottomans, the King of Naples is declared as the Christian protector of Jerusalem, and Sultan Bayezid II as the Islamic protector of Jerusalem. While the name Kingdom of Jerusalem is specifically avoided during negotiations, much of the territory formerly encompassing that land is ceded to Neapolitan control, with the Sultan granted special rights with regards to protection of the faithful in this land.

Later, Ahmed is captured by soldiers loyal to his brothers Selim and Korkud. Invited to dine with his brothers, Ahmed is poisoned during the dinner.

Taking advantage of the losses of the Mamelukes in the Levant, a combined force of Alodi and Ethiopians strike against the Mamelukes and their Arab/Berber allies. All of Upper Egypt is ceded to the Alodi up to the ancient Nubian cities of Aswan and Luxor on the River Nile.

1494 Fall: The Mameluke Sultan is overthrown by another faction within the Mamelukes and the war ends. The Ottomans receive Syria, and the Levant outside of most of the former territory of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which goes to the Europeans under the authority of the King of Naples. Alodi receive all of Nubia south of the old pre-Mameluke border. That there are two Muslim Kingdoms in the area, is ignored in the peace settlement.

Ethiopia:

Pero da Covilhã, an envoy from the King of Portugal to the Kingdom of Prester John, discovers a plot against the 22 year old King Aslander by the family of the deposed Bitwooden [Prime Minister] and several of the provincial strongmen. King Aslander moves against the Plotters.

Timurid Empire:

Since the establishment of the Timurid Empire under Tīmūr bin Taraghay Barlas in 1369 with its capital at Samarkand, the Timurids have been in a position that granted them access to both great opportunities for wealth, as well as a position that placed them between two settled civilizations: Islamic society to the west, and Indian and Chinese society to the east. However, in 1494, the Timurid Empire, and the dynasty itself has been in a state of flux with dynastic rulers claiming legitimacy in Herat and Samarkand. Along with the two heirs in Herat and Samarkand, Abu'l-Khayr Khan (1428-68) and his two grandsons have been moving to organize the Uzbek tribes since Abu'l-Khayr Khan took the throne in 1428. With the confusing and ever shifting alliances of the successor states of Genghis Khan, there is little stability in the region.

In the Timurid Dynasty in Herat, Husayn Bayqarah has been trying to hold the empire together amidst a series of attacks by Uzbek and Kazakh tribal attacks, and failed attacks against successor states in the steppe.

In the Timurid Dynasty in Farghana, a tributary of the Samarkand Timur Dynasty, Umar Sheikh Mirza has been attempting to ready his 11 year old son, Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, to lead the kingdom.

China:

February 18, 1494: Perhaps a sign from the elders, or perhaps not, the empress gave birth to Zhu Houcong on New Years Day, ensuring that his birth would fall under the year of the tiger, under the alchemist mark of wood, his full sign was the Yang Wood Tiger: Strong, yet flexible, good fortune, and generosity, royalty, and cooperation all rolled into one. This was a very good sign for the young prince to be born under, and has been seen by some eunuchs in the court to be a sign from heaven that perhaps he should inherit the throne after his father's death, and not his brother.

Japan:

Hojo Soun extends his influence into Sagami province (Kanagawa prefecture) after taking Odawara castle from the Omori.

Majahapit:

The King's ships return, only to report the same thing; the trepang is in serious decline all over the archipelago. Reports from the north indicate that the Macassans are equally troubled, and that their king is considering sending ships further afield. King Girindrawarddhana decides to do the same.

Gowa:

The newly crowned Karaeng of Gowa, I-Pakere'tau Karaeng Tunijallo'-ri Pasukki' Somba-ri Gowa (henceforth referred to as I'Pakere'tau I) is informed by his Shahbandar (Foreign Affairs Minister) of the decline in trepang stocks across Indonesia. The young king is advised by the Bate Salapang (the supreme council of nobles, akin to a Parliament) to send ships to discover new trepang stocks.

Meanwhile, however, war clouds are brewing between Garassik, another small port kingdom in South Sulawesi, and an alliance of Gowa and Tallok. The current Tuma'bicara-butta ('spokesman of the land', prime minister) manages to advise I'Pakere'tau to avoid war, but his rivals in the court, particularly in the Bate Salapang, resent his autocratic ways and his control over the king.

Australia

A charismatic and rather uncharacteristic leader takes over the Arrente, conquering nearby Aborigine tribes.

North America:

The Powhatan begin to strengthen ties with surrounding tribes in hopes of building a larger confederacy of natives in the region.

February 1494: The Onondaga Eldest calls a Grand Council of All Iroquois Peoples. Stunned by this unprecedented request from the aging spiritual giant, virtually all of the tribes pledge to show up, including such far-flung bands as the Nottoway, Meherrin, Erie, Attawandaron, Susquehanna, and the various Laurentian tribes. The faraway peoples of the south, who speak the languages of Tuscarawas and Cherokee, plead that the distance is too great, but most villages send gifts of amulets.

October 1494: The Grand Council of All Iroquois Peoples meets at the Onondaga Council Fire. The Onondaga announce their intention that all Iroquoians should band together into once colossal council. The more distant Iroquoians find this concept preposterous, and it is voted down. According to the oral traditions, Hiawatha then smiles and says, “it is you who have voted.” The legends say that few understood the remark at the time. Later generations know that those who voted against the union had in fact given the union credence by submitting to the voting procedures of the Grand Council.

December 1494: The tiny Stadacona and Hochelega join the Haudenosaunee, the only ones to answer the boldest call of the Grand Council. The Susquehanna, however, agree to sit a diplomat at the Haudenosaunee Council Fire. This is enough that the Councilors who doubted such a grand scheme acknowledge that the Grand Council was a huge success.

October 1494: The Wampanoag are allowed to observe the Grand Council of All Iroquois Peoples. The Council agrees that the Wampanoags are "strange-tongued friends."

[Glen]

1495:

Ireland:

{1495 November 22: Alison FitzEustace does not die.}

England:

England commissions construction of the first drydock in Europe since antiquity.

Backed by Bristol Merchants, John Cabot obtains an audience with King Henry VIIth of England. King Henry VIIth is impressed with Cabot's plans and grants him letters of patent authorizing his mission in the name of the English Crown.

1495 July 4: Perkin Warbeck attempt to raise rebellion in England fails, and he is killed during the attempt to return to his ships.

France:

1495 December: Though measles ravages the city of Amboise, draconian measures ordered by the King manage to isolate the Dauphin, Charles Orlando, from the disease.

Portugal:

John II dies and is succeeded by Manoel I as king of Portugal.

Holy Roman Empire:

Eric I of Brunswick-Kalenburg gains the Principality of Göttingen.

Saxony:

Frederick of Saxony and Berthold of Mainz begin discussions about needed reforms within the empire. This partnership is to last until Berthold's death, and forms a longer-term 'special relationship' between Mainz and Saxony.
1498: Duke Frederick marries Elizabeth, daughter of Philip the Count Palatine.

Hanseatic League:

1495 January 5: King Hans' naval build-up serves to unite the Wendish cities even further and make their unification into a federation all the more paramount. With the consent of the Holy Roman Emperor, the Wendish Federation is signed into law on this date, and immediately begins work on an extensive naval build-up at Luebeck, Hamburg, Bremen and Wismer. Messages are sent to the Teutonic order and the Rhenish cities calling on them for aid, and negotiations are opened with Sweden. Emissaries are also sent to the Dithmarscher Republic with promises of possible aid against any Danish aggression.

Northern Italy:

1495 March 15: Michelle Antonia of Saluzzo born; daughter of Margrave Ludovico II of Saluzzo.

Scandinavia/Baltic Region:

A Russian army enters Karelia laying siege to Viborg but the fortress commander Knud Posse repel the invasion. The Council of the Realm convince King Hans that the Russian alliance is going to lose Sweden for ever.

Wolter von Plettenberg gets word from the Teutonic Knights about the call for arms and pledges a force of 7,000 knight and heavy Calvary at their disposal.

Ottoman Empire:

Hearing of unprovoked attacks conducted by the sect he had so recently granted amnesty to, Sultan Bayezid II sends a hundred janissaries to sort out those who were made gazis. Two dozen of the sect are hung for heresy. The remainder takes this as the warning it is. The Ottoman border quiets down.

Holy Land:

The Grand Commandry of the Rhodeans in Jerusalem is officially established. Over time, this will grow into one of the major Hospitaler commandries in the world.

Ethiopia:

The small civil war in Ethiopia is over and the power of the provinces is broken for now. King Aslander has a daughter by his wife.

Maghreb:

Camel traders from the Kel Ahaggar tribe and Kel Aijer tribes find gold along their camel trade routes near to where both are based in the Sahara.

Timurid Empire:
Umar Sheikh Mirza dies of an infection caused after a hunting trip gone wrong left him with a shattered leg that was a result of loosing control of his horse and being thrown to the ground with such force that it shattered his femur. The 12 year old son of Mizra, Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, is too young to be an effective leader, yet under the inheritance laws, he must take the throne. (In OTL, Mizra would die in 1498 when Babur was 14 years old.)

With Babur's inheritance, a cabal of his father's best generals and high ranking community leaders, rather than shoving the 12 year old Babur off the throne and out of the kingdom, decided that the best alternative was to kill Babur on the eve of his 13th birthday in February and claim legitimacy on their own, rather than risk his gaining support from the rest of the kingdom.

Indian Subcontinent:

November 1495: The Delhi Sultanate completes its Survey of All the Sultan’s Lands & Peoples. The Sultan orders his advisors to each report to him on what the study means for their areas of rule. The survey is quickly becoming one of the greatest bureaucratic projects in the Sultanate in almost 200 years.

China:

Following the birth of his third child, the second to live past birth and early infancy, the Hongzhi Emperor began a series of auspicious tax and bureaucratic reforms. In order to make the flow of revenue much easier into the capital, and to ensure that corruption and bribery were less prevalent, the emperor began to cut out branches of the bureaucracy which he felt were less than worthy of remaining a part of the functioning bureaucratic arm of the Ming Dynasty.

Along with that, increased communication between the bureaucratic departments was encouraged, along with the sharing of records and transactions to allow for greater bureaucratic and imperial oversight into government business.

In a year's time, over 700 bureaucrats operating in the Ming heartland had their positions cut in efforts by the imperial government to smooth out the rough edges in the bureaucracy. The emperor was gracious enough to allow these bureaucrats a choice: Stay in the heavily populated areas, or migrate to the periphery of Ming society. Most decided to stay in the heavily populated areas.

Majahapit:

A small group of Macassan ships is intercepted near Bali. The crews are brought before the King, and explain they were sent from their Karaeng to seek out new trepang stocks. They had skirted a large island to the south, whose waters were abundant with trepang, but were chased away by hostile natives. They were on their way home to report when they were intercepted.

The King decides this new land is worth exploring, and decides to send his own ships south with the captured crewmen as guides. Several ships are built, and the expedition leaves Majahapit in early 1496.

Gowa:

The first Macassan voyages of exploration, sponsored by the king, set out. The first three disappear without trace. The fourth, however, encounters a large, tropical land to the south. First contact between the Macassans and Yolgnu occurs-the Yolgnu spear the ship's captain, and drive their crew back into the sea. It is not an auspicious start. The ship's remaining crew return to Makassar with news of fantastic riches and abundant stocks of trepang. The new land is dubbed 'Marege' by the king.

The Tuma'bicara-butta dies of malaria. The warhawk Tuma'ilalang Toa, president of the Bate Salapang, is appointed as the new prime minister by the king, who is still young and inexperienced. The new Tuma'bicara-butta's reign will be marked by an increase in the powers of the Bate Salapang, but of growing conflict between the monarchical and noble factions in the council. War breaks out between Garassik and the Gowa-Tallok alliance.

North America:

January 1495: The Grand Council having highlighted the great distances that separate the various tribes, the Haudenosaunee vote to construct new roads connecting the Seven Nations and their neighbors.

April 1495: Construction begins on Great Peacemaker Road. It will run a north-south from Stadacona to southern Mohawk lands, and then broaden and improve the existing east-west route connecting the Five Nations.

June 1495: The Erie begin growing sumpweed and using fish-farming techniques that they learned from tribes to the west. With so many Haudenosaunee devoted to construction, the Erie see profit in trading food to the Seneca for furs.

South America:

1495-1496: Chief Kurepi marries a niece of the former chief, and a son is born. He is named Tupã. The Chief sets a precedence of naming Guaranís after their gods.

[Glen]

1496:

England:

{1496 September: Perkin Warbeck dies in 1495, and thus he does not stir trouble between Scotland and England; while tension remains on the border, the peace holds.}

1496 April 20: John Cabot departs from England heading West in search of 'Asia'.

1496 July 25: John Cabot returns to England after a successful journey to "Nor'Asia."

1496 August 1: John Cabot tells King Henry VII of his trip to "Nor'Asia." He proposes to the King that China must lie to the South along the coast. Henry VIIth gives support to an expanded second journey.

Portugal:

Manoel I marries Isabella of Asturias.

Benelux:

Jan of Cleve (duke of Cleve and count of Mark) and Wilhelm of Julich-Berg (duke of Julich and Berg and count of Ravensburg) make a deal to join their duchies to try to form a counterbalance against Burgundy. It was decided that Jan’s son Johan (who was born in 1490) will marry Wilhelm’s daughter Maria (who was born in 1491) in 1509 and will inherit the Duchies of Cleve, Julich and Berg and the counties of Mark and Ravensberg.

Holy Roman Empire:

Burgundy:

Philip of Burgundy marries Joanna, the daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, in Lier.

Palatine:

A son named Otto Henry is born to the wife of Philip the Upright, Elector Palatinate. {Otto Henry survives the year, getting to grow up.}

Piedmont Region:

As most of Europe's attention is drawn to the Holy Land, three nations seize the opportunity and seek to band together into a Northern Italian Pact. Negotiations begin in 1496.

Duchy of Savoy:

{1496 April 16: Charles II, Duke of Savoy, does not die.}

Spain:

Juan of Asturias marries Margaret of Austria, but on a trip through Salamanca he becomes ill. Fortunately for Juan, he is saved by a doctor who recently converted from Judaism. This leads their grateful Catholic majesties to make a rich gift to the University of Salamanca, which will enjoy heightened royal patronage, and in the life of which Juan will be heavily involved. Privately, it also makes Juan question the policy of his parents toward the Jews, and begins a long process of liberalization in Juan's thinking.

Scandinavia:

King Hans raises a large army and the navy is commandeered to sea. All Hansa ships found in Danish waters are obliged to supply the Kings ships with two able seamen. Among the troops raised are the Saxon Guards commanded by Junker Schlentz.

Eastern Europe:

Due to ongoing tensions and the weakening forces of the two nations, Vlad the Monk of Wallachia and Stephen of Moldavia call a conference between the two kingdoms. What results is a mutual defense pact and a blockade of the Ottoman border.

Ethiopia:

The mini civil war over in Ethiopia, King Aslander sends an Army north to help his Christian Brother in Alodi. Most of the troops sent are followers of the provincial strongmen, farther weakening them.

King Aslander has a son by his concubine; the son is named "Eon" after the great king from the 6th Century.

Sub-Saharan Africa:

The Ndongo-Matamba alliance is sealed with the only daughter of the Matamban king (and thus heir) to the eldest son of the Ndongolese king. Expansion into Ngoyo continues.

Timurid Empire:

February 14, 1496: An assassin, under the orders of the cabal, attempts to poison Babur in his sleep. What the assassin failed to notice was the dagger Babur had taken to sleeping with since his Ascension to the throne the year before, and the fact that Babur was a notoriously light sleeper. Once he entered the chambers of Babur, he awoke to see the assassin opening a bottle of poison. Babur immediately drew the dagger from under his pillow and in one swift motion, drove it directly through the heart of the assassin. It is with this gesture of self-defense that Babur uncovered his own strength as a leader. (Babur would not truly become a respected leader until he was driven out of his father's kingdom in 1500 and became ruler of Kabul in 1504).

After the killing of the would be assassin, Babur took it upon himself to uncover who had sent the assassin. After several of the members of the cabal were too careless and mentioned in passing their relationship to the assassin during court conversations, Babur began to systematically hunt down and kill those who attempted to kill him. Their deaths were not a public spectacle. Instead, Babur would enter their sleeping chambers by himself, and kill them in the way that they tried to kill him, with a bottle of poison in their sleep. With some of the married men with families, Babur would not only kill the male, but his wife and children as well, sometimes in gruesome manners used to frighten other members of the cabal out of hiding. By the end of the year, the 13 year old Babur had gone from being a frightened, naive leader who only ruled because of his father's death, to becoming a ruthless style of leader who used cruelty and violence to enforce his rule.

Indian Subcontinent:

March 1496: The Delhi Sultanate’s advisors report on several obvious ways to improve the civil service, tax collection, and the living standards of the common people. The Sultan accepts most of the proposals and takes an active role in carrying them out. This attention to the common people has made the Sultan enormously popular, so he continues to work on domestic affairs and not worry about the extensive resources that his brother Barbak is putting into the military, now the world’s largest south of the Himalayas.

The Deccan Sultanates are defeated by Tuluva Narasa Nayaka the Supreme General and Regent, under Narasimha Raya II of the Saluva Dynasty.

Majahapit:

The fleet heads south, and eventually reaches a large island. The waters are indeed rich with trepang. Going ashore, the sailors discover signs of recent activity. In fact, it seems as if the place was recently abandoned. The Macassan crewmen identify the remnants as being from Gowa. The crew explores along the coast, and meets up with some locals, who speak words in Macassan. They want to trade, which the crew gladly does. The crewmen also learn of the Yolgnu, and their fight against the newcomers. The ships are restocked, and head back to Majahapit to report.

The king is delighted by the tortoise shells, pearls and especially the trepang brought back. When he learns that the Macassans have been active in this new land, he can't sit idly by; A new bigger, stronger fleet begins construction. The King sees a possible friend and ally in the Yolgnu, and plans are made to seek them out....

Gowa:

At the start of the next trepang season, the first Macassan praus begin to arrive, cautiously, in Marege. Those which land in Yolgnu territory are attacked. Some other tribes, however, react in a friendly fashion. The first stocks of trepang are harvested and returned to Makassar, from where they are traded on to China. However, the land to the south does not yet gain much interest; there are still trepang stocks in Gowan waters, albeit diminishing rapidly, and Marege is too far away and too hostile to yet risk a business venture. The Garassik-Gowa war ends, with the burning of Garassik. The humiliated royals of Garassik return to their ruined city, and agree to accept vassal status to Gowa. The successful war solidifies the alliance between Gowa and Tallok, and grants the Bate Salapang much-needed influence over the king.

News of the new land takes time to disseminate; as such, no fleets are sent to Marege. The Yolgnu presume, falsely, that the invaders have been scared off.

China:

The tax reforms imposed the year before by the Hongzhi Emperor were beginning to take shape. Land taxes on the middle class were lowered 15%, while taxation of the upper crust gentry was increased 20% to balance out the revenue imbalance, and bring in extra revenue for the imperial government. Along with that, a more uniform system of business taxation was imposed, taxing the yearly revenue of the businesses that was liquid capital, while failing to mention the static capital (commodities) gained during the year.

Japan:

Political authority in the peripheral provinces is in the brink of collapse. In southern Shikoku and western Kyushu, many lords are seriously struggling to maintain their hegemony. However the situation is most volatile in the frontier provinces of northern Honshu, where regional lords have to contend with not only insurrection and rebellion, but the restless Ainu (indigenous people of Japan), who they have been slowly displacing and pushing northward.

Shogun Ashikaga Yoshizumi and his puppet-master Hosokawa Masamoto become increasingly distressed as more and more regions succumb to instabilities.

North America:

March 1496: The race to settle the empty lands heats up as the Erie begin an ambitious new settlement, Mahonik. With 1,000 adults, it is the largest of the new settlements.

December 1496: As the builders head to their hunting camps for the winter, the Stadacona and Mohawk are proud to have a crude path blazed all the way to each other’s border villages.

1496 June 12: John Cabot and his crew find land, which at the time they believe to be Northern Asia. John Cabot claims the land in the name of Henry VIIth. An abundance of fish in the area is noted.

South America:

A khipumaynac (khipu scribe/reader) begins using the khipu to record not only numbers, or act as a mnemonic aids, but also as a word. There are a series of binary choices (6 of them) plus 24 possible colors that together make up a word. Living in Cuzco he quickly influences the other scribes there and they also adopt this system. By 1500 over a hundred words are in use, most being important goods (potatoes, llamas, and quinoa) and people to owe it to.

1496 Summer: Chief Kurepi begins attacking Tupi villages in the hinterlands of the Great Forest, starting the conquering of the Tupi people and lands.

[Glen]

1497:

England:

1497 January: John Cabot's map of his first voyage is printed in Bristol, showing the northern coastline as 'Norasia'. Scholars to this day debate whether the spelling was intentional or a printing error.

1497 April 30: Cabot and a small fleet head out for his second journey to the west.

1497 August 30: Cabot's re-united fleet returns to England with word of a large waterway, which many begin to refer to as the Cabot, and the beaver pelts, which are viewed with great interest by Henry VIIth and Cabot's Bristol backers.

Portugal:

The decree to expel all Jews from Portugal is signed by King Manoel I.

Isabella of Asturias dies in childbirth; the baby is stillborn.

Upon the death of Isabella of Asturias, the decree is practically ignored and only a token effort to enforce it was made by the King. However, the existence of the decree allows for the church to begin making moves against Jews in Portugal. The church was willing to force baptism and conversion upon the Jews, but Manoel I tended to look the other way. The Portuguese still needed the Jews, as they filled a vital role in the running of the economy and without them havoc might ensue.

Mecklenburg:

Duke Magnus II von Mecklenburg sat in his castle and waited. Events were unfolding around him, and if he played his cards right, perhaps a Kingdom could be gained. His family had long claimed the throne of Norway, but could not take it. With the trouble between Denmark and Sweden, and the interference of the Hansa and Teutonic Knights, Magnus plotted how he might benefit. Letters were sent to the Hansa, The Swede Sten Sture, and the Grand Master of the Order, making overtures of alliance to each. He would gladly give up a Duchy to gain a Kingdom. So he waited for a response and plotted his future, raising what funds, men and ships he could.

Benelux:

Everhard van der Marck, the son of Robrecht I van der Mark, restarts the civil war in Liege and tries to succeed where his father and uncles have failed, become the bishop of Liege. The current bishop of Liege, Johan IX van Horn, is supported by Burgundy. The Duke of Guelders supports Everhard trying to limit the power of Burgundy in the region.

Milan:

Milan answers the call to redeem Jerusalem as well, though they send mostly money rather than soldiers.

Scandinavia:

The Danish army is transported to Scania.

After having been recognized King of Sweden in 1483, but not yet crowned, Hans finally looses patience in 1497 and enters Sweden with a strong army under command of the skilled Junker Thomas Schlentz and incl. several German mercenaries.

Sten Sture's army is decisively defeated at Rotebro on 28. September 1497 and flees into Stockholm castle. Siege is laid on Stockholm which surrenders on 6th of October 1497. Sture now now has to recognize Hans as King of Sweden (incl. Finland) and Hans is crowned.

Svante Nilsson attacks the Russian fortress of Ivangorod on the Nava. The fortress is destroyed. A truce is made with Russia. Svante Nilsson joins the nobility against Sten Sture and on March 7. the Swedish Council of the Realm depose Sten Sture as Regent.

Muscovy:

Sudebnik of 1497 is slightly changed from article 57, (which requires a peasant to pay his lord a certain fee in the week before or the week after St. George's day if he is to have the right to move elsewhere) to removing the fee but stipulating that peasants could ONLY move during the week before and after the Fall St. George's day, and with permission of both Landowners. While the Law doesn't require the fee, many Landlords demand it in order for the Peasant to move. This allows more movement of peasants and increases settlement in the annex territories Ivan has claimed during his reign.

Eastern Europe:

As a show of a renewed effort of friendship, Radu and Bogdan, the heirs to the Wallachian and Moldavian thrones respectively take two daughters, Maria and Anne, of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid as their wives. The Ottoman blockade relaxes and Vlad allows free trade across Wallachian borders. Moldavia follows suit two months later.

Maghreb

Death of Muhammad Al-Maghili, a renowned theologian from Tlemcen. There are accusations of assassination, though nothing is ever proved.

Enough Moors have immigrated to the region south of Zarzis that it is being referred to as New Granada by Europeans. Due to the expulsion of Jews in Europe, Boabdil has also attracted a significant number of the Sephardic Jews from the old Granada, who still remember the tolerance of that nation. The presence of significant numbers of the Granadian army allows the Kingdom of Tiesliem to hold off annexation by Morocco.

A small war of supremacy breaks out between two tribes, the Kel Ahaggar and Kel Aijer.

Ethiopia:

King Aslander's warriors begin reporting about the hundreds of books and pieces of art in the old Byzantine churches being ""Liberated"" from the Berber/Arab Muslims.
Remembering the tales of Axum having had a copy of the famed Library of Alexandria, King Aslander orders as many as possible of these liberated books and art to be sent south to Ethiopia. This will be a ongoing project of the King for the rest of his Life. The King also begins hearing about the musketeers attached with the European forces. King Aslander sends a Letter to the King of Portugal requesting some Gunsmiths, to teach how to make these new weapons. He also requests some Soldiers to teach the use of these Muskets.

Sub-Saharan Africa:

Though fighting a losing battle, the Ngoyolese offer to ally themselves with the Kakongolese. The Kakongolese, under a vassal to the King of Kongo (also overlord of Ndongo,) refuse.

The Ndongolese king, crown-prince, and nobles throughout Ndongo are baptized by Catholic missionaries from Kongo. The king is christened Emmanuel I, and his son Diego. The Matamban king refuses to be baptized, however, he reluctantly allows baptism for his daughter. She is christened Isabella. Various Matamban nobles are baptized as well.

Catholicism is spread in Matamba, but is not as readily received. Portuguese priests meet severe resistance in many desolate Matamban villages.

Timurid Empire:

With the events of the last year still fresh in his mind, Babur began the long, difficult process of solidifying his power base. Rather than attempting to draw support from the generals and high civilian leaders as his father had, Babur found that going to the leaders of the individual clans and tribes himself and working out deals face to face got him farther with them than going through middle men as his father and predecessors had. The concept of a council of elders, where the elders/leaders of the different tribes would come to Ferghana and meet with Babur to discuss important domestic issues, sprung forth in the next decade due to Babur's growing connections with the tribal leaders rather than the old gentry of generals, ministers, and imam's.

Also, Babur found out by the end of the year that many of his uncles were in the planning stages of a coup to remove him from his father's throne in a power grab. With these reports, Babur's paranoia, left over from the events of the last year of dealing with the cabal, grew larger and more prevalent in his decision making.

China:

In the two years since the firing of the 700 bureaucrats and the tax and bureaucratic reforms, government revenue was up nearly 30% compared to the 1493-94 fiscal year. The extra 30% revenue was poured into new infrastructure development, namely the renovation of the great wall, but also the creation of new trade networks into Korea.

Indian Subcontinent:

January 1497: Barbak Shah Lodhi makes his quest for glory by launching a mission to re-conquer the ancient Lodhi homeland in Afghanistan. His army is massive – surely not the “Seven Lakh Army” that history will record, but at least 150,000 men and 1200 elephants.

January 9, 1497: Barbak gets off to a strong start by steamrolling the unsuspecting, tiny principality of Thanesar.

February 7-20, 1497: The Battle of Lahore sets the tone for Barbak’s War – bloody. At least 20,000 die, and Barbak celebrates his “victory” by burning Lahore. This inhuman tactic works: minor tribes from all around the Panjab pledge their entire armies to Barbak, fearing that any lesser show of loyalty will lead to their own destruction.

March-April 1497: The First Battle of Peshawar. Barbak meets his first real resistance here, and the battle ends in a stalemate. 25,000 die, and Peshawar earns its nickname, “KhunsnaCity”, or The Spiteful City.

May 4, 1497: Aladdin Husain, Sultan of Bengal, marches across the undefended eastern Lodhi border.His troops move quickly and loot indiscriminately.

May 19, 1497: Barbak circles back and conquers Multan, hoping to march back toward the new Bengali threat. His army soars to its apex, an unwieldy 250,000 men – but his enemies are growing, too.

May 24, 1497: Gondwana and Berar, fearing that Bengal will emerge as the new dominant power, send troops to defend the eastern Lodhi border. Local nobles take up arms as well, and some of the fighting moves into the cities – a rarity in Indian warfare. Aladdin Husain fumes that he will kill every nobleman who had sworn allegiance to the Lodhis.

June 1497: Several Pashtun armies in India commit to the “Lahore Vengeance”, as do many small tribes to the north.

June 1497: Rana Raimal calls his sons and cousins back from their semi-exiles. The Rana rewards them by giving them ministerial control over various domestic affairs – but in following with his advisor Ajja’s counsel, none has power independent of the others. He then sets out to win support among the other Rajput principalities for a “Grand Rajputana Army” under his command.

June 9 - July 23, 1497: The Massacre at Mathura. An ordinary battle turns into a total nightmare as several armies switch sides, and finally, the Monsoon and the ensuing disease kills off most of the remaining soldiers. At least 250,000 die, but rumors spread of 700,000 dead, perhaps in reference to the “Seven Lakh Army.” Among the dead are the Sultan of Berar Fath-Allah, the Sultan of Gujarat, and Sultan of Bengal Aladdin Husain. The Bengali and Berar armies are broken from death and desertions, but the Delhi Sultanate fares even worse. Barbak Shah Lodhi is forced to flee to the north.

July 4, 1497: Rana Raimal recruits soldiers from the last holdout Rajput principality. Most nations are represented only by token forces who fight without the approval of their leader, but Raimal is still fairly justified in his boast that he was done the impossible and united the Rajputs in one month.

July 23, 1497 – January 23, 1498: Guru Nanak Dev, saddened by the suffering at Mathura, spends 6 months meditating on the battlefield, almost motionless even as clergy and workers bury bodies all around him and turn the battlefield into a graveyard.

July 25, 1497: Rana Raimal’s Grand Rajputana Army, which had been quietly watching from a nearby town while the Massacre at Mathura unfolded, finally declare war on the Delhi Sultanate and capture Mathura. The contrast of the repugnant fields of death and decay with the joy of the Mathura people, whose food and water supplies had been running low, will become the subject of art and literature for countless generations.

August 5-15, 1497: The Second Battle of Peshawar spells the end of the Lodhi Dynasty. Barbak dies on the 14th in a blaze of glory, with a desperate final charge in which 80,000 soldiers die.

August 11, 1497: Rana Raimal and marches on Delhi, collecting Rajput and other Hindu vassals along the way. Sultan Sikandar is helpless to defend himself, and Delhi is a Hindi city for the first time in 300 years. In a gesture that no educated Indian could mistake, his son Prithviraj actually leads the troops back into Delhi.

September 1497: Rana Raimal invites all of his sons’ religious teachers to Delhi, and has them jointly coronate him as the Rajamaharana Raimal I of Rajputana and Bhārata. His son Prithviraj is named Raj Prithviraj IV of Delhi.

September 1497: Acting quickly before they can rebuild their troops, Sangramsingh leads a small contingent to conquer the chaotic Bengali Sultanate, while Rawat Sarangdeo leads another contingent of troops into Berar. Otherwise, the armies are sent home to recuperate.

China:

April 1497: The Hongzhi Emperor dispatches invitations to the leaders of several regional kingdoms, and much larger kingdoms, all over Eastern and Central Asia, to come to the imperial palace to celebrate the birth of his second son, Zhu Houcong, and give tribute to the emperor in return for the emperor graciously opening up the imperial palace in two year's time.

Southeast Asia:

Le Thanh Tong leads an attack on Champa and conquers it. {Le Thanh Tong doesn't die.}

Australia:

The leader of the Arrente dies and a new one takes over this time urging consolation with the other tribes as they are part one big family effectively - of the Arrente “Federation”.

At the start of the next trepang season, the first Macassan praus begin to arrive, cautiously, in Marege. Those which land in Yolgnu territory are attacked. Some other tribes, however, react in a friendly fashion. The first stocks of trepang are harvested and returned to Makassar, from where they are traded on to China. However, the land to the south does not yet gain much interest; there are still trepang stocks in Gowan waters, albeit diminishing rapidly, and Marege is too far away and too hostile to yet risk a business venture.

Oceania:

Nan Madol:

Relaying a message from the nahnmwarki to the people, the Nahnken ordered construction to begin on another of the pyramid-like volcanic structures.

North America:

The Nipmucs to the west, theoretically allies to both sides in the Narragansett-Wampanoag conflict, hold back the Narragansett from launching a second great raid. As rumors spread, a couple Massacusett tribes pledge to support the Wampanoag if they are attacked again.

February 1497: Although it taxes their economy, the Susquehanna begin to make a show of strength and expand the trails along the Susquehanna River and up into Haudenosaunee and Wyoming lands. Only a few years ago, the Haudenosaunee Council would have interpreted this as a threat, but in light of recent events, they see that the Susquehanna are silently signaling that they are ready to go in for the kill and split the lands between their two nations.

April 1497: Workers on Great Peacemaker Road begin laying down logs and gravel.

1497 June 21: John Cabot and his fleet find a promising waterway near their original landfall, and split a small group off to explore it while the main fleet follow the coast south.

1497 July 10: Cabot makes contact with the Lenape near the head of a large river he names the Meryk river, after one of his major sponsors. Cabot trades for samples of beaver pelt.

November 1497 – The Mohawk approach the Mohican about broadening the Mohawk Trail so that the Mohicans and Wampanoag can trade more easily with the Haudenosaunee (and, in the lands beyond, the Erie).

An Alibamu chief named in later legends Hassi Locha (Black Grass) convenes a meeting with the Kosaatiha and hammers out what could be described as a defense pact/military alliance. The Albaamaaha and Kosaatiha call up quite a few younger men and launch what comes to be called the Pasaaya (A Loud Noise) on the nearby towns and territories that are not allied to them, often these are just simple enough raids.

[Glen]

1498:

England:

1498 May 10: John Cabot's third journey to Norasia gets a later start compared to his previous journeys.

1498 September 10: Cabot and his ships finally reach England after a rough journey home in which two ships were lost to storms.

France:

1498-1510: King Charles VIII of France dies. He is succeeded by his son, Charles Orlando. A regency is established under his mother, Queen Anne of Brittany. Charles Orlando is tutored by many French humanists in the Renaissance tradition. As Regent, the Queen successfully keeps France out of major conflict, and was able to prepare an acceptable court for her son, the King. When faced with the Burgundian/Anti-Burgundian conflict, the Queen placed France in a neutral position. However, it was well known as to how the French felt should the Burgundians attempt to expand into the French realm. The Queen-Regent's Court was very much a Renaissance Court, as the Queen introduced many new theories to the court, and even wrote a court etiquette manual.

Benelux:

Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian makes Albrecht (the Elector of Saxony) governor of Friesland. The population of Friesland resists this appointment (as they never had a lord because of the traditional Frisian freedom) and are supported by Edzard, the count of East-Frisia, who hopes to add the area around the city of Groningen to his County.

Everhard van der Marck’s troops manage to capture the city of Liege and Johan van Horn. Worried by the prospect of an unfriendly neighbor and encouraged by the prospect of enlargement of his territories, Philip of Burgundy enters Liege with a large force and manages to defeat the troops of Everhard. Everhard is captured in the process. Johan van Horn was restored as bishop, but the county of Loon, which was part of Liege since 1366, would be annexed by Burgundy. Philip was now the count of Loon.

Holy Roman Empire:

Philip, elector count Palatine, gives his daughter Elizabeth in marriage to Frederick III, elector of Saxony. Duke Frederick marries Elizabeth, daughter of Philip the Count Palatine.

Johann of Baden succumbs to an illness.

Oldenburg:

Count Adolph of Oldenburg dies. He is succeeded by John XIV.

Piedmont Region:

1498 Spring:A treaty forming the North Italy Pact is signed.

Milan:

Leonardo da Vinci publishes several treatises on various subjects, including anatomy, mechanical engineering and the mechanics of flight.

Naples:

The King of Naples offers a large sum of gold to Spain in return for the island of Sicily.

Papal States:

A new Duchy of Romagna led by the Pope’s son, Giuffre is pronounced.

Scandinavia:

King Hans issues a declaration which says that every Danish student must commence studies at Copenhagen University for three years before going to study at any foreign University. The Copenhagen University has an excellent staff of professors and has no lack of students.

Ottoman Empire:

1498 Fall: Bayezid embarks on the hajj, dining with regional nobles and notables on the road to Mecca. Bayezid falls ill and dies as he is making his return from completing the hajj. Selim, closest to Constantinople, grabs the throne; most of his brothers are already dead from battle and disease, but Selim orders the death of every surviving brother, save for Korkud, whose loyalty Selim considers to be beyond question.

To mark the coronation, a sailor brings to Constantinople something he has found and wrapped with the greatest of care: a relic he claims is the hand of John the Baptist, found abandoned in a cave.

Sub-Saharan Africa:

The Matamban and Ndongolese kings begin to plan to offer to ally the soon-to-be-united land of Ndongo-Matamba with Kongo and a Ndongolese princess, in return for releasing Ndongo from vassalage.

The Matamban king is killed by a royal guardsman. It is widely thought this is the work of the Princess Isabella and the Catholic Matamban nobility. Regardless, she is crowned "Isabella Ngala," as Queen of the Matambans. She renews the alliance with her father-in-law, now Emmanuel I of Ndongo.

Shortly after her ascension, the Matambans attempt to rebel, demanding the expulsion of the white priests.

Indian Ocean Region:

Vasco Da Gama stops in Mobassa, when he begins to demand trade concessions, the Sultan has him, and his ship thrown out. He then proceeds to Melina where he hires a Pilot for the trip to south India.

Timurid Empire:

January-May, 1498: In a five month orgy of bloodshed and inter-familial violence, Babur dispatches four of his uncles who were involved in the plot to overthrow him to take power for themselves, as well as laying siege to, sacking, and burning many cities, towns, and villages where his uncles held sway among the population. It is said that in several villages high in the mountains, none were left alive to tell the gruesome tale of slaughter to relief expeditions mounted by Babur's uncles, leaving only empty villages filled with frozen corpses in the winter to mark the trail of death and destruction Babur blazed to secure his legitimacy. By the end of May 1498, Babur had killed three of the four uncles involved in the plot, and had driven the last uncle and his pitiful, starving band out of Ferghana and into the Taklamakan Desert in western Turkestan.

June-December 1498: In the wake of his successful quelling of civil insurrection lead by close family members, Babur began to solidify his power base in Farghana in preparation for possible expansion west and south into the areas under the control of Samarkand, as well as Husayn Bayqarah in Herat. However, while Babur's plans for expansion and conquest in line with Timur's founding of the Timurid Empire are realistic and possible, the long term emotional and psychological effects of his struggles to survive on the throne have yet to fully manifest in his outward actions. Within his personal thoughts, however, Babur is beginning to show signs of increasing paranoia and delusions that members of his court are plotting behind his back. These ideas are made apparent in his journal entries of the time, with his repeated paranoid rants that include, "...should my father have been alive, I am sure he would have enjoyed the slaughter of his unfaithful brothers and uncles...there are those within the court who I believe would follow in their footsteps, I will be sure to guard my flanks against any threats to my legitimacy...I will not make the same mistake twice." These paranoid rants will become more and more frequent as the years go by and will seize control over his every waking moment, turning into an obsession that controlled his actions in the decade leading up to his death.

Indian Sub-Continent:

January 1498: Rajamaharana Raimal I launches two major policy initiatives. One is to follow all of the recommendation of Sultan Sikandar’s survey. The other is a tax on all Muslims, akin to the tax that the Sultanate once placed on all non-Muslims.

Heartbroken by the stunning reversal of fortunes, many first-generation Muslims living under Rajamaharana Raimal I move back home. For those who have lived in India for generations, though, relocation hardly seems a viable prospect. These Muslims find consolation in an unlikely source: Royal Guru Nanak Dev. The Great Guru has developed a new form of Hinduism that recognizes many of the most sacred tenets of Islam. From a Guru who was less wise than Nanak Dev, or who had less Royal favor, this might be considered double heresy. Instead, the practice of “Vāhigurū Sikh” spreads rapidly.

1498 May 20: Vasco Da Gama arrives in Calicut, India. Sometimes violent negotiations with the local ruler (usually anglicized as Zamorin), the Wyatt Enourato ensued, in the teeth of resistance from Arab merchants. Eventually Gama was able to gain an ambiguous letter of concession for trading rights, but had to sail off without warning after the Zamorin insisted da Gama leave all his goods as collateral. Vasco da Gama kept his goods, but left a few Portuguese with orders to start a trading post.

Australia:

The Yolgnu convene a meeting, or corroborree, to discuss the issue of 'the invaders'. In their first contact, the Macassans attempted to kidnap three Yolgnu women, sparking a skirmish. The various headmen of the Yolgnu bands agree to a policy of 'total resistance'. They will attempt to drive off the Macassans with a policy of hostile force. A small number of Macassan ships arrive in Marege, but steer clear of the Yolgnu. However, the large profits from their ventures bring the nation to the full attention of merchants in Makassar.

North America:

English fishing fleets begin traveling to the fishing grounds in Norasia discovered by Cabot.

1498 March: Sunflowers begin growing alongside the Great Peacemaker Road. The workers had been eating sunflower seeds in large quantities while working, hence the sprouting flowers. The Haudenosaunee decide to cultivate the roadside plants, so that travelers on the Road will always have an emergency food source.

March, 1498: In response to the threat of the Mohawk, the L'nuk (Micmac) push westward along the Gespedeg ("last acquired") Peninsula and begin intensively scouting and fortifying the borderlands. The Grand Chief of the L'nu has been paying close attention to developments among the Haudenosaunee and gathers with the sakmowk of all seven L'nu districts to decide what to do. They decide to call for a large-scale conference of all five allied nations of the Waponahkiyik Confederacy at their meeting place of Mniku at Pitu'pok.

April, 1498: The Waponahkiyik Confederacy gathers at Mniku to form a stronger alliance, which they all agree upon. It is then that the leaders of the other four nations also take a strong interest in the logographic mnemonic device used by the L'nuk in their learning, and see a potential in it. For the next few months, work will be done developing a crude writing system based on Lnuísimk "hieroglyphics".

During an extended fishing trip, a Manisses party discovers land approximately 12 miles east-southeast of their island, and see it is inhabited by a strange tribe they have never met.

June 1498: After tense negotiations, Stadacona agrees to let the English set up a trading post. They choose a location just upriver from the island on which the major Stadacona settlement lies. It is called Fort Venture, and the mixed English-Iroquoian settlement that develops around it is called "Red Slope (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap-Rouge%2C_Quebec)."

1498 June: John Cabot negotiates with the Lenape to set up a trading post on the island he visited his last trip there. It is named Fort Henry, in honor of the King. Meanwhile, his ships explore up the waterway at the head of the island, encountering another tribe willing to trade, the Mohegans.

[Glen]

1499:

England:

King Henry VII proclaims that no weapon may be sold or traded in Norasia without the recipient pledging loyalty to the English Crown.

1499 February: A revised version of Cabot's map showing more extensive cartography is printed, though the name 'Norasia' remains.

Saxony:

Elizabeth bears her first son, christened Ernest Frederick. Frederick of Saxony dotes on his young wife, and his son. Meanwhile his brother John is considering joining the Teutonic order.

Naples:

King Alphonso of Naples commissions a fleet of ten carracks and five caravels.

King Alphonso agrees to open ports and enter a exclusive trade agreement with the Hanseatic league.

A school for engineering, history, philosphy, law and natural philosphy is established in Messina.

Scandinavia:

1499 May 29: Hans' son Christian is recognized as heir to the throne of Sweden (and the Union).

The Ditmarschen support the Archbishop of Bremen in conflict with King Hans and plunder Ejdersted. In reparations King Hans demand 15000 marks and right to build three castles in Ditmarschen.

Eastern Europe:

Russia and Livonia go to war over demands for back taxes and the closing of the Hansa office in Novgorod.

Ivan’s daughter Helena, Alexander of Poland/Lithuania comes to visit him and try and talk him out of attacking her husband, instead offering to sell a portion of the lands that Ivan claimed where Russian and also promising not to intervene in any war with Livonia and in exchange they would get Courland and Semigallia.

Russia contacts the Kalmar Union about a partition of Livonia. It is decided that the Union will take Estonia, but Estonia will be added onto the Duchy of Finland, ruled by Duke Sten Sture, under the sovereignty of the Kalmar Union.

Ivan proposes leaving the port city of Riga semi-autonomous to enable trade throughout the region, but under the influence of Russia.

Maghreb:

The Kel Ahaggar and Kel Aijer tribes end the fighting against each other and instead agree to work together to take advantage of the gold reserves; a very small tax was put on the gold.

Sub-Saharan Africa:

Mbanza Ngoyo, the Ngoyolese capital, is captured, along with its king. The victorious Ndongolese and Matamban forces present the king and captured treasures to King Emmanuel of Ndongo at the Ndongolese capital of Kabasa. King Emmanuel proclaims Diego and Isabella as 'Lords of the Ngoyolese'.

Prince João-Baptista of Ndongo, Son of King Emmanuel, sets off for Europe aboard Portuguese ships, along with Queen Isabella of Matamba's uncle, Prince Fernando-Kiluanje of Matamba.

Timurid Empire:

Plans are finalized by Babur and his trusted generals to march on Samarkand and kill off his greatest perceived rival, Muhammad Shaybani, khan of the Uzbeks. These plans are part of a greater strategy put together by Babur and his generals to first regain control of Samarkand, then to march on Herat and Kabul, seizing control over the largest cities of the Afghan area, and setting Babur up for an eventual march on Baluchistan or Persia, depending on what he feels would be the better option.

China:

The imperial renovation of the Badaling section of the Great Wall, just north of the capital city of Beijing, has become an effort of pride for many of the imperial workers. It is said that when the final stone was laid down atop the guard tower to the far eastern zone of the Badaling section in early January, a single cherry blossom landed atop the tower on the last stone placed. This symbolic event, while most probably just a myth, shows the great promise of prosperity and hope that the Hongzhi Emperor brought to the Chinese people.

Japan:

The Ainu, recognizing the increasing inability of the Shogunate to maintain control, launch offensives into Mutsu and Dewa provinces. Towns are raided and prisoners are taken. The Shogunate responds with a plan for a campaign to drive the Ainu out. However, regional lords in Mutsu and Dewa are the ones who show the initiative, recognizing the ineffectiveness of the Shogunate.

The Akita clan of northern Dewa and the Nambu clan of northern Mutsu each gather an army to repel the Ainu warriors and 'drive them north into the sea'. Forming an alliance, they move swiftly and aggressively to rebuff the threat. By the end of the year, the combined armies have forced the Ainu back as far as the Oga peninsula.

A Ryukyuan merchant fleet is forced ashore on Taiwan by bad weather, where they are forced to stay for several days after many of their ships are wrecked in the storm. The merchants attempt to trade with the local aborigines for the resources they need to repair their ships, but after apparently violating a local law some of the sailors are attacked by the locals and a violent skirmish ensues, ending with the slaughter of many of the sailors. Survivors flee in what ships can be salvaged and return to Ryukyu. Upon hearing of the news, Ryukyuan king Sho shin vows revenge.
He commissions an embassy to China requesting that Ming authorities bring the restless natives to justice.

Southeast Asia/Australasia:

Vietnam begins a period of settlement in the new Champas region.

Following a particularly good trading year (perhaps sparked by what is happening in Brunei), the ruler of Sulu proposes to the ruler of Maguindanao that the two groups should cooperate in trading with the Chinese who come to the north islands, the better to profit from them. The offer is turned down, at least for the moment.

This year sees a massive rise in the number of Macassan ships arriving off the coast of Marege. The Gunbalang nation, willing to cooperate with the newcomers, sign a treaty with Macassan fishermen: in exchange for trade goods, they will provide labour for the Macassans and allow the construction of temporary camps on their land. Some other Aboriginal tribes follow suit; most others, however, remain cautiously indifferent.

Three praus (Macassan fishing ships) attempt to fish in Yolgnu waters. They are attacked by Yolgnu fishermen. Over two dozen Macassans are killed, and their boats are destroyed.

North America:

Over a year after the original gathering, the Waponahkiyik Confederacy meets at the largest settlement of the Abenaki, Norrigewock, to sign their first written constitution, outlining a stronger political alliance between the five nations that elects a representative government similar to the Haudenosaunee.

August 1499: Great Peacemaker Road is complete.

December 1499: Border skirmishes break out along the Wyoming Valley.

[Glen]

1500:

Great Britain:

England and Scotland agree to a treaty of peace, with Mary Rose Tudor promised in marriage to James IV of Scotland.

England:

1500 Summer: Prince Arthur of England falls ill, suffering from sweating spells. He has a long but full recovery. During his convalescence, he wiles away the time reading through the newest edition of Le Morte D'Arthur.

Prince João-Baptista visits England, travelling with a Portuguese diplomatic delegation. Most of the English find him exotic, but keep their distance. An exception is young Prince Arthur, who still convalescing from his prolonged illness, spends much time with the visiting prince and is entranced by his tales of the jungle lands of Africa.

Spain:

1500 Summer: Prince João-Baptista is received briefly with the Spanish Court. The Spanish are somewhat impressed with his show of piety, though many have difficulty seeing him as much more than a dark Moor.

Juan and Margaret's first son, Ferdinand, is born.

Using the gold which they received from the sale of Sicily to Naples, the Spanish outfit Columbus with a moderately-sized flotilla, instructing him to sail to the new world. Columbus sets out, planning to map the Caribbean.

Building on the cores of veterans from the reconquista and the campaign against the Mameluke, Spain begins expanding it's army and navy. Though they will have great success in both these areas, Spain's financial situation will worsen greatly as a result.

Portugal:

{Bartholomeu Dias’ ship is not wrecked off the coast of the Cape of Good Hope.}

1500 April: HRH Prince João-Baptista arrives at the Portugese Court.

Negotiations with England on the issue of a new wife for Manoel I come to a close as they agree that Manoel I will marry Margaret Tudor in 1502.

Pedro Alvares Cabral sets sail for India, there are no problems in the voyage. Cabral, using his superior weapons and soldiers, manages to get trading concessions out of the rulers of Sofala (Mozambique), Kilwa (Tanzania), and Melinde (Kenya). Cabral then arrives in India. The larger amount of ships allows for him to make demands upon the ports he arrives at. Calicut and Cochin accept trading agreements, but Calicut is displeased with the actions of the Portuguese while Cochin warmly welcomes the Portuguese.

Holy Roman Empire:

In 1500, Maximilian I finds his newly acquired Emperorship already slipping away as the southern parts of the Empire, Switzerland and Tyrol, begin to seem out of hand. Frustrated, he orders one of his generals to take 4,500 men to the border of the Swiss Confederacy, while he himself takes a larger army into Tyrol. In Tyrol, he allows his troops to do as they please, something which alienates the locals - soon what little support he had in that region is evaporating, and the Tyrolians are calling for Switzerland to come to their aid. At the same time, Heinrich Schneider is getting out of hand, acquiring more and more support, while at the same time becoming more and more extreme in his views. When he issues a sermon that seems highly critical of the local bishop, and that sermon is greeted by cheers from a huge crowd, the bishop and the conventional clergy begin to become nervous. As some low ranking priests begin to join Heinrich Schneider in his views, his support within the local nobility begins to weaken. However, by that point he no longer needs that support - on November 14th 1500, soldiers are sent to arrest him under the orders of the city government. The soldiers arrive at the church he was in, and are met by a huge crowd. They say that they were sent to get Father Schneider and bring him to speak to the city government, but the crowd does not believe them. As they nervously hesitate, the inspiration of the crowd speaks - he calls for the Restoration of the Church to the position of moral purity that it had once had. The crowd listens, and rapidly becomes a mob - it attacks the soldiers, killing many of them, and in moments the survivors are in flight.

While the revolt in Wien is by no means widespread, it does take control of the city - when the followers of Father Schneider seem certain to triumph over the garrison, a large portion of the garrison switches sides.

Hearing of the situation in Wien, Maximilian I is caught indecisive - he hesitates for a week, then orders most of his army in the Tyrol back to the north, to besiege Wien. He himself joins that force, and ensures that it consists of most of his best troops.

Burgundy:

In Ghent the first son of Philip of Burgundy is born, he is named Charles named after his greatgrandfather Charles the Bold.

In light of the events in Liege Charles of Egmond (duke of Guelders), Jan of Cleve (Duke of Cleves/Mark) and Wilhelm of Julich-Berg meet in Arnhem to create an alliance as a counterbalance against Burgundy. At this meeting are also representatives of Frisia and of Oversticht. The bishop of Utrecht (Frederick of Baden), who is a strong supporter of Burgundy, was not amused the representation of oversticht, which belongs to his Bishopric.
Charles of Egmond had tried to add Rene, the Duke of Lorraine, who was married to his sister, to this alliance, but even though he was sympathetic, he was not interested in joining.

Trier:

1500: Jacob of Baden is appointed to the bishopric held by his uncle. His tenure is unremarkable and brief, clouded with accusations of nepotism.

Saxony:

Frederick, duke of Ernestine Saxony, founds a University at Wittenberg, at which a young miner's son named Martin Luther will study and teach cannon law and theology.

Italian Peninsula:

Gian Galeazzo Sforza dies from sickness. He is succeeded by his son Francesco Sforza as tititular Duke of Milan. His mother Isabella of Naples hold the real power as regent. Milan and Naples move much closer together due to their bloodline relations.


1500 Summer: HRH Prince João-Baptista is granted a brief audience with His Holiness the Pope.

Prince Alphonso of Naples has a boy with his wife Maria Christina. He is named Philip.

Leonardo Da Vinci moves to Messina to become a professor at the Messina Academy. He teaches a wide variety of subjects including engineering, anatomy and natural philosophy.

Muscovy:

Upon hearing of the letter the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire sent to the Pope, Spain and Naples proposing being crowned Caesar as a successor to Rome, Ivan writes the Following to the Sultan:

To Selim Ibn-Bayezid Sultan of the Ottoman Empire,

I must object to your claim as the successor to Rome, and appeal that this coronation does not go through as I, Tsar Ivan III claim this title based on my marriage to Zoe Palaiologina (Sophia Paleologue) niece of Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos. I demand that I be recognized as such, my son Vasili be placed as Co-Regent of Constantinople, and you impose strict restrictions on your vassal the Meñli I Giray, Khan of Crimea in his raids for slaves. In return, I will support your title as Caesar of the Mohammedans as long as my Son Vasili (and his descendants) remains as Co-Regent.

Tsar Ivan III

Egypt:

The Shia of Egypt flee in two major directions, and one minor direction. Most emigrate to Persia, some others head to Mamluk North Africa in the hopes of finding favorable rulers there, and a few families head deeper into Africa.

Subsaharan Africa:

Ndongo:

King Emmanuel I dies, and is succeeded by his son as "Diego I Ngola," King of the Ndongolese. The Macota, parallel to a European 'privy council', arrange with Matamban lords to have him crowned Ngola a Matamba, as well. His wife, however, the current queen-regnant refuses to surrender her power. The Matamban lords are outraged at her refusal to follow the traditions of marriage and of past Matamban queen-regnants; and they lead an uprising against her. She is imprisoned in Kabasa, while her husband is crowned king of the Matambans. She is released weeks after his coronation, and settles down as the royal consort. Few Matambans remain supportive of her cause.

Akkoyunlu (Mesopotamia/Persia):

1500 January 1: Safaviyeh's young leader, Ismail, is assassinated by a rival within the Sufi sect. Rumor has it that he was paid to do so by the Akkoyunlu, who were concerned about their strident brand Shi'a destabilizing their rule. Whether true or not, history has no doubt that this benefited the Akkoyunlu as the Safaviyeh were thrown into a intercine strife that would tear the movement apart in mere years.

Timurid Empire:

April 20, 1500: One week after the spring campaigning season opened, Babur lead an army of 27,000 men, mostly Mongol horsemen, footmen, archers, and a handful of men who wielded crude muskets who were either veterans of his campaigns two years prior to eliminate his disloyal relatives and members of the so-called, "cabal," or men who served under his relative's banners and came to his army instead, in an effort to bring Samarkand under his control.

On April 20, 1500, on the hills and grasslands outside of Samarkand, Babur engaged in combat against an army of equal or greater strength lead by his chief adversary, Muhammad Shaybani, khan of the Uzbeks. In a struggle lasting most of the day, no less than 65,000 men engaged in battle. The fight between Babur and Shaybani became a hand to hand struggle late in the day when the sun was beginning to set in the west. It is said that when Shayabani drew a bag of gunpowder to throw at the feet of Babur's horse, he proclaimed, "No man claiming lineage from the great Genghis Khan would stoop to such lows to secure victory!" With one swift motion, Babur removed the head of Shaybani with his sword, letting it fall to the ground, mouth still agape, before stabbing the head, raising it in the air, and screaming at the top of his lungs to the still battling armies, "Look how your bastard half-khan has faired in battle!"

While most did not bother to pay attention, within hours of this disasterous turn of events, the army of Muhammad Shaybani dissolved under the directed pressures of Babur's repeated cavalry charges and cleaver use of his small number of musket armed men in tangent with archers to scare the enemy horses as well as drive gaping holes in their defenses.

It is said that as day turned to night and as the forces of Shaybani either fled to the hills or surrendered to Babur's army, the crescent moon rose over the cupola of the Bibi-Khanym Mosque, built by Timur in 1404. With this, Babur declared, "It is the will of Timur and the past leaders of the Mongol people that I should have this day as mine to celebrate this glorious victory!"

Afterwards, Babur entered the Bibi-Khanym Mosque, and prayed for the first, and only, time in his life. Close advisors to Babur would claim in later decades that his prayers were only of one thing, that Allah would bless his armies in all their campaigns in the future and would see fit that it would be his rule from a throne in Samarkand that would be the litigating factor in Earthly politics with his authority answerable only to the will of Allah and the will of Timur.

The last effort which Babur undertook on this day was to take the severed head of Muhammad Shaybani and place it in a box of salt to keep it safe and remind him of what must be done to secure that which he wanted most, power.

May-December 1500: In the wake of his successful capture of Samarkand, Babur's securing of his domain takes a brutal toll on the subjects of Samarkand who still held loyalty to the fallen Khan, Muhammad Shaybani. Those who refused to submit to Babur's authority, most of whom were more wealthy landowners, were killed outright, without any warning. The family of those landowners killed had their familial rights of inheritence stripped of them, their wealth was taken, and their land and wealth was distributed amongst the peasant farmers who lived on and worked the land, some for generations on end. Finally, the bodies of the landowners were decapitated, the heads placed on pikes outside their homes and their bodies thrown to wild animals to be devoured as a warning to all those who would oppose his domain over the lands.

These actions may be seen as being revolutionary for the time, however Babur carried with him alternate motives. He needed a strong power base in Samarkand and the surrounding regions to have legitimacy in his rule, and to eliminate any future threats from the peasantry. With the peasantry behind him, the greater majority by numbers, the elites would have little choice but to fall in line and agree with his rule.

With the placating of Samarkand by the end of 1500, Babur began planning his next moves: The conquests of Herat and Kabul.

Indian Subcontinent:

1500 June: Repairs are finished in the battle-scarred areas of Bhārata. Work still continues, however, on a monument at the Mathura Battlefield. Raimal has made a daunting request – the monument must rejoice in how the Muslim nations’ misfortunes allowed the Rajputs to rise to prominence, but also reflect the sadness of the great loss of life; it must commemorate the Great Guru’s now-famous meditation, but not imply that the empire endorses any particular religion.

Pedro Álvares Cabral arrives in Calicut, and finding that those at the trading post had been murdered, and encountering further resistance, bombards Calicut. After, he sails south of Calicut to reach Cochin, a small kingdom where he was given a warm welcome. He also brought back silk and gold to prove he had been to India once again.

Australia:

The fifth year since the discovery of Marege sees the largest fleet of praus exploring Marege's waters yet. Amongst these is a pearling fleet, which explores the coast of Kai Djawa, setting up temporary pearling camps along the coast. The local Aboriginal people are cautious, but avoid conflict.

In Marege, more Aboriginal tribes sign treaties with the Macassan invaders, allowing for the construction of trepanging camps on their land for up to six months at a time. The people of Marege not only provide labour for the Macassans but also supply tortoise-shell, pearls and pearl-shell. Tribute payments are made as well to local Aboriginal groups for the right to fish in their waters. In exchange, the people of Marege obtain dugout canoes with sails and stone anchors, bronze fish hooks, harpoons with detachable heads, iron, iron knives and axes, glass, pipes, cloth in the form of calico and wool, belts, beads, string, alcohol and some foods. In some cases, local leaders are taken back to Makassar, where they are paraded before the karaeng.

East Asia:

Death of Emperor Go-tsuchimikado. He is succeeded by Emperor Go-kashiwabara. By now the imperial court is in such financial ruin that they can't even afford a burial for the late Emperor befitting his divine status.

Following the reply of the Ming Emperor to the Ryukyuan requests of 1497, Ryukyuan naval and land forces embark for Taiwan to contribute to the occupation of that island. Since the incident that sparked the tensions (two years since the Ming reply), the Ryukyuan navy has been expanded to a size able to protect Ryukyuan interests.

At the death of the Japanese Emperor Go-tsuchimikado, and the subsequent ascension of the Emperor Go-kashiwabara, Ryukyuan King Sho shin commissions an embassy of tribute to sponsor improved relations with the secondary trading partner of the archipelago kingdom. The Japanese Imperial court is very pleasantly surprised at the lavishness of the Ryukyuan embassy, and express their wishes for closer ties between the two nations.

Ryukyuan King Sho shin has increased royal influence across the archipelago, expanding the army and placing outposts on all major islands north to south. Previously Ryukyu had been very Okinawa-centric. The Taiwan incident has changed that thinking.

North America:

Norasia:

A Manisses lookout spots a strange cloud formation on the horizon, moving seemingly against the wind straight for his island. As it comes closer, he can see it appears to be more of a moving mountain than a cloud formation. He runs and alerts the chief, who meets a smaller boat that comes ashore on the crescent beach. He has met the Cabot-led English Fleet.

1500-1502:

John Cabot, accompanied by his son, Sebastian, sets out for his most ambitious journey yet with a small fleet. Cabot intends to sail south until he finds China.

The early part of the journey goes smoothly as the fleet retraces the route of previous journeys down the coast of Norasia. They discover a major bay to the South, making note and heading further south. Eventually, they find that their journey South is ended without hitting China. Determined, John Cabot continues hugging the coast and finds that they have rounded a peninsula. Heading west now along the continental coast, they find a large river rivaling the Meryk, but still no clear sign of the wonders of China. Eventually the coast curves to the south once more. Finally, they begin to encounter a complex civilization that John Cabot believes could be China. However, they possess no silk nor porcelain, and use sharp obsidian glass rather than steel. Eventually, they reluctantly decide that this can not be China. Obsessed, Cabot pushes the crews further South until they need to make repairs after a tropical storm. Some of the crew, including young Sebastian, take the opportunity to explore inland. To their surprise, they discover another ocean, which Sebastian Cabot names after the Prince of Wales, the Arthurian Ocean. John Cabot comes to believe that they are on another peninsula, and they attempt to round it, but the land curves away to the East. After several hundreds of miles, John Cabot reluctantly admits that they are not in Asia, and that China must still lie beyond yet another continent and possibly even another ocean. Reluctantly, the ships turn back. John Cabot dies of fever on the long journey back, and his son takes command, leading them back. Eventually, they return to England, with incredible tales and exotic trade goods and much more complete charts of the New World, but still no route to China.

1500 January: The Haudenosaunee warriors generally outclass the Wyoming in battle, but the winter forces them to retreat.

March 1500: Encouraged by the Stadacona's excellent relationship with the English, the Hochelega eagerly allow a trading post near their settlement. The crew quickly settles on a magnificent natural harbor (http://www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca/plaque/horizon/eng/ruptura.htm). It is originally known as Fall Line, for being located as far inland as any oceangoing ship can reach. Later, when word of John Cabot's death reaches the crew, they change the name to Cabot Harbor.

1500 September: The Cayuga and Onondaga fortify their camps in the Wyoming Valley. These are the beginnings of the towns of Wagyeh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilkes-Barre,_Pennsylvania) and Swadyeh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scranton,_Pennsylvania). The population growth in the homelands ensures that these camps are well populated from the beginning.

1500 December: The Susquehanna attack the Wyoming from the south while the Cayuga and Onondaga attack from their fortified camps. The Wyoming are expelled. Most bands flee deep into the western mountains, but some become absorbed into the Susquehanna and Haudenosaunee settlements; these people become known as the Scahentoarrhonons. The Susquehanna in particular make use of them to populate the burgeoning farm belt just south of the Wyoming Valley.

[Glen]

1501:

England:

1501 August: Arthur Prince of Wales marries Catherine of Aragon.

Navarre:

John and Catherine's first son, christened Andres Febo DAlbrett, is born.

Portugal:

Cabral returns to Portugal with 11 of his 13 ships. Richly laden and richly rewarded by King Manoel.

1501 March: Prince João-Baptista returns to Portugal, and travels by land to meet their Catholic Majesties of Spain.

Holy Roman Empire:

With the threatened loss of Wien, Maximilian is interested in settling the matters to the South at any cost. However, the news becomes worse as many parts of the County of Tyrol join in the revolt that has spread from Brixen. The Swiss forces in the area are by and large greeted warmly by the peasantry. When the forces left behind by Emperor Maximilian faced the Swiss in open battle, it would prove a disaster for this part of the Empire. Though initially the small contingent of artillery and guns with the Imperial forces slowed the Swiss onslaught, a poorly guarded flank were their undoing as the Swiss were able to get into the Imperial lines and throw them into disarray, leading to the capture of the artillery and the utter destruction of Maximilian's forces. Left with the choice of widening the war or cutting his losses, Maximilian decides narrowly on negotiating.

1501 June 3: The Treaty of Basal is signed by the Holy Roman Empire and the Swiss Confederacy. Swiss de facto independence is now recognized de jure. It allows for the new Tyrolean League (including the City of Brixen and the alpine section of Gorizia) to enter association with the Swiss Confederation as well as the host city of Basal, that had been agitating for such an association over the past several years. The remains of the Archbishopric of Brixen and Gorizia are confirmed as direct possessions of Habsburg, and the Swiss and its associated Tyrolean League foreswear any future claims to them. Though the Swiss gain their political independence, they are required by the treaty to side with the Holy Roman Empire and Habsburg in any conflict with France. In addition, the Swiss are pledged to provide captains and training cadre for a new Habsburg army being built, in an attempt to address the deficiencies so recently demonstrated in the war, that would be known to Swiss history as the War of Swiss Independence, or the Tyrolean Campaign in the Holy Roman Empire.

Baden:

The cities in Oversticht start to resist the rule of Frederick of Baden (Bishop of Utrecht) more and more. The bishop sends a small armed force to Oversticht to enforce his rule.

Saxony:

Henry Wettin, second son of duke Albert of Saxony, makes pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem. Though he is impressed with the Holy City and the Rhodean knights, Rome is another matter.

Italian Peninsula:

King Alphonso claims that Pope Alexander VI is interfering with the secular affairs of Naples. He uses this as a pretext for and invasion of the Papal States.

Start of the Venetian-Genovese War.

Ottoman Empire:

Emperor Selim orders that Bulgaria begin shipping large quantities of nails and hemp (for rope) to the shipyards in Galata and Gallipoli. In addition, he demands a large number of Roman-style shortswords be delivered to Constantinople. In the shipyards of the Empire, construction begins on more ships to supplement the ones presently at port and those on patrol.

1501 March: Sultan Selim of the Ottoman Empire sends one of his sisters (still in her early twenties) to the Khan of the Krimea, in appreciation for Krimea's loyalty.

1501 Late April: Sultan Selim of the Ottoman Empire sends an embassy (led by his older sister, who's in her early or mid thirties) to the lord of the White Sheep Turks, with the intention of opening relations between the White Sheep and Ottoman Turks.

1501 Late: Selim writes the following to the Tsar:

"To Ivan (third of your name) III Vasilevich (Иван III Васильевич), Tsar of the Rus’ and Tsar of conquered peoples of the North,

I confess I am confused. You state that you will allow me the title “Caesar of the Muslims,” yet refuse to recognize me as “Caesar” and refuse to recognize the very successor nature of my capital, founded by Emperor Constantine himself?"

Holy Land:

The Grand Commandry of the Rhodeans in Jerusalem is officially established. Over time, this will grow into one of the major Hospitaler commandries in the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa:

1501 Spring: Prince Emmanuel is born to King Diego and his queen. The King creates him Duke of Benguela. The Queen dies shortly after giving birth. A Catholic Matamban lord is created "Viceroy of Matamba," by King Diego.

1501 Summer: Portuguese missionaries from Ndongo are sent back into Matamba by King Diego, and meet a less forceful resistance from the Matambans. The Ndongolese seminary is finished. King Diego declares all Ndongolese must begin to learn Portuguese. A handful of Ndongolese lords complain.

1501 Fall: King Diego I marries a converted daughter of the Kongolese king, the Princess Maria. The King's brother, Prince Sebastião, is sent to conquer the Jaga Casangi in the southwest.

Indian Subcontinent:

Several Ethiopians travel with Arab traders and arrive in South India and begin hiring ship builders.

Following the collapse of the Deccan Sultanates north of the Vijayanagara Empire, the empire had sent troops north to resolve some border issues. In the west this brought the border to Mumbaiand followed Mountain ridges and the Rivers [Godavari] and other defensible landmarks east. The empire begins constructing a series of forts along the new border.

China:

With the improvements of the Great Wall continuing unhindered and the situation on Taiwan resolved, the Hongzhi Emperor took it upon himself to begin dealing with something which had plagued his father and grandfather before him for nearly a century, the Manchu peoples. While the Manchu peoples were considered a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty and supplied the Ming armies with a good percentage of their war horses via trading posts, the increasing sinification of the Jurchen people, the native Manchu population was causing issues for some of the local tribal leaders. The growing political and economic clout of the Ming was beginning to disturb Sibeoci Fiyanggū, the chieftain of the Jurchen people. Sibeoci Fiyanggū was of the Odoli Clan, a people located on the banks of the Hun River, who were known for their horsemanship and skill with a bow and arrow. Fiyanggū could claim lineage from Genghis Khan, giving him legitimacy among many of the tribes of Jurchen who practiced their nomadic lifestyles unchanged for many centuries.

By 1501, Fiyanggū's people were becoming a minority. Migrations into Manchu lands by non-Jurchen peoples, specifically ethnic Han Chinese, were becoming much more frequent and were forcing many clans off ancient tribal claims to pasturage that were the only source of food for their animals. Many of the pastures taken over by Han Chinese migrating into Manchuria were turned into farms to feed families, and to send food to markets in the south, leaving the native Manchus with a shrinking area of untilled land in which to practice their ages old lifestyle of moving from field to field with their livestock, stopping only to sleep.

Another troubling trend among younger Jurchens was a trend to give up their nomadic lifestyles and take up sedentary lives as farmers, or worse, move into North China and set up trading posts to make a profit. It was with this trend, began only three years prior in the lands of the Ming, that Sibeoci Fiyanggū came to the conclusion that this was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Before the end of the year, Sibeoci Fiyanggū would draw many neighboring Jurchen tribes, as well as other Manchu tribes, into an alliance to drive the Han Chinese out of their lands, and reclaim their lands rather than letting them fall into the hands of the settled Chinese.

East Asia:

Ryukyuan troops and government officials complete a cartographic survey of Taiwan.

Australia:

The Yolgnu begin to form an anti-Macassan alliance. Their stolen ships prove useful as a bargaining tool, as technology can be used as a means for securing allies. They begin to engage in acts of piracy off the coast of Marege, attacking Macassan sailors, taking their ships, and killing their crews.

Norasia (North America):

1501 February: The Susquehanna, hearing from their southern brethren about the good trade to be had at the south of the bay, send a few of their largest canoes along the coast to the Powhatan shores

1501 March: Noting the difficulty of casting canoes from the shore, the Susquehanna mimic some of their neighbors and build a crude dock so that the canoes do not have to start in the shallows.

1501 Spring: The Waponahkiyik, having witnessed the strange "sea monsters" off the coast, sends messengers to the Haudenosee seeking a mutual trade and defense pact.

1501 April: The first Native-European marriage takes place in Red Slope. Stories claims the ceremony is mostly Catholic, but the priest accords great respect to "the curious customs of these Eden-like people." Some attribute the marriage ceremony to the legendary figure called 'Brother John'. The Stadacona woman takes on the name Rebecca, while the Englishman takes on the name Karaken ('white one').

1501 August: The Haudenosaunee agree to the Waponahkiyik pact, and send a group of diplomats to live amongst them as a show of their loyalty. The group is led by a young woman named Hurit who (according to tradition) is Hiawatha's granddaughter.

[Glen]

1502:

England:

Vanilla is an instant hit in England when the Cabot Expedition returns with samples from a place called Cempoala. More missions are planned in future.

Spain:

Their Catholic majesties begin a policy of favoring the Castilian and Aragonese towns at the expense of the great nobles. Thus begins the rise of the communeros.

Portugal:

King Manoel I marries Margaret Tudor of England.

King Manoel I begins expanding the shipyards and the size of Portugal’s trading fleet and navy.