1493

Glen

Moderator
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. 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.

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, 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. 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

Moderator
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

Moderator
1495

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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.
 
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