page_title: 15th century
section_title: Inventions, discoveries, introductions
hierarchical_section_title: 15th century / Inventions, discoveries, introductions
caption_attribution_description: English: Anonymous portrait of Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468), dated 1440
context_page_description: The 15th century was the century which spans the Julian years 1401 to 1500.
  In Europe, the 15th century is seen as the bridge between the Late Middle Ages, the Early Renaissance, and the early modern period.
  Many technological, social and cultural developments of the 15th century can in retrospect be seen as heralding the "European miracle" of the following centuries. The architectural perspective and the field which is known today as accounting were founded in Italy.
  Constantinople, known as the Capital of the World and the Capital of the Byzantine Empire, falls to the emerging Muslim Ottoman Turks, marking the end of the tremendously influential Byzantine Empire and, for some historians, the end of the Middle Ages. This led to the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy, while Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the mechanical movable type began the printing press. These two events played key roles in the development of the Renaissance. The Roman Papacy was split in two parts in Europe for decades, until the Council of Constance.
context_section_description: List of 15th century inventions
  Renaissance affects philosophy, science and art.
  Rise of Modern English language from Middle English.
  Introduction of the noon bell in the Catholic world.
  Public banks
  Yongle Encyclopedia—over 22,000 volumes
  Hangul alphabet in Korea
  Scotch whisky
  Psychiatric hospitals
  Development of the woodcut for printing between 1400–1450
  Movable type first used by King Taejong of Joseon—1403 (Movable type, which allowed individual characters to be arranged to form words, was invented in China by Bi Sheng between 1041 and 1048.)
  Although pioneered earlier  in Korea and by the Chinese official Wang Zhen (with tin), bronze metal movable type printing is created in China by Hua Sui in 1490.
  Johannes Gutenberg advances the printing press in Europe (c. 1455)
  Linear perspective drawing perfected by Filippo Brunelleschi 1410–1415
  Invention of the harpsichord c. 1450
  Arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas in 1492
caption: Johannes Gutenberg
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