1446 CE
A year in which Ottoman forces launched major campaigns against Skanderbeg's Albania and the Peloponnese, Gutenberg's printing experiments in Mainz advanced toward completion, Portuguese exploration continued along the African coast, and the political foundations of England's Wars of the Roses continued to form.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- The Korean court under King Sejong the Great continued its cultural and scientific achievements, with the recently promulgated Hangul alphabet gradually being adopted for use alongside Chinese characters.
Conflict & Security
- Ottoman forces launched a major invasion of Albania, besieging Skanderbeg's fortress of Kruja, but were once again repelled by the Albanian defenders who exploited their mountainous terrain.
- Murad II led an Ottoman campaign into the Peloponnese, breaking through the Hexamilion wall at the Isthmus of Corinth and devastating the Byzantine despotate of the Morea.
Technology & Infrastructure
- Gutenberg's printing technology continued to advance in Mainz, with the development of improved type-casting techniques and press mechanisms bringing the system closer to commercial production.
Science & Discovery
- Portuguese mariners continued their incremental exploration of the West African coast under the direction of Prince Henry the Navigator, charting new stretches of coastline and establishing trading contacts.
Climate & Environment
- Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was approximately 272 parts per million, as later confirmed by ice core analysis.
Culture & Society
- Donatello continued work on his bronze equestrian statue of Gattamelata in Padua, a monumental project that would become the first large-scale equestrian monument since Roman antiquity upon its completion in the early 1450s.
- The estimated world population was approximately 409 million, with demographic growth continuing at varying rates across the inhabited regions of Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas.