Born ThenLife in the 15th century
Be born somewhere between 1400 and 1499, weighted by real births, and live five lives from that year on.
The numbers
The world had about 425 million people around the middle of the 15th century. Life expectancy at birth was near 25 years, mostly because so many children died; people who reached adulthood often lived into their fifties or sixties. About 5% could read and 8% lived in towns. Most births happened in North India (15%), South China (14%), South India and Sri Lanka (8%), North China (8%), West Africa (5%).
All numbers before 1800 are modelled from long-run population and life-expectancy estimates by region. How it works
What happened
- Indian Ocean slave trade 700–1799
- Rise of Great Zimbabwe 1200–1450
- Hundred Years' War 1337–1453
- Return of the plague 1360–1400
- Conquests of Timur 1381–1405
- Fall of Constantinople 1453
- Sengoku period 1467–1590
- Expulsion of the Jews from Spain 1492
- Collapse of the Taíno population 1493–1530