1444
Battle of Varna
The last real crusade, under young King Wladyslaw III of Poland and Hungary, was crushed by Sultan Murad II on the Black Sea coast. Wladyslaw, charging the sultan's tent, was decapitated and his head paraded on a pike. The Ottomans' path to Constantinople was now clear of European armies. The young king had broken a peace treaty, and his death was seen as divine punishment, further discrediting crusading warfare.
Company of Lagos Buys African Slaves
Portuguese merchants formed the first organized commercial company to trade in West African captives, with Prince Henry as a silent partner taking a royal fifth. The auction in Lagos that August was attended by Portuguese courtiers and local farmers. The bureaucratic infrastructure of the Atlantic slave trade had been built.
Sejong Creates Korean Water Clock
King Sejong's brilliant court engineer Jang Yeong-sil built the Jagyeongnu, an automated water clock that struck the hours, displayed visual time markers, and operated entirely through hydraulic mechanisms without any human intervention. It was the most sophisticated automated timekeeper in the world outside of Chinese imperial workshops, and a striking testament to Joseon Korea's extraordinary scientific ambitions under Sejong's restless and methodical patronage of practical knowledge.
Cape Verde Islands Sighted by Portuguese
Dinis Dias reached the westernmost point of Africa at Cap-Vert near modern Dakar, and within two years Portuguese sailors would sight the uninhabited Cape Verde archipelago lying far out in the Atlantic. The islands would become a crucial waystation for the Atlantic slave trade and for ships bound south toward Brazil and the Indian Ocean passage. Portugal's maritime network was steadily acquiring its oceanic skeleton, island by island and headland by headland.
Truce of Tours
England and France signed a truce including Henry VI's marriage agreement to Margaret of Anjou. The war's final phase was temporarily suspended. Both kingdoms were exhausted; Henry's government was weak; the Dauphinists had recovered most of France. The truce would eventually give way to final French offensives in Normandy and Guyenne.