- Rise of Modern English language from Middle English.
- Introduction of the noon bell in the Catholic world.
- Public banks
- Scotch whisky
- Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press in Europe (c. 1455).
- 1492: Christopher Columbus founds Spain's first New World colony on Hispaniola.
- 1497-1499: Vasco da Gama's first voyage from Europe to India and back.
- Age of Discovery begins.
