Late Middle Ages · East Asia · Technology
1404
Yongle Emperor Orders Forbidden City Construction
1404
Zhu Di commanded a million conscripts and one hundred thousand artisans to begin building a vast palace complex in Beijing that would house Ming and Qing emperors for five centuries. Timber was floated down rivers from Sichuan jungles, marble quarried from Fangshan, and golden tiles fired in imperial kilns. The axis of Chinese political power shifted permanently northward toward the steppe frontier.
In context
Also in 1404 (3 other events on record)
- Kilwa Sultanate at Commercial Peak · Africa · Politics
- Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo Rides to Samarkand · Central Asia · Exploration
- Konrad Kyeser Writes Bellifortis · Europe · Technology
Before and after in East Asia
Before and after in Technology
Era
Late Middle Ages (1301–1500), one of 874 events from that era on Saeculum.
Sources