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1272 CE

This year falls in the High and Late Middle Ages (c. 1000–1500 CE). Trade grows across Eurasia, and in the thirteenth century the Mongols build the largest connected land empire in history. The Black Death kills a large share of the people of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa from the 1340s, and the era closes with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the first European voyages to the Americas.

Within fifteen years

Country · EthiopiaEthiopia1270–Ethiopia is a highland country in the Horn of Africa, one of the oldest states in the world and the only African country never fully colonized. The Solomonic dynasty dates its rule to 1270. It is now a federal parliamentary republic.

Country · AndorraAndorra1278–Andorra is a tiny principality in the Pyrenees, between France and Spain. It was settled as a joint lordship in 1278 and kept that arrangement ever since. Its two heads of state are the Bishop of Urgell and the President of France.

Philosopher · High and Late Middle Ages · EnglandWilliam of Ockhamc. 1287–1347English Franciscan friar and logician whose razor, do not multiply entities beyond need, became a rule of science. He quarreled with Pope John XXII over poverty, fled Avignon, and died under excommunication. He lived about 1287 to 1347.