15th17th

15th17th is not a standard term with a universally fixed meaning. In most contexts where it appears, it is read as shorthand for a time span spanning the 15th through the 17th centuries, i.e., roughly from the 1400s to the 1600s. A few writers may instead use the form to denote two discrete ordinal positions—the 15th and the 17th—in a sequence, though this usage is less common.

If taken as a historical period, the 15th–17th centuries encompass late medieval and early modern history. This era saw the Renaissance in Europe, the spread of printing technology, and substantial changes in art, science, and education. It includes the Age of Exploration, which connected continents through long-distance trade and exchange. Religious upheavals were prominent, with the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation reshaping ecclesiastical and political landscapes. The period also includes early scientific developments that laid groundwork for the scientific revolution, as well as significant shifts in political organization, state power, and international diplomacy.

Geographically, the term can cover a wide range of contexts: Europe as the central region of cultural transformation; the Ottoman Empire expanding its influence; Ming and early Qing periods in China; and various developments across Africa, the Americas, and Asia during times of contact, trade, and conquest. In modern usage, the string may appear as a label in indexing, cataloging, or data sets, and in alphabetic terms the 15th and 17th letters would be O and Q, occasionally used to denote a pair or range.