1493 CE
Columbus begins writing his first account of his voyage to the New World, titled "Letter of Columbus, on the islands of India beyond the Ganges recently discovered", an account later printed and sold throughout Europe. His reference to the Ganges river in India confirms that he thought he had reached Asia. Christopher Columbus anchors in Lisbon and completes his February 15 letter on the first voyage, conveying the news of his discoveries. Christopher Columbus leaves Cádiz on his second voyage of exploration.
In the 1490s, the 15th century.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- January 19 – In the Treaty of Barcelona, King Charles VIII of France returns Cerdagne and Roussillon to King Ferdinand of Aragon.source
- 19 January – Treaty of Barcelona is signed between France, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile.Francesource
- May 23 – The Treaty of Senlis is signed in France at the city of Senlis (in the modern Oise département) between King Charles VIII of France and Maximilian I, King of the Romans, ending the War of the Burgundian Succession between France and the Holy Roman Empire and dividing the Burgundian lands.source
- 23 May – Treaty of Senlis is signed between France and Maximilian of Austria.Francesource
- July – In India, at Srinagar, Muhammad Shah Mir resumes his rule as the Sultan of Kashmir, replacing Fateh Shah Miri, who had ruled since 1486.source
- Huayna Capac becomes emperor of the Inca Empire.source
- James IV of Scotland seizes lands of John of Islay, Earl of Ross, putting an end to the Lord of the Isles.source
Conflict & Security
- April 12 – Battle of Anfao: Askia Mohammad I defeats Sonni Baru in what becomes the African nation of Mali, and usurps the throne of the Songhai Empire.source
- September 9 – At the Battle of Krbava Field in southern Croatia, forces of the Ottoman Empire defeat those of the Kingdom of Croatia.source
Exploration & Expansion
- January 15 – Christopher Columbus and his crew begin their voyage back to Europe on their two remaining ships, the caravel La Niña (guided by Columbus) and the Pinta (piloted by Martín Alonso Pinzón), departing from the island of Hispanola and what becomes known as the Bay of Rincón in the Dominican Republic. The decision to return to Spain comes two days after the crew's battle with the indigenous residents, the Ciguayos.source
- February 14 – A storm east of the Azores threatens to capsize both of the remaining ships, the Niña and the Pinta, on the expedition of Christopher Columbus as the crew are returning to Europe after being the first to reach the "New World". The two ships are separated and neither crew knows the fate of the other. The crew takes a vow for one of them to make a pilgrimage if they survive the storm. Columbus himself later makes a pilgrimage to the cathedral at Moguer in Andalusia in Spain.source
- February 15 – Columbus begins writing his first account of his voyage to the New World, titled "Letter of Columbus, on the islands of India beyond the Ganges recently discovered", an account later printed and sold throughout Europe. His reference to the Ganges river in India confirms that he thought he had reached Asia.source
- March 1 – Martín Alonso Pinzón returns in the Pinta to the city of Bayona in Spain from Christopher Columbus's voyage of discovery, sending the first notice about the discovery to the Catholic Monarchs. Columbus himself is delayed by a storm in the Azores.source
- March 15 – Christopher Columbus and Martín Alonso Pinzón return to Palos de la Frontera, the original port in Spain from where they started the first voyage of discovery.source
- March 30 – In light of his success, Christopher Columbus is granted the title of "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" ("Almirante del mar Océano") and "Viceroy and Governor of the islands which he has discovered in the Indies".source
- September 24 – Christopher Columbus leaves Cádiz on his second voyage of exploration.source
- November 19 – Christopher Columbus lands on the coast of the island of Borinquen, which he renames San Juan (modern-day Puerto Rico).source
Religion & Belief
- May 4 – In the papal bull Inter caetera, Pope Alexander VI decrees that all lands discovered 100 leagues (or further west) of the Azores are Spanish.source
- June 25 – Friar Bernardo Buil, a Catalan monk in Spain, is appointed by Pope Alexander VI as the first Christian "Vicar Apostolic of the New World". Friar Buil will depart from Cadiz on September 25 on the second voyage of Christopher Columbus, and will begin his mission at La Isabela, a Spanish settlement on the island of Hispanola in what becomes the Dominican Republic.source
- July 12 – The Nuremberg Chronicle, written in Latin by Hartmann Schedel as Liber Chronicarum and described as "a history of the world from the Creation to the year 1493", with woodcut illustrations by Michael Wohlgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, is first printed. The expense is undertaken by two German merchants in Nuremberg, Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kammermeister.source
- August 19 – Maximilian I succeeds his father, Frederick III, as Holy Roman Emperor.source
- September 26 – Pope Alexander VI issues the bull Dudum siquidem to the Catholic Monarchs, extending the grant of newly discovered lands he made them in Inter caetera.source
- October 24 – Spain's Royal Council issues a Provision setting harsh sanctions against Spanish Christians who slander people who have newly converted from Judaism to Christianity, particularly with the term tornadizos.source
- Rathmacknee Castle is, by some accounts, built by Thomas Rossiter, seneschal of the Liberty of Wexford.Irelandsource
Technology & Infrastructure
Crime & Justice
- June 8 – In the most well-documented surgical procedures in the 15th century, the left leg of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III is amputated. The surgery is performed at the Linz castle under the direction of the surgeon Hans Seyff.source
- England imposes sanctions on Burgundy for supporting Perkin Warbeck, the pretender to the English throne.source
Culture & Society
- March 4 – Christopher Columbus anchors in Lisbon and completes his February 15 letter on the first voyage, conveying the news of his discoveries.source
- December 8 – The first Roman Catholic Mass in the New World is celebrated, with Friar Juan Pérez of the Order of Friars Minor conducting the services at Point Concepcion on the island of Hispaniola.source
Births
- 2 January – Louis de Bourbon-Vendôme, prince and religious leader.(d.1557)Francesource
- January 6 – Olaus Petri, Swedish clergyman (died 1552)source
- January 25 – Maximilian Sforza, Duke of Milan (died 1530)source
- January 26 – Min Bin, king of Arakan (died 1554)source
- January 26 – Giovanni Poggio, Italian cardinal and diplomat (died 1556)source
- March 15 – Anne de Montmorency, 1st Duke of Montmorency, Constable of France (died 1567)source
- April 11 – George I, Duke of Pomerania from the House of Griffins (died 1531)source
- May 6 – Girolamo Seripando, Catholic cardinal (died 1563)source
- June 5 – Justus Jonas, German Protestant reformer (died 1555)source
- October 17 – Bartolommeo Bandinelli, Renaissance Italian sculptor (died 1560)source
- November 11 or December 17 – Paracelsus, born Philippus von Hohenheim, Swiss physician and scientist (died 1541)source
- November 17 – John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer, English politician (died 1543)source
- November 25 – Osanna of Cattaro, Dominican visionary and anchoress (died 1565)source
- December 9 – Íñigo López de Mendoza, 4th Duke of the Infantado (died 1566)source
- December 25 – Antoinette of Bourbon, French noblewoman (died 1583)source
- Charles de Hémard de Denonville, Catholic bishop.(d.1540)Francesource
Deaths
- May 10 – Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, Scottish politician (born c. 1433)source
- May 14 – Nannina de' Medici, member of de' Medici family (born 1448)source
- May – Pietro Antonio Solari, Italian architect (born 1450)source
- June 14 – Ermolao Barbaro, Italian scholar (born 1454)source
- August 19 – Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1415)source
- September 9 – Mirko Derenčin, Croatian leadersource
- October 11 – Eleanor of Naples, Duchess of Ferrara (born 1450)source
- October 22 – James Douglas, 1st Earl of Mortonsource
- November 6 – Andrey Bolshoy, Russian prince (born 1446)source
- Martín Alonso Pinzón, Spanish navigator and explorer (born c. 1441)source
- Isabel Bras Williamson, Scottish merchant (born 1430)source
- Kim Si-sŭp, Korean scholar and author (born 1435)source
- Tupac Inca Yupanqui, Inca ruler of Tahuantinsuyusource
- Ahmad Zarruq, Moroccan scholar and Sufi sheikh (born 1442)source
- Marie of Orléans, Countess of Étampes and Viscountess of Narbonne.(b.1457)Francesource
- Teige Mac Con Midhe, Irish poet and writerIrelandsource