1500 CE

It was the last year of the 15th century. The year 1500 was not a leap year in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.

In the 1500s, the 16th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • March 11 – The Parliament of Bohemia adopts a new constitution that limits the power of King Vladislav II and subsequent Bohemian monarchs.source
  • May 5 – Representatives of the English and Spanish royal families sign a treaty at Canterbury for the marriage of 13-year-old Arthur, Prince of Wales (son of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York) to 14-year-old Princess Catherine of Aragon. Arthur's marriage to Catherine takes place the next year, but Arthur dies five months later; she marries Arthur's younger brother Henry VIII in 1509.source
  • June 30 – Sultan Abu Sa'id Qansuh of Egypt is overthrown and sent into exile. Al-Ashraf Abu al-Nasir Janbalat is crowned as the new Mamluk sultan, but reigns for less than six months.source
  • August 23 – Francisco de Bobadilla, appointed to replace Admiral Christopher Columbus as Spanish Governor-General of the New World, arrives at Santo Domingo on the island of Hispanola. Bobadilla issues an order directing Christopher and Bartolomeo Columbus to appear before him at Santo Domingo.source
  • October 1 – Christopher Columbus and his brothers, arrested and in chains, are deported from Santo Domingo to Spain.source
  • November 11 – Treaty of Granada: Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon agree to divide the Kingdom of Naples between them.source
  • November 11 – The Treaty of Granada is signed by Louis XII and Ferdinand II of Aragon in secret, in which they agree to partition the Kingdom of Naples between them.Francesource
  • November 16 – Emperor Go-Kashiwabara accedes to the throne of Meiō era Japan.source
  • December 17 – All charges against the Columbus brothers for malfeasance in governing Hispanola are dismissed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.source
  • Eóghan Ó Ruairc became king in the Kingdom of Breifne.Irelandsource

Conflict & Security

  • January 5 – Duke Ludovico Sforza recaptures Milan, but is soon driven out again by the French.source
  • January 5 – Duke Ludovico Sforza recaptures Milan from the French, but is soon driven out by the French.Francesource
  • January 12 – The Siege of Forlì ends. Franco-Papal victory by Cesare Borgia over Caterina Sforza.Francesource
  • February 5 – Ludovico Sforza's Swiss mercenary army retakes the city of Milan from the French during the Second Italian War.source
  • February 5 – Ludovico Sforza and his Swiss mercenary army retakes the city of Milan again from the French.Francesource
  • February 17 – Battle of Hemmingstedt: The Danish army fails to conquer the peasants' republic of Dithmarschen.source
  • March 21 – Ludovico Sforza and his Swiss mercenary army retakes Novara from the French.Francesource
  • March 24 – Louis II de la Trémoille joins the main French army at Mortara, Lombardy with a corps of about 500 men, supported by artillery.Francesource
  • April 8–10 – Battle of Novara takes place during the Second Italian War. French victory over Ludovico Sforza.Francesource
  • April – The Battle of Novara was fought in Milan between the forces of King Louis XII of France and the forces of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan. Ultimately, Sforza was taken to France as a captive after his troops were defeated in battle.Italysource
  • June 29 – A combined force of troops from the Kingdom of France and from the Republic of Florence lay siege to the city of Pisa.source
  • July 14 – The Muscovites defeat the Lithuanians and the Poles in the Battle of Vedrosha.source
  • July 24 – Ottoman–Venetian War: The Turkish fleet of Kemal Reis defeats the Venetians in the Second Battle of Lepanto.source
  • August 9 – The Ottoman Empire defeats the Venetians and capture Modon and Coron, the "two eyes of the Republic".source
  • October 22 – Nasir-ud-Din Shah overthrows the government of his father, Ghiyath Shah, ruler of the Malwa Sultanate (located in much of what is now the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh) for the last 31 years. Upon becoming the new Sultan, Nasir has his brother Ala-ud-Din executed, along with Ala-ud-din's children. Ghiyasuddin is poisoned the following February.source
  • December 24 – The Siege of the Castle of St. George ends, and the island of Cephalonia is captured by a joint Venetian–Spanish fleet.source
  • Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare suppressed an uprising in Cork. The mayor was hung as a result of the retaliation.Irelandsource

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 26 – Spanish navigator Vicente Yáñez Pinzón reaches the northern coast of Brazil.source
  • March 9 – Pedro Álvares Cabral, with a fleet of 13 ships, departs Portugal on a voyage to the New World.source
  • April 22 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral and his crew on 13 vessels arrive in Brazil, anchoring at Monte Pascoal and naming the country Vera Cruz. Cabral claims the land for the Kingdom of Portugal.source
  • May 1 – Pero Vaz de Caminha finishes writing his chronicle of the Portuguese discovery of Brazil while accompanying Cabral.source
  • May 3 – Cabral and his fleet depart from Brazil and sail eastward toward Africa, resuming their journey to India.source
  • May 29 – Traveling eastward from Brazil, Cabral and his fleet run into a storm off of the coast of Africa near the Cape of Good Hope and lose four of their 13 ships. Navigator Bartolomeu Dias is among the persons killed.source
  • August 10 – Diogo Dias discovers an island which he names São Lourenço, since August 10 is the feast day of Saint Lawrence, a Roman Catholic martyr of the 3rd century. The massive island is later known as Madagascar.source
  • September 13 – Pedro Cabral's fleet of nine ships arrives in India, more than six months after departing from Portugal, and lands at the port of Calicut, which had been visited two years earlier by Vasco da Gama.source
  • November 25 – Christopher Columbus and his brothers arrive in Spain at Seville "after one of the longest Atlantic crossings in the Columbian years" (six weeks) and released on their own recognizance.source
  • A group of Māori migrate east from the New Zealand mainland to the Chatham Islands, developing a distinct pacificist culture known as the Moriori (approx. date).source
  • Cabral's fleet sailed to Kochi on 24 December. Kochi was nominally a vassal of Calicut, as well as being dominated by other Indian cities. Kochi was eager to achieve independence, and the Portuguese were willing to exploit Indian disunity—as the British would three hundred years later. This tactic eventually ensured Portuguese hegemony over the region. Cabral forged an alliance with Kochi's ruler, as well with rulers of other Indian cities, and was able to establish a factory. At last, loaded with precious spices, the fleet went to Kannur for further trade before setting out on its return voyage to Portugal on 16 January 1501.Indiasource
  • The Portuguese Crown began managing its trade monopoly with India through Casa da Índia, a relationship that lasted until 1570Indiasource
  • Jaintia Kingdom was founded in what is now northeastern IndiaIndiasource

Religion & Belief

  • June 1 – Pope Alexander VI issues the papal bull Quamvis ad amplianda, calling on a Roman Catholic crusade against the Ottoman Empire.source
  • December 31 – The last incunable is printed in Venice.source
  • Medieval India is divided between many kingdoms, including the Delhi Sultanate, Lodi Sultanate, Ahom Kingdom, Vijayanagara Empire, Gajapati Empire, Deccan Sultanates, Chitradurga Kingdom, Garhwal Kingdom, Mysore Kingdom, and the Keladi KingdomIndiasource

Economy & Finance

  • India's economy had a 24.5% share of world income, the second largest in the world after China, which had a 25% share.Indiasource

Health & Medicine

  • Europe's population is estimated at 56.7 million people. The world's population is estimated to be between 425 million and 540 million.source
  • Vijayanagara in the Vijayanagara Empire had about 500,000 inhabitants (supporting 0.1% of the global population during 1440–1540), making it the second largest city in the world after Beijing and almost three times the size of Paris.Indiasource

Crime & Justice

  • September 15 – Christopher Columbus (Cristobal Colon) is placed under arrest, along with his two brothers, Bartolome and Diego, after appearing before Francisco de Bobadilla, who had replaced him as the Spanish Governor of the New World. ("El 15 de septiemre Bobadilla presenta sus credenciales a Colon... Colon habia ejectuado a varios espanoles cargo de gran peso contra el, asi que al fin Bobadilla resolvio enviarlos presos a Espana para que alla se les juzgase."— "On the 15th of September of 1500, Bobadilla presented his credential to Columbus. Columbus had executed several Spaniards charged with great weight against him, so Bobadilla finally decided to send them prisoners to Spain so that they could be tried there.")source
  • September 23 – Bobadilla hears testimony from 22 witnesses and concludes that the Columbus brothers intended to overthrow him; he has them placed in manacles and chains for deportation to Spain. ("La pesquisa de Bobadilla contra Colon habia comenzado el 23-IX-1500."— "Bobadilla's investigation against Colon had begun on 23 September 1500.")source
  • Saxony's mint at Annaberg begins producing guldengroschens, also known as guldiners.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • March 24 – The day after departing the Cape Verde Islands with the rest of Cabral's fleet, Vasco de Ataíde and his 150 crewmates die when their ship goes down in a storm.source

Culture & Society

  • May 8 – The first guide to distilling of liquor is published, Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus by Hieronymus Brunschwig.source
  • September 12 – George the Bearded begins a reign of more than 38 years as Duke of Saxony at the Saxon capital of Emden, after the death of his father, Albert III, who had ruled 36 years. George also becomes George II, Margrave of Meissen.source

Births

Deaths

  • April 10 – Michael Tarchaniota Marullus, Greek scholar, poet and soldier (born c. 1453)source
  • April 12 – Leonhard of Gorizia, Count of Gorz (born 1440)source
  • May 29 – Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese explorer (born c. 1450)source
  • May 29 – Thomas Rotherham, English cleric and minister (born 1423)source
  • June 19 – Edmund Tudor, Duke of Somerset, English nobleman (born 1499)source
  • June 23 – Lodovico Lazzarelli, Italian poet (born 1447)source
  • July 19 – Miguel da Paz, Prince of Portugal (born 1498)source
  • August 18 – Alfonso of Aragon, prince (born 1481)source
  • August 26 – Philipp I, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg, German noble (born 1449)source
  • September 12 – Albert III, Duke of Saxony (born 1443)source
  • September 15 – John Morton, English Archbishop of Canterbury (born c. 1420)source
  • October 1 – John Alcock, English Bishop of Ely (born c. 1430)source
  • October 21 – Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (born 1442)source
  • Although other reports exist, it is thought that the last wolf in England is killed this year, making the species extinct in that country. The wolf is thought to have been killed in Allithwaite, in Cumbria. However, reports of wolf sightings and laws concerning wolf bounties exist in rural areas of the north until the 18th century.source
  • John of Foix, Viscount of Narbonne (born 1450)Francesource
  • Pero Vaz de Caminha, a Portuguese knight and secretary to the royal factory, died in a riot on 15 December in CalicutIndiasource
  • Feidhlimidh Ó Ruairc king of Breifne passes away.Irelandsource
  • Approximate date – Hugh Fraser, 1st Lord LovatScotlandsource