Important Events in 1520
- Jun 30 Spanish conquistadors are expelled from Tenochtitlan following an Aztec revolt against their rule under Hernán Cortés during "La Noche Triste" (the Night of Sadness). Many soldiers drown in the escape, and Aztec emperor Montezuma II dies in the struggle
- Jul 7 Battle of Otumba, Mexico: Hernán Cortés and the Tlaxcalans defeat a numerically superior Aztec force
- Sep 30 Suleiman the Magnificent succeeds his father Selam I as Ottoman Sultan (rules till 1566)
- Nov 28 Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing the Pacific Ocean
- Dec 10 Martin Luther publicly burns papal edict demanding he recant
More Historical Events
Did You Know?
Explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his fleet reach Cape Virgenes and become the first Europeans to sail into the Pacific Ocean
On October 21, 1520
Famous People Born in 1520
- Jan 1 Franciscus Balduinus [Francois Baudouin], lawyer
- Mar 3 Matthias Flacius, Croatian Protestant reformer (d. 1575)
- Aug 1 Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland (1548-72), born in Kraków, Poland (d. 1572)
- Aug 10 Madeleine of Valois, French princess who briefly became Queen of Scotland after marrying James V, born in the St. Germain-en-Laye, Paris, France (d. 1537)
- Sep 13 William Cecil, 1st baron Burghley, English statesman, born in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England (d. 1598)
Famous People in 1520
Martin Luther
Theologian and Founder of ProtestantismMichelangelo
Sculptor and PainterRaphael
Painter and Architect
World Leaders in 1520
Charles V
Holy Roman EmperorFrancis I of France
KingHenry VIII
King of England