- Jan 1 Portuguese navigators discover Rio de Janeiro
- Jan 20 The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro is first explored
- Feb 12 Muslims in Granada forced to convert to Catholicism
Voyage of Discovery
Feb 12 Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India
- Feb 13 Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres, new Governor of the Indies sets sail for the Indies with fleet of 30 ships, largest-ever fleet to the New World
- Feb 25 Austrian emperor Maximilian I reformats government machine
- Mar 11 Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty, crowned Shah of Persia (rules till 1524)
Historic Discovery
May 9 Christopher Columbus leaves Spain on his 4th and final trip to the New World
- May 11 Christopher Columbus begins 4th & last trip to the "Indies"
- May 21 Portuguese explorer João Da Nova discovers St Helena
- Jun 10 Crimean Khan defeats the Great Horde in battle near Worskla, leading to disintegration of the Great Horde
- Jun 19 Emperor Maximilian I and England sign treaty of Antwerp
- Sep 18 Christopher Columbus lands at Costa Rica on his 4th & last voyage
- Oct 16 Storm ravages Friese coast
- Oct 30 Vasco da Gama returns to Calicut, India for the second time.
- Dec 31 Cesare Borgia (son of pope Alexander VI) occupies Urbino