What happened in 1500–1509

World5

• 1500The Siege of the Castle of St. George ends, and the island of Cephalonia is captured by a joint Venetian–Spanish fleet.
• 1502Ismail I founds the Safavid dynasty and proclaims himself the Shah of Iran after defeating tribes of the Aq Qoyunlu confederation.
• 1505Zhu Houzhao, the 13-year-old son of the late Hongzhi Emperor of Ming Dynasty China, is enthroned as the Zhengde Emperor upon his father's death.
• 1508The Republic of Venice defeats Maximilian I in the Battle of Cadore.
• 1509Battle of Diu: The Portuguese defeat a coalition of Indians, Muslims and Italians.

Japan1

• 1504The Eisho era begins in Japan during the reign of Emperor Go-Kashiwabara as the Bunki era ends.

North America1

• 1502A powerful hurricane sweeps through the Caribbean Sea near Puerto Rico and the island of Hispaniola, two days after Christopher Columbus was denied permission to land at Santo Domingo. An estimated 500 people are killed when the winds wreck 20 of the 31 ships brought from Spain by the new Viceroy, Nicolás de Ovando, including Ovando's flagship, El Dorado. Former Viceroy Francisco de Bobadilla and administrator Francisco Roldán are among the people killed. A ship provided by Bobadilla for Columbus to transport the gold owed to him, the Aguja, is one of the 11 to survive the hurricane and accusations are made that Columbus magically invoked the storm as an act of vengeance.

Europe79

• 1501The Swiss cantons of Basel and Schaffhausen join the Old Swiss Confederacy.
• 1501Michelangelo returns to his native Florence, to begin work on the statue David.
• 1503James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor of England are married as per the Treaty of Perpetual Peace by Pope Alexander VI, according to Papal bull.
• 1503Pope Alexander VI dies after a reign of 11 years, and the largest gathering of cardinals up to that time— 21 from Italy, 11 from Spain and 7 from France— is called to Rome for a papal conclave, to start in September.
• 1503Earliest record of Leonardo da Vinci working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, probably the Mona Lisa, in Florence.
• 1504Michelangelo's sculpture of David is unveiled in Florence.
• 1504Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand issue a Royal Warrant for the construction of Capilla Real, a Royal Chapel, to be built in Granada.
• 1504Isabella I of Castile signs her will and testament.
• 1504On the death of Isabella I of Castile, Catholic Queen of Castile and Aragon, the Crown of Castile passes to her daughter Joanna.
• 1505The Portuguese State of India is founded in what is now the state of Kerala, after the Kingdom of Portugal takes over territory of the Bijapur sultanate at Calicut.
• 1505Old St. Peter's Basilica is demolished under the orders of Pope Julius II. Construction of the new basilica begins the following year.
• 1506The Swiss Guard arrives at the Vatican, to serve as permanent ceremonial and palace guards under Pope Julius II.
• 1506Pope Julius II lays the foundation stone of the new (current) St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, replacing the Old St. Peter's Basilica.
• 1509French ambassador Janus Lascaris leaves Venice, after being recalled by king Louis XII in the eve of the War of the League of Cambrai.
• 1509In Venice, the envoy of the French king Louis XII delivers the declaration of war to the Venetian doge Leonardo Loredan, thus marking the official beginning of the War of the League of Cambrai.

64 more in the app

Asia7

• 1501First Battle of Cannanore: João da Nova fleet engaged the fleet of the Zamorin in a battle outside of the Cannanore harbor, the first Portuguese naval battle in the Indian Ocean.
• 1505The M8.2–8.8 Lo Mustang earthquake strikes Nepal, causing severe damage in Kathmandu, western Nepal, and some parts of the Indo-Gangetic plain.
• 1506Battle of Cannanore: Portugal's fleet (commanded by Lourenço de Almeida) defeats the fleet of the Zamorin of Calicut, with hundreds of vessels involved; 3,000 Muslim troops are killed.
• 1506Badi' al-Zaman Mirza becomes the new Emir of the Timurid Empire (now part of Afghanistan) after the death of his father, Sultan Husayn Bayqara, who died after a reign of 37 years.
• 1506In Korea, Emperor Yonsangun, known for being a tyrant, is deposed in the Jungjong coup by his younger brother, who becomes King Jungjong.
• 1507In India, in what is now the state of Kerala, troops from the Kingdom of Cannanore begin a four-month siege of the Portuguese garrison at the Fort of Saint Angelo. Despite being outnumbered, the 150 defenders of the fort hold out for four months against 60,000 attackers until rescue arrives four months later.
• 1507A fleet of 11 ships from the Portuguese Navy's 8th Armada arrives in India and rescues the Portuguese defenders of the fort of Saint Angelo from the attack by the Kingdom of Cannanore.

Middle East3

• 1500Ottoman–Venetian War: The Turkish fleet of Kemal Reis defeats the Venetians in the Second Battle of Lepanto.
• 1501(1 Jumada al-Thani 907 AH) Ismail I is enthroned as the first Shah of Iran, choosing Tabriz as his capital, founding the Safavid dynasty in northern Iran. He declares Shi'ism the official and compulsory religion, under penalty of death.
• 1509The Constantinople earthquake destroys 109 mosques and kills an estimated 10,000 people.

Latin America1

• 1502Moctezuma II is elected emperor of the Aztecs, following the death of Ahuitzotl.

Africa3

• 1500Traveling 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.
• 1504Islamization of the Sudan region: A Funj leader, Amara Dunqas, founds the Sultanate of Sennar.
• 1505In what is now Algeria, the Spanish Army under the command of Ramón de Cardona, captures the city of Mers-el-Kébir, a port of the Zayyanid Kingdom of Tlemcen, ruled by the Sultan Abu Abdallah V.