January–March •
January 20 –
Juan Díaz de Solís arrives in what is now
Punta del Este in
Uruguay, where he becomes the first European to sail into the
Río de la Plata (in future
Argentina). Díaz and nine of his men are attacked and killed by the local
Charrúa people shortly after their arrival. although there was likely an expedition earlier in 1511-1512 by
João de Lisboa and Estevão de Fróis. •
January 23 – With the death of
Ferdinand II of Aragon, his grandson,
Charles of Ghent, becomes
King of Spain; his mother
Queen Joanna of Castile also succeeds as Queen of Aragon and co-monarch with Carlos, but remains confined at
Tordesillas. •
February 18 – After two months in
Bologna, part of the
Papal States in
Italy,
Pope Leo X concludes two months of negotiation with
King François I of France. Their talks result in the abrogation of the French Pragmatic Sanction, and the conclusion of a new Concordat between the Papacy and France. •
February 21 – Sir
Edward Poynings becomes England's ambassador to Spain a second time and meets with
King Carlos I to negotiate a treaty. •
February 25 – In his capacity as
Lord of Ireland,
Henry VIII opens the first of six assemblies of parliament during his reign of the
Parliament of Ireland at
Dublin. The parliament holds three sessions, ending on October 2, when it is dismissed. •
March 1 –
Desiderius Erasmus publishes a new Greek edition of the
New Testament,
Novum Instrumentum omne, in
Basel. •
March 13 – At the age of 9,
Louis II of Jagiellon becomes the new King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia upon the death of his father,
King Vladislaus II. •
March 29 – The
Venetian Ghetto is instituted in the
Republic of Venice.
April–June •
April 19 – England, represented by Ambassador Poynings and Spain's King Carlos I conclude a treaty of alliance. •
May 6 – A Category IX earthquake strikes
Dubrovnik in what is now Croatia. •
May 8 – In what is now
Vietnam,
Le Tuong Duc, Emperor of
Dai Viet, since 1509, is murdered at his palace at Thang Long (now in
Hanoi) by his bodyguards. Le Tuong Duc's 12-year-old nephew,
Le Chieu Tong, is installed as the new Emperor by the conspirators. •
June 14 – In Spain, King
John III of Navarre dies after a reign of 32 years and is succeeded by his widow,
Queen Catherine.
July–September •
July 4 – King
James V of Scotland opens the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh. •
July 28 –
Selim I of the
Ottoman Empire captures the city of
Malatya (located in what is now southeastern Turkey) as the first conquest in his
war against the
Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and then proceeds to invade
Syria. •
July 30 –
John V, Count of Nassau-Siegen dies in
Siegen, now in Germany, leaving his realm to be divided by his two sons. The transition is smooth because of a 1509 agreement between
Henry III of Nassau-Breda and
William I of Nassau-Dillenburg. William receives all of John V's possessions in Germany, while Henry inherits those in the
Low Countries. •
August 13 – The
Treaty of Noyon is signed.
King François I of France recognizes
Charles I of Spain's claim to
Naples, and Charles recognizes Francis's claim to
Milan. The treaty also promised
Louise of France to Charles. •
August 18 – King
Francis I of France and
Pope Leo X sign the
Concordat of Bologna, agreeing on the relationship between church and state in France. •
August 24 –
Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–17): The Ottoman Sultan
Selim I defeats the Mamluk forces commanded by the sultan
Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri in the
Battle of Marj Dabiq, bringing all of the Middle East. The Mamluk Sultan,
Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri, is killed while leading his troops in the battle, and Prime Minister
Al-Ashraf Tuman Bay, who was left in charge in Cairo by the Sultan Qansuh, becomes the Sultan of Egypt, the last remaining part of the
Mamluk Sultanate. •
September 16 – German theologian
Andreas Karlstadt completes his series of 151 theses, an attack against corruption in the Roman Catholic Church. •
September 17 – Based in
Kamaran, an island in the
Red Sea, the Mamluk Egyptian Admiral
Selman Reis leads of fleet 19 ships in an unsuccessful attempt to take
Yemen and
Aden.
October–December •
October 28 –
Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–17):
Ottoman forces under the
Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha defeat the Mamluks in the
Battle of Yaunis Khan near
Gaza. •
November 29 – The "Treaty of Perpetual Peace" is signed in the city of
Fribourg in
Switzerland, between representatives of the
Thirteen Cantons of the
Old Swiss Confederacy, and King Francis of the
Kingdom of France, confirming the French victory in the 1515
Battle of Marignano. The Swiss Confederacy renounces all claims to the French protectorate of
Milan in Italy, in for 700,000 gold crowns in compensation. •
December 4 –
Treaty of Brussels: Peace is declared between the
Kingdom of France and the
Holy Roman Empire. • c. December –
Thomas More's most famous work,
Utopia, completed this year, is published in
Leuven (in
Latin).
Date unknown • Italian explorer
Rafael Perestrello, a cousin of the
wife of
Christopher Columbus, commands an expedition from
Portuguese Malacca to land on the shores of mainland southern China, and trade with Chinese merchants at
Guangzhou, during the
Ming Dynasty. • Portuguese soldier
Fernão Lopes becomes the first known permanent inhabitant of
Saint Helena. •
Leonardo da Vinci accepts Francis I's invitation to
France. • The predecessor of the
Royal Mail, known as the
Master of the Posts, is established by
Henry VIII of England. •
Gillingham School is founded, the oldest in
Dorset,
England. •
Fuggerei is established in
Augsburg (Bavaria), as the world's oldest
social housing complex still in use. • The fall of the
Nantan meteorite is possibly observed near the city of
Nantan, Nandan County, Guangxi (China). == Births ==