The world: 1500s

1500–1509

Events in this period 2

1. 1500 · South America · Exploration

   Pedro Álvares Cabral

   Pedro Álvares Cabral was a Portuguese nobleman, colonizer, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the European discoverer of Brazil. He was the first human in history to ever be on four continents, uniting all of them in his famous voyage of 1500, where he also conducted the first substantial exploration of the northeast coast of South America and claimed it for Portugal. While details of Cabral's early life remain unclear, it is known that he came from a minor noble family and received a good education. He was appointed to head an expedition to India in 1500, following Vasco da Gama's newly opened route around Africa. The undertaking had the aim of returning with valuable spices and of establishing trade relations in India—bypassing the monopoly on the spice trade then in the hands of Arab, Turkish and Italian merchants. Although the previous expedition of Vasco da Gama to India, on its sea route, had recorded signs of land west of the southern Atlantic Ocean, Cabral led the first known expedition to have touched four continents: Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia.

2. 1501 · Middle East · Politics

   Safavid Iran

   The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled by the Safavid dynasty from 1501 to 1736, albeit others place the end on the year 1722, when Isfahan fell to the Afghans. It is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder empires.

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Still under way

• Sengoku period1467 – 1615

Around the same time

• Columbus reaches the Americas1492
• Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India1497 – 1499
• Ninety-five Theses1517
• Magellan expedition1519 – 1522
• Wars of the Roses1455 – 1487
• Bartolomeu Dias1488
• Fall of Tenochtitlan1521
• Founding of the Mughal Empire1526
• Treaty of Tordesillas1494
• Capture of Malacca (1511)1511
• Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517)1516 – 1517
• Battle of Mactan1521

Other maps for this period

• War mapsSengoku period
• War mapsItalian Wars
• Epidemics mapSweating sickness