April
Renaissance master Raphael dies in Rome on his 37th birthday, reportedly of a fever contracted after a night of excess, mourned by all of Italy.
May
Suleiman I became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire following his father's death, beginning a 46-year reign that marked the empire's golden age.
Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, wintering at Puerto San Julián, weathered mutiny and starvation before pressing on toward the strait that would bear his name.
June
Ferdinand Magellan's battered fleet approached the passage at the tip of South America that would soon bear his name, a gateway between two oceans.
July
Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France met near Calais in a two-week spectacle of jousting, feasting, and diplomacy meant to cement peace between rival crowns.
Raphael, the great Renaissance master, continued work on his last major commissions in Rome during the summer before his sudden death in April, though records of exact July dates remain limited.
Cuitláhuac was elected the tenth Tlatoani of the Aztec Empire amid smallpox and the chaos following the death of Moctezuma II and the Spanish retreat from Tenochtitlan.
November
Ferdinand Magellan's expedition emerged from the strait at South America's tip into a vast, unfamiliar ocean he named the Pacific for its calm waters.
Ferdinand Magellan's expedition sailed out of the strait bearing his name into a vast, unknown ocean he named the Pacific.
December
During La Noche Triste, Hernán Cortés and his forces fled Tenochtitlan under attack after the death of Moctezuma II, suffering catastrophic losses.