Spanish conquistador forces under Hernán Cortés consolidated control over former Aztec territories, continuing the brutal colonial reordering of Mesoamerica.

The Portuguese navigator who opened the sea route from Europe to India died of fever in Cochin, on his third and final voyage there as viceroy.

Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, the first European to reach India by sea, died of illness in Kochi shortly after arriving as Viceroy of Portuguese India.