Events of 1501

January–June

• January 17 – Cesare Borgia returns triumphantly to Rome from Romagna.

• April 23 – The Portuguese navigator Pedro Cabral and 6 ships return to Lisbon.

• May 20 – Joao da Nova Castell discovers Ascension Island.

• Amerigo Vespucci maps the two stars Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri, as well as the stars of the constellation Crux, which were below the horizon in Europe.

July–December

• July 15 – Explorer Pedro Cabral arrives in Lisbon.

• July 27 – Copernicus is formally installed as canon of Frauenberg Cathedral.

• August 26 – The Canton of Basel is partitioned in twain by the Swiss Tagsatzung, to create the two half-cantons of Basel-City and Basel-Country.

• October 13 – Treaty of Trente: Maximilian of Austria and Louis XII sign the treaty, with Austria recognizing all French conquests in the northern territories of Italy.

• October 30 – The Banquet of Chestnuts is held by Cesare Borgia in the Papal Palace of Rome.

• November 1 – Amerigo Vespucci discovers and names All Saints' Bay.

• November 4 – Philip de Blank and Juana "la Loca" leave for Spain.

• November 14 – Arthur, Prince of Wales, marries the Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon.

Undated

• Michelangelo returns to his native Florence to begin work on the statue David.

• Czar Ivan III of Russia invades Lithuania.

• Alexander Jagiellon becomes King of Poland.

• Ismail I conqueres Tabriz. He declares Shi'ism the official and compulsory religion under penalty of death.

• The Safavid kingdom is established in northern Iran.

• Martin Luther enters the University of Erfurt.

• Gaspar de Corte-Real, Portuguese navigator, makes the first documented European landing in North America since c. 1000 A.D.

• The famous Florentine political theorist, statesman, and writer Niccolò Machiavelli marries Marietta Corsini, who bears him six children.

Births

• January 16 – Anthony Denny, confidant of Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)

• January 17 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)

• May 6 – Pope Marcellus II (d. 1555)

• July 18 – Isabella of Burgundy, queen of Christian II of Denmark (d. 1526)

• September 24 – Gerolamo Cardano, Italian mathematician, physician, astrologer and gambler (d. 1576)

• April 16 – Shaun Drennan, Irish plantation warrior, God among men

• Yi Hwang, Korean Confucian scholar (d. 1570)

• date unknown

• *Girolamo da Carpi, Italian painter (d. 1556)

• *Dawit II of Ethiopia (d. 1540)

• *Murakami Yoshikiyo, Japanese nobleman (d. 1573)

• probable

• *Nicholas Heath, archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor (approximate date; d. 1578)

• *Garcia de Orta, Portuguese physician (d. 1568)

• *Hilaire Penet, French composer

• *Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII (d. 1536)

Deaths

• January 3 – Alisher Navoi, Central Asian poet (b. 1441)

• February 1 – Sigismund of Bavaria (b. 1439)

• May 7 – Giovanni Battista Zeno, cardinal

• September 20

• *Agostino Barbarigo, Doge of Venice

• *Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, stepson of Edward IV of England (b. 1457)

• date unknown

• *Gaspar Corte-Real, Portuguese explorer (b. 1450)

• *John I Albert of Poland (b. 1459)

• *John Doget, English diplomat

• *Constantine Lascaris, Greek scholar and grammarian