1494

• Serbian recension of Church Slavonic, and the first book printed in Cyrillic in Southeast Europe, is completed in Cetinje
  .
• January 25 – Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.
• King of England.^[1]
• May 5 – Christopher Columbus first sights Jamaica.^[2]
• May 7 – The infant Amda Seyon II succeeds his father Eskender as Emperor of Ethiopia.
• May 31 – First Battle of Acentejo: Natives of the island of Tenerife, known as Guanches, defeat the invading Spanish forces.
• June 7 – Treaty of Tordesillas: Spain and Portugal divide the New World between themselves.
• June 25 – The first hurricane ever observed by Europeans strikes the Spanish settlement of La Isabela, on Hispaniola.
• Italian War of 1494–98
  .
• October 26 – Amda Seyon II is deposed and killed, and his uncle Na'od succeeds him as Emperor of Ethiopia.
• November 9 – The Medici Bank is insolvent and the House of Medici is expelled from Florence.
• double-entry accounting system
  .
• Italian War of 1494–98: The armies of Charles VIII of France enter Florence
  .
• December 25 – Second Battle of Acentejo: The Spanish crush the native forces of the island of Tenerife, leading to the subjugation of this last bastion of resistance in the Canary Islands.

Date unknown

• Aztec forces conquer and sack Mitla
  .
• Johann Reuchlin publishes De verbo mirifico.
• Charles VIII of France purchases the right to the Byzantine Empire from exiled pretender, Andreas Palaiologos.

Births

• February 2 – Bona Sforza, queen of Sigismund I of Poland (d. 1557)
• February 11 – Takeda Nobutora, Japanese warlord (d. 1574)
• February 20 – Johan Friis, Danish statesman (d. 1570)
• March 24 – Georgius Agricola, German mineralogist and scholar (d. 1555)
• March 25 – Elisabeth of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach, Margravine (d. 1518)
• April 4 – Ambrosius Moibanus, German theologian (d. 1554)
• April 20 – Johannes Agricola, German Protestant reformer (d. 1566)
• Juan Téllez-Girón, 4th Count of Ureña, Spanish count (d. 1558
  )
• May 24 – Pontormo, Italian painter (d. 1557)
• August 18 – Johannes Scheubel, German mathematician (d. 1570)
• September 8 – Sri Chand, Indian founder of the ascetic sect of Udasi (d. 1629)
• September 11 – Elisabeth of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duchess of Guelders (1518–1538) (d. 1572)
• September 12 – King Francis I of France (d. 1547)^[3]
• October 31 – Wolfgang of the Palatinate, Count Palatine of Neumarkt (1524–1558), governor of the Upper Palatinate (d. 1558)
• November 5 – Hans Sachs, German meistersinger ("mastersinger") (d. 1576)
• Ottoman Sultan (d. 1566
  )
• November 12 – Margaret of Anhalt-Köthen, Princess of Anhalt by birth, Duchess consort of Saxony (d. 1521)
• November (probable) – François Rabelais, French Renaissance writer (d. 1553)
• date unknown
  • Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, Spanish explorer and cartographer (d. 1519)
  • Christina Gyllenstierna, Swedish national heroine (d. 1559)
  • Ambrosius Holbein, German painter (d. 1519)
  • Qiu Ying, Chinese painter (d. 1552)
  • Saitō Dōsan, Japanese warlord (d. 1556)
  • John Sutton, 3rd Baron Dudley (d. 1554)
  • Hans Tausen, Danish religious reformer (d. 1561)

Deaths

• January 11 – Domenico Ghirlandaio, Italian artist (b. 1449)^[4]
• January 20 – Seongjong of Joseon, King of Joseon (b. 1457)
• January 25 – King Ferdinand I of Naples (b. 1423)
• May 7 – Eskender, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1471)
• August 1 – Giovanni Santi, Italian artist and father of Raphael (b. c. 1435)
• August 11 – Hans Memling, Flemish painter (b. c. 1430)
• September 24 – Poliziano, Italian humanist (b. 1454)
• Duke of Milan (b. 1469
  )
• October 26 – Amda Seyon II, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. c. 1487)
• November 8 – Melozzo da Forlì, Italian painter (b. c. 1438)
• November 15 – William Calthorpe, English knight (b. 1410)
• November 16 – Theda Ukena, countess regent of East Frisia (b. 1432)
• November 17 – Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian humanist (b. 1463)^[5]
• December 19 or December 20 – Matteo Maria Boiardo, Italian poet (b. c. 1434-1441)

References