Major Events
- Jan 1 Juw Dekama elected potentate of Frisia
- Jan 6 The first Mass in the New World is celebrated at La Isabela, Hispaniola
- Jan 25 Alfonso II succeeds his father as King of Naples
- May 5 On his 2nd voyage to New World Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica, landing at Discovery Bay
- Jun 7 Treaty of Tordesillas: Spain and Portugal divide the new world along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa
- Nov 8 Uprising against Piero de' Medici in Florence
- Nov 9 Piero the Unfortunate of the de' Medici family, ruler of Florence, loses his power and flees the state
- Nov 18 French King Charles VIII occupies Florence
Francis I of France
Suleiman the MagnificentMore People Born in 1494
Who Died in 1494
- Jan 11 Domenico Ghirlandaio [Bigordi], Italian Renaissance painter, and mentor of Michelangelo, dies of pestilential fever at 45
- Jan 25 Ferdinand I [Ferrante], King of Naples (1458-1494), dies at 70
- Aug 11 Hans Memling [John Memlinc], Flemish painter (Passietaferelen), dies
- Sep 24 Poliziano, Italian humanist (b. 1454)
- Oct 22 Gian Galeazzo, Italian duke of Milan (1476-94), dies
More 1494 Deaths
Leonardo da Vinci
Michelangelo