Major Events
- Jan 1 Portuguese expedition under Pedro Álvares Cabral are first Europeans to discover Bay of Guanabara naming it Rio de Janeiro after mistaking it for a river entrance
- Jan 20 The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro is first explored
- Feb 12 Muslims in Granada forced to convert to Catholicism
- Feb 12 Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India
- Feb 13 Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres, new Governor of the Indies sets sail for the Indies with fleet of 30 ships, largest-ever fleet to the New World
- Feb 25 Austrian emperor Maximilian I reformats government machine
- Mar 11 Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty, crowned Shah of Persia (rules till 1524)
- Apr 15 Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres, new Governor of the Indies, lands in Hispaniola, replacing Columbus
- May 9 Christopher Columbus leaves Cádiz, Spain on his fourth and final trip to the New World
- May 21 Portuguese explorer João Da Nova discovers the uninhabited Saint Helena island in the South Atlantic Ocean
- More 1502 Events
Gregory XIIIMore People Born in 1502
Who Died in 1502
- Feb 1 Olivier de la Marche, Flemish soldier & poet, dies at 77
- Apr 2 Arthur, Prince of Wales, English crown prince, son of King Henry VII of England, 1st husband of Catherine of Aragon, dies from an unknown illness at 15
- Apr 15 Jan IV of Chalon-Arnay, prince of Orange and lord of Arlay, dies at 59
- May 6 James Tyrrell, alleged murderer of the Princes in the Tower (executed)
- Jul 11 Francisco de Bobadilla, Spanish soldier and second Governor of the Indies (1499-1502), dies during a storm at sea (born about 1450)
More 1502 Deaths
Leonardo da Vinci
Michelangelo
Raphael