1502

Years: 1499 1500 1501 - 1502 - 1503 1504 1505
Decades: 1470s 1480s 1490s - 1500s - 1510s 1520s 1530s
Centuries: 15th century - 16th century - 17th century

1502 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January 1 - Portuguese explorers sailed into Guanabara Bay, Brazil and mistook it for the mouth of a river which they named Rio de Janeiro
May 9 - Christopher Columbus leaves Spain for his fourth and final trip to the "New World".
May 21 - Portuguese discover island of St Helena.
December 31 - Cesare Borgia imprisons two potentially treacherous allies, Vitelozzo and Oliveretto - he executes them the next morning.
Ivan III of Russia and Meñli I Giray of Crimea attack Grand Duchy of Lithuania without much success.
Meñli I Giray of Crimea destroys Saray, capital of Big Horde
Aztec ruler Auitzotl dies; Moctezuma II elected emperor.
"Newfoundland" gets its name from a letter.
Christopher Columbus lands at Trujillo and named the mainland "Honduras".
Wittenberg University founded.

January 7 - Pope Gregory XIII (died 1585)
February 2 - Damião de Góis, Portuguese philosopher (d. 1574)
March 20 - Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (d. 1575)
April 25 - Georg Major, German Lutheran theologian (died 1574)
June 6 - King John III of Portugal (died 1557)
September 13 - John Leland, English antiquarian (died 1552)
St. Anthony Maria Zaccaria, founder of the Barnabite Order (died 1539)
Elizabeth Blount, mistress of King Henry VIII; died 1540)
Cuauhtémoc, last Aztec ruler (Tlatoani) of Tenochtitlán and the last "Aztec Emperor" (died 1525)
Stephen Hawes, English poet (died 1521)
Takeno Joou, Japanese tea practicer of Sengoku period (died 1555)
Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish conquistador (died 1572)
Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de Montluc, marshal of France (approximate date; died 1577)
Pedro Nunes, Portuguese mathematician (died 1578)
Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, English courtier (died 1537)
Francesco Spiera, Protestant Italian jurist (died 1543)

April 2 - Arthur, Prince of Wales, eldest son of Henry VII of England (born 1486)
May 6 - James Tyrrell, alleged murderer of the princes in the Tower (executed)
Auitzotl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan
Margaret Drummond, mistress of James IV of Scotland (born c. 1475)
Sogi, Buddhist priest and Japanese poet (born 1421)
Alvise Vivarini, Italian painter (born c. 1446)af:1502