Venezuela reached by Ojeda and Vespucci.  See “AMERIGO VESPUCCI IN AMERICA,” viii, 346.

In Persia the Shiah sect of Mahometans gain the ascendency which they have since retained. 1500.  Voyage to and exploration of Labrador and Newfoundland by Caspar Cortereal, a Portuguese navigator.

Brazil discovered by Pedro Alvarez Cabral, or Cabera; he takes possession of the country for the King of Portugal.

1501.  Emperor Maximilian creates the Aulic Council, a court of appeal on decisions by other German courts.

Joint conquest and partition of Naples by Ferdinand of Aragon and Louis XII of France.

Sten Sture regains ascendency in Sweden.

Caesar Borgia makes himself master of Pesaro, Rimini, and Faenza; he is guilty of numerous atrocities.

1502.  Columbus on his fourth and last voyage reaches the isthmus of Panama.

Caesar Borgia fails in his evil course.  See “RISE AND FALL OF THE BORGIAS,” viii, 360.

Montezuma elected to the military leadership of the Aztecs.

In Naples the French and Spanish quarrel and commence hostilities.

1503.  Marriage of James IV of Scotland with Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England; this brought the Stuarts to the throne of England.

Battle of Cerignola and Garigliano; the Spaniards defeat the French and become masters of Naples.

Death of Sten Sture; the Swedish people support Svante Sture in opposition to the crown, the nobility, and priesthood.

1504.  Death of Isabella, Queen of Spain; the throne of Castile passes to her daughter, Joanna, and the latter’s husband, Philip.

Jealous of the new Indian trade of the Portuguese, the Venetians incite the mamelukes of Egypt and the sovereign of Calicut to begin hostilities against them.

Citizens of Naples resist by violence the introduction of the Inquisition.

Suppression of the Lordship of the Isles by James IV of Scotland.

1505.  Death of Ivan the Great; he is succeeded on the Russian throne by his son, Basil (Vasili IV).

1506.  Expulsion by the Genoese of their nobles and the French.

Madagascar discovered by the Portuguese.

Building of the Great Harry, the first ship of the royal navy of England.

Beginning of the erection of St. Peter’s, at Rome, by Bramante d’Urbino;
Pope Julius II lays the first stone.

1507.  Louis XII goes to crush the revolt in Genoa; he succeeds.

1508.  Michelangelo begins the decoration of the Sistine chapel.  See “PAINTING OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL,” viii, 369.

1509.  Death of Henry VII; his son, Henry VIII, succeeds to the English throne; he marries Catherine of Aragon.

Campaign of Cardinal Ximenes in Africa; Oran taken by the Spaniards.

Diego Columbus, son of the discoverer, made governor of Spanish America, which is first settled this year.