1498

Year 1498 (MCDXCVIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar, the 1498th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 498th year of the 2nd millennium, the 98th year of the 15th century, and the 9th and pre-final year of the 1490s decade.

Vasco da Gama reaches India by sea.

1498 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1498 MCDXCVIII
Ab urbe condita	2251
Armenian calendar	947 ԹՎ ՋԽԷ
Assyrian calendar	6248
Balinese saka calendar	1419–1420
Bengali calendar	904–905
Berber calendar	2448
English Regnal year	13 Hen. 7 – 14 Hen. 7
Buddhist calendar	2042
Burmese calendar	860
Byzantine calendar	7006–7007
Chinese calendar	丁巳年 (Fire Snake) 4195 or 3988     — to — 戊午年 (Earth Horse) 4196 or 3989
Coptic calendar	1214–1215
Discordian calendar	2664
Ethiopian calendar	1490–1491
Hebrew calendar	5258–5259
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1554–1555
- Shaka Samvat	1419–1420
- Kali Yuga	4598–4599
Holocene calendar	11498
Igbo calendar	498–499
Iranian calendar	876–877
Islamic calendar	903–904
Japanese calendar	Meiō 7 (明応７年)
Javanese calendar	1415–1416
Julian calendar	1498 MCDXCVIII
Korean calendar	3831
Minguo calendar	414 before ROC 民前414年
Nanakshahi calendar	30
Thai solar calendar	2040–2041
Tibetan calendar	མེ་མོ་སྦྲུལ་ལོ་ (female Fire-Snake) 1624 or 1243 or 471     — to — ས་ཕོ་རྟ་ལོ་ (male Earth-Horse) 1625 or 1244 or 472

Events

January–December

• March 2 – Vasco da Gama visits Quelimane and Mozambique, in southeastern Africa.
• April 14 – Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama reaches Malindi, in modern-day Kenya.
• May
  • John Cabot leaves Bristol on an expedition, never to be seen again.
  • The English Merchant Adventurers are granted a trade monopoly with the Netherlands.^[1]
• May 20 – Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut (modern-day Kozhikode), India, becoming the first European to get there by sailing around Africa, thus discovering the maritime route to India. He finds a local Arab merchant who is able to interpret for him.
• May 23 – Girolamo Savonarola, ruler of Florence, is executed for criticizing the Pope.
• May 30 – Christopher Columbus sets out on his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere from Sanlúcar, Spain.
• June – Niccolò Machiavelli is elected by the Great Council as the second chancellor of the Republic of Florence.
• Summer – The final Welsh revolt of the medieval era breaks out in Meirionnydd, North Wales; Harlech Castle is captured by the rebels before the revolt is suppressed.
• July 31 – Columbus becomes the first European to visit the island of Trinidad.
• August 1 – Columbus discovers the mouth of the Orinoco.
• August 4–12 – Columbus explores the Gulf of Paria. On August 5 he lands on the Paria Peninsula,^[2] the first definitely recorded landing of Europeans on the mainland Americas.
• September 20 – 1498 Nankai earthquake off the coast of Japan.

Date unknown

• João Fernandes Lavrador and Pedro de Barcelos journey to Greenland; during their voyage, they discover the land which they name Labrador.
• The Wiener Hofmusikkapelle, a forerunner of the Vienna Boys' Choir, is founded by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.
• Gun barrel rifling is invented in Augsburg, Bavaria.
• Probable date at which Leonardo da Vinci completes the painting The Last Supper, on the refectory wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan).

Births

Maarten van Heemskerck born 1 June

• January 31 – Tiberio Crispo, Italian clergyman (d. 1566)
• February 4 – George I of Württemberg-Mömpelgard (d. 1558)
• February 21 – Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland, English earl (d. 1549)
• February 25 – Francesco of Saluzzo, Marquess of Saluzzo (d. 1537)
• April 5 – Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Italian condottiero (d. 1526)
• April 9 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (d. 1550)
• June 1 – Maarten van Heemskerck, Dutch painter (d. 1574)
• June 30 – Wilhelm von Brandenburg, Archbishop of Riga (d. 1563)
• July 25 – Hernando de Aragón, Spanish Catholic archbishop (d. 1575)
• August 23 – Miguel da Paz, Prince of Portugal (d. 1500)
• August 24 – John, Hereditary Prince of Saxony, German prince (d. 1537)
• November 1 – Giovanni Ricci, Italian cardinal (d. 1574)
• November 15 – Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Portugal and France (d. 1558)^[3]
• December 1 – Giovanni Michele Saraceni, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1568)
• December 19 – Andreas Osiander, German Protestant theologian (d. 1552)
• date unknown
  • Giulio Clovio, (Juraj Julije Klovic) Dalmatian miniaturist and illustrator (d. 1578)
  • Anna of Masovia, Polish princess (d. 1557)
  • Meera, Rajput princess (d. 1547)
  • Sagara Taketō, Japanese retainer (d. 1551)
  • Pier Paolo Vergerio, Italian religious reformer (d. 1565)
  • Felix Manz, leader of the Swiss Anabaptists (d. 1527)

Deaths

• February 4 – Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Italian painter (b. c. 1432)
• April 7 – King Charles VIII of France (b. 1470)^[4]
• May 23 – Girolamo Savonarola, Italian religious reformer and ruler of Florence (b. 1452; executed)^[5]
• June 7 – Anđeo Zvizdović, Bosnian Franciscan friar and evangelist (b. c. 1420)
• July 14 – Gentile Budrioli, Italian astrologer and herbalist
• August 17 – John Scrope, 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton, English baron (b. 1437)
• August 23 – Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, eldest daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (b. 1470)^[6]
• September 14 – Giovanni il Popolano, Italian diplomat (b. 1467)
• September 16 – Tomás de Torquemada, Spanish Dominican friar and first Grand Inquisitor (b. 1420)^[7]
• December 7 – Alexander Hegius von Heek, German humanist (b. c. 1443)^[8]
• December 19 – Jeanne de Laval, French noble (b. 1433)
• date unknown
  • Tun Perak, Malay general and statesman
  • Domenico Rosselli, Italian sculptor (b. c. 1439)
• probable – Johannes Martini, Flemish composer (b. c. 1440)