1500

1500 (MD) was a leap year starting on Wednesday in the Julian calendar. The year was not a leap year in the proleptic Gregorian calendar. It was the last year of the 15th century.

1500 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1500 MD
Ab urbe condita	2253
Armenian calendar	949 ԹՎ ՋԽԹ
Assyrian calendar	6250
Balinese saka calendar	1421–1422
Bengali calendar	907
Berber calendar	2450
English Regnal year	15 Hen. 7 – 16 Hen. 7
Buddhist calendar	2044
Burmese calendar	862
Byzantine calendar	7008–7009
Chinese calendar	己未年 (Earth Goat) 4196 or 4136     — to — 庚申年 (Metal Monkey) 4197 or 4137
Coptic calendar	1216–1217
Discordian calendar	2666
Ethiopian calendar	1492–1493
Hebrew calendar	5260–5261
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1556–1557
- Shaka Samvat	1421–1422
- Kali Yuga	4600–4601
Holocene calendar	11500
Igbo calendar	500–501
Iranian calendar	878–879
Islamic calendar	905–906
Japanese calendar	Meiō 9 (明応９年)
Javanese calendar	1417–1418
Julian calendar	1500 MD
Korean calendar	3833
Minguo calendar	412 before ROC 民前412年
Nanakshahi calendar	32
Thai solar calendar	2042–2043
Tibetan calendar	ས་མོ་ལུག་ལོ་ (female Earth-Sheep) 1626 or 1245 or 473     — to — ལྕགས་ཕོ་སྤྲེ་ལོ་ (male Iron-Monkey) 1627 or 1246 or 474

The year was seen as being important by many Christians in Europe. They thought it would be the start of the end of the world. Their belief was based on the phrase "half-time after the time" when the apocalypse was due to occur. This phrase appears in the Book of Revelation and was seen as referring to 1500. This time was also just after the Old World's discovery of the Americas in 1492. And it was greatly influenced by the New World.

Historically, the year 1500 is often seen as the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Era.

Events

• Europe's population was about 60 million.
• January 5 – Duke Ludovico Sforza recaptures Milan, but is soon driven out again by the French.
• January 26 – Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to discover Brazil.
• April 21 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral officially discovers Brazil and claims the land for Portugal.
• November 11 – Treaty of Granada – Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon agree to divide the Kingdom of Naples between them.
• Emperor Go-Kashiwabara ascends to the throne of Japan.
• Battle of Hemmingstedt: The Danish army fails to conquer the peasants' republic of Dithmarschen.
• Second Battle of Lepanto – The Turkish fleet of Kemal Re'is defeats the Venetians. The Turks proceed to capture Modon, Lepanto, and Koron.
• The Luo, a Nilotic people from modern Sudan, settle the Cwezi states, establishing the state of Buganda. (approximate date)
• Diogo Dias is the first European to see Madagascar.