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.
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 14th century – 15th century – 16th century |
| Decades: | 1470s 1480s 1490s – 1500s – 1510s 1520s 1530s |
| Years: | 1497 1498 1499 – 1500 – 1501 1502 1503 |
| 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 | 阴土羊年 (female Earth-Goat) 1626 or 1245 or 473 — to — 阳金猴年 (male Iron-Monkey) 1627 or 1246 or 474 |
The year was seen as being especially important by many Christians in Europe, who thought it would bring the beginning 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, which 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 therefore was influenced greatly by the New World.[1]
Historically, the year 1500 is also often identified, somewhat arbitrarily, as marking the end of the Middle Ages and beginning of the Early Modern Era.
The end of this year marked the halfway point of the 2nd millennium, as there were 500 years before it and 500 years after it.
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 14th century – 15th century – 16th century |
| Decades: | 1470s 1480s 1490s – 1500s – 1510s 1520s 1530s |
| Years: | 1497 1498 1499 – 1500 – 1501 1502 1503 |
Events
change- 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.