Christopher Columbus's Spanish-sponsored expedition makes landfall on an island in the Bahamas.
Date given in the Julian calendar.
Emir Muhammad XII surrenders to Ferdinand and Isabella, ending the last Muslim state on the Iberian Peninsula.
Ferdinand and Isabella order the Jews of Castile and Aragon to convert or leave their kingdoms.
Spain and Portugal agree to divide newly found lands outside Europe along a meridian in the Atlantic.
From the 16th to the 19th century, an estimated 12.5 million enslaved Africans were shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas, with profound consequences for both continents.
A Portuguese fleet under Pedro Álvares Cabral reaches the coast of Brazil, beginning Portugal's claim to and colonization of the land.
The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile later unites their crowns, laying the foundation of a unified Spain.