The Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa, proving the Indian Ocean could be reached by sea.
Henry Tudor defeats and kills Richard III, taking the throne as Henry VII and founding the Tudor dynasty, effectively ending the Wars of the Roses.
King Nzinga a Nkuwu of the Kingdom of Kongo was baptized as João I, beginning Kongo's long relationship with Portugal and the Catholic Church.
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.
Lorenzo "the Magnificent", ruler of Florence and patron of artists such as Botticelli and Michelangelo, dies.
The Portuguese built São Jorge da Mina on the Gold Coast (present-day Ghana), the first European post in sub-Saharan Africa, which later became a hub of the slave trade.