The ship Victoria under Juan Sebastián Elcano returns to Spain, completing the circumnavigation begun by Magellan.
Date given in the Julian calendar.
Warriors led by the chieftain Lapulapu defeat Ferdinand Magellan's men on Mactan island; Magellan is killed.
Spanish conquistadors under Hernán Cortés land on Mexico's Gulf Coast and found Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, beginning the conquest of the Aztec Empire.
A small Spanish force led by Francisco Pizarro ambushes and captures the Inca emperor Atahualpa, beginning the fall of the Inca Empire.
Afonso de Albuquerque captures Malacca, ending the Malacca Sultanate and beginning European colonial presence in Southeast Asia.
Afonso de Albuquerque seizes Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate; it becomes the capital of Portuguese India until 1961.
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.