1498

Events 
 Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama visits Quelimane and Moçambique in southeastern Africa.
 May 20 – Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut (now Kozhikode), India, becoming the first European to get there by sailing around Africa.
 May 23 – Girolamo Savonarola, ruler of Florence, is executed for criticizing the Pope.
 July 31 – On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.
 Christopher Columbus lands on the South American continent.
 The Portuguese sail up to the coasts of modern Tanzania and Kenya.
 John Cabot leaves port on an expedition, never to be seen again.