1500 to 1510

Literature

"Philip Sparrow." John Skelton. 1500. Poetry. Humorous elegy for a pet bird. "Philip" is the traditional name for sparrows, derived from the sound of the bird's chirp.

Everyman. Anonymous. British. 1500. Play/Allegory. Morality play. Everyman receives his summons from Death. Only Good Deeds will accompany him.

The Lisle Letters. Viscount Lisle. British. 1500-1550. Letters. Published in 1981. Vivid, comprehensive picture of political and domestic concerns of a high-ranking English family.

Society

1501. Spanish settlers at Santo Domingo introduce African slaves into Hispaniola--the first importation of blacks to the New World.

1501. Amerigo Vespucci makes a second voyage to the New World. Vespucci's account will express his conviction that it is not part of Asia but indeed a New World.

1502. Castile expels the last of the Moors, who have been in the country since 711.

1502. Montezuma II ascends the throne of the Aztec Empire at Tenochtitlan at age 22.

1502. Amerigo Vespucci returns in September from a voyage to the New World. An account of this voyage will be the basis of the name "America."

1503. Christopher Columbus discovers Panama, November 2.

1503. Christopher Columbus observes rubber on his fourth voyage to the New World.

1503. England's Canterbury Cathedral is completed after 436 years of construction.

1504. Castile's Isabella dies, November 24, at age 53 after a 30-year reign in which she has financed the voyages of Columbus and persecuted non-Christians with the Inquisition.

1506. Lisbon has a riot in which between 2,000 and 4,000 converted Jews are slaughtered.

1506. Christopher Columbus dies in obscurity, May 21, at age 55.

1507. Cosmographiae Introductio by German geographer Martin Waldseemuller, 37, gives Amerigo Vespucci credit for discovering the New World and calls it America.

1508. England's Henry VII dies, April 22, at age 52. Succeeded by his athletic, well-educated son, who ascends the throne at age 17 as Henry VIII.

1508. Spanish conquistadors found a colony at Darien on the Isthmus of Panama.

Literature

Amadis de Gaula. Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo. Spanish. 1508. Romance. Amadis exemplifies the chivalric ideals of valor, purity and fidelity.

Society

1510. A horizontal water wheel designed by Leonardo da Vinci pioneers the water turbine.