Events of 1498

• January 25 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama visits Quelimane and Moçambique in southeastern Africa.
• May 20 - Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut (now Kozhikode), India, becoming the first European to get there by sailing around Africa, thus discovering the maritime route to India. He finds a local Jewish merchant who is able to interpret for him.
• May 23 - Girolamo Savonarola, ruler of Florence, is executed for criticizing the Pope.
• June - Niccolo Machiavelli is elected by the Great Council as the second chancellor of the Republic of Florence.
• July 31 - On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.
• August 5 - Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher Columbus, founds the city of Santo Domingo, now part of the Dominican Republic, making it the oldest European City and permanent settlement in the New World.
• 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.
• The Portuguese arrive in Malacca, Indonesia.

Births

• April 9 - John, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (d. 1550)
• November 15 - Eleonore of Austria, Queen of Portugal and France (d. 1558)
• December 19 - Andreas Osiander, German Protestant theologian (d. 1552)
• date unknown
• Giulio Clovio, (Juraj Julije Klovic) Dalmatian miniaturist and illustrator (d. 1578)
• Marten Jacobszoon Heemskerk van Veen, Dutch painter (d. 1574)
• Anna of Masovia, Polish princess (d. 1557)
• Meera, Rajput princess (d. 1547)
• Sagara Taketo, Japanese retainer (d. 1551)
• Andrés de Urdaneta, Spanish Friar (d. 1568)
• Pier Paolo Vergerio, Italian religious reformer (d. 1565)
• Felix Manz, leader of the Swiss Anabaptists (d. 1527)

Deaths

• February 4 - Antonio Pollaiuolo, Italian painter (b. c. 1432)
• March 24 - Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire (b. 1470)
• April 7 - King Charles VIII of France (b. 1470)
• May 23 - Girolamo Savonarola, Italian religious reformer and ruler of Florence (b. 1452)
• December 7 - Alexander Hegius von Heek, German humanist (b. c. 1443)
• date unknown
• Tun Perak, Malay general and statesman (birth date unknown)
• Domenico Rosselli, Italian sculptor (b. c. 1439)
• probable
• Johannes Martini, Flemish composer (b. c. 1440)
• September 16 - Tomás de Torquemada, first grand inquisitor (b. 1420)