Events of 1501

January - June

• January 17 - Cesare Borgia returns triumphantly to Rome from Romagna.
• April 23 - The Portuguese navigator Pedro Cabral and 6 ships return to Lisbon.
• May 20 - Joao da Nova Castell discovers Ascension Island.
• Amerigo Vespucci maps the two stars Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri, as well as the stars of the constellation Crux, which were below the horizon in Europe.

July - December

• July 15 - Explorer Pedro Cabral arrives in Lisbon.
• July 27 - Copernicus is formally installed as canon of Frauenberg Cathedral.
• August 26 - The Canton of Basel is partitioned in twain by the Swiss Tagsatzung, to create the two half-cantons of Basel-City and Basel-Country.
• October 13 - Treaty of Trente: Maximilian of Austria and Louis XII sign the treaty, with Austria recognizing all French conquests in the northern territories of Italy.
• October 30 - The Banquet of Chestnuts is held by Cesare Borgia in the Papal Palace of Rome.
• November 1 - Amerigo Vespucci discovers and names All Saints' Bay.
• November 4 - Philip de Blank and Juana "la Loca" leave for Spain.
• November 14 - Arthur, Prince of Wales, marries the Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon.

Undated

• Michelangelo returns to his native Florence to begin work on the statue David.
• Czar Ivan III of Russia invades Lithuania.
• Alexander Jagiellon becomes King of Poland.
• Ismail I conqueres Tabriz. He declares Shi'ism the official and compulsory religion under penalty of death.
• The Safavid kingdom is established in northern Iran.
• Martin Luther enters the University of Erfurt.
• Gaspar de Corte-Real, Portuguese navigator, makes the first documented European landing in North America since c. 1000 A.D.
• The famous Florentine political theorist, statesman, and writer Niccolo Machiavelli marries Marietta Corsini, who bears him six children.

Births

• January 16 - Anthony Denny, confidant of Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)
• January 17 - Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)
• May 6 - Pope Marcellus II (d. 1555)
• July 18 - Isabella of Burgundy, queen of Christian II of Denmark (d. 1526)
• September 24 - Gerolamo Cardano, Italian mathematician, physician, astrologer and gambler (d. 1567)
• November 25 - Yi Hwang, Korean Confucian scholar (d. 1570)
• date unknown
• Girolamo da Carpi, Italian painter (d. 1556)
• Dawit II of Ethiopia (d. 1540)
• John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, Tudor nobleman and politician (d. 1553)
• Murakami Yoshikiyo, Japanese nobleman (d. 1573)
• probable
• Nicholas Heath, archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor (approximate date; d. 1578)
• Garcia de Orta, Portuguese physician (d. 1568)
• Hilaire Penet, French composer
• Anne Boleyn 2 wife of Henry VIII

Deaths

• January 3 - Alisher Navoi, Central Asian poet (b. 1441)
• February 1 - Sigismund of Bavaria (b. 1439)
• May 7 - Giovanni Battista Zeno, cardinal
• September 20
• Agostino Barbarigo, Doge of Venice
• Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, stepson of Edward IV of England (b. 1457)
• date unknown
• Gaspar Corte-Real, Portuguese explorer (b. 1450)
• John I Albert of Poland (b. 1459)
• John Doget, English diplomat
• Constantine Lascaris, Greek scholar and grammarian