European diseases bring death on a massive scale to an American population that has no immunity

Vasco da Gama wins a trading treaty for Portuguese merchants after bombarding the Indian port of Calicut into submission

The Portuguese set up a trading post on the east African island of Zanzibar

The Portuguese establish a presence in Sri Lanka, trading in the island's crop of cinammon

The Portuguese seize Goa and make it their colonial capital in India

The Portuguese take control of Malacca, in the Malay peninsula, as a base for trade further east

The Portuguese make treaties in the Moluccas (or Spice Islands), to trade in cloves and nutmeg

Vasco Núñez de Balboa reaches the Pacific coast and claims the ocean for the king of Spain

The Portuguese capture Hormuz and establish a garrison to control the Gulf of Oman

The Spanish complete the conquest of Cuba and establish the town of Havana

The Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes lands on the coast of Mexico with 600 men, 16 horses and about 20 guns

Cortes and his tiny force capture Montezuma, ruler of the mighty Aztec empire, in his palace at Tenochtitlan

Cortes loses control of Tenochtitlan and has to escape in haste with his men during 'the Sorrowful Night'

The Turkish sultan, Suleiman I, marches into the kingdom of Hungary and captures Belgrade

After a little more than a year Cortes recaptures Tenochtitlan and finally establishes Spanish control over Mexico

The conquistadors, settling on land granted to them after the conquest, begin the long process of European emigration to America

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim leads Muslim Somalis in a holy war against Christian Ethiopia, destroying churches and shrines

Francisco Pizarro sails from Panama to attempt the conquest of Peru

The Aztec Virgin of Guadalupe appears to an Indian near Mexico City and tells him she is 'one of his kind'

Francisco Pizarro leads 168 men, with about 30 horses, into the territory of the Inca empire

Pizarro and his tiny force ambush and massacre the Inca court in Cajamarca, capturing Atahualpa himself alive

Atahualpa agrees to buy his freedom from the Spaniards with a room full of gold and another of silver

Although the ransom has been paid, Atahualpa is executed by the Spaniards — who ensure that he dies a Christian

The Spanish conquistadors capture and sack the Inca capital of Cuzco, high in the Andes

The Portuguese force the local ruler to cede to them the island of Bombay