1504

January–June

• January 1 - French troops of King Louis XII surrender Gaeta to the Spanish, under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba.
• January 21 - After the death of Sten Sture the Elder on December 14 the year before, Svante Nilsson is elected the new Regent of Sweden.
• January 31 - Treaty of Lyon: France cedes Naples to Ferdinand II of Aragon, who becomes King of Naples as Ferdinand III.
• February 29 - Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse this night, to convince the indigenous Jamaican people to provide him with supplies.
• April 1 - English guilds become subject to state control.
• April 23 - Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, routes troops to Bavaria.

  July–December

• September 8 - Michelangelo's sculpture of David is completed in Florence.
• September 13 - Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand issue a Royal Warrant for the construction of Capilla Real, a Royal Chapel, to be built.
• September 22 - A settled engagement is arranged, between Karel of Luxembourg and Claudia the Beaujeu.
• September 22 - Treaty of Blois: Philip I of Castile, Maximilian I and Louis XII agree to terms.
• October 12 - Isabella I of Castile signs her testament.
• November 7 - Christopher Columbus returns to Spain from his fourth voyage, during which he and his younger son, Ferdinand, explored the coast of Central America from Belize to Panama.
• November 26 - Isabella I of Castile, Catholic Queen of Castile and Aragon, dies, ending her patronage for Columbus. The Crown of Castile passes to her daughter Joanna.
• December 8 - Islamic scholar Ahmad ibn Abi Jum'ah issues the Oran fatwa for Muslims in Spain.
• December 24 - The Alvsson's rebellion was crushed at Olsborg Castle in Båhuslen.

  Date unknown

• Babur besieges and captures Kabul.
• Islamization of the Sudan region: A Funj leader, Amara Dunqas, founds the Sultanate of Sennar.
• Sheikh Ahmad, final leader of the Great Horde, is last heard of as a Lithuanian prisoner at Vilnius.
• Juan de la Cosa begins his first independent voyage, to the Isthmus of Panama.
• In Florence, Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli become involved in a scheme to divert the Arno River, cutting the water supply to Pisa to force its surrender: Colombino, the project foreman, fails to follow da Vinci’s design, and the project is a major failure.
• Venetian ambassadors suggest to Turkey the construction of a Suez Canal.
• Aldus Manutius publishes his edition of Demosthenes in Venice.
• Matthias Grünewald paints a Crucifixion.
• The Signoria of Florence commissions both Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo to paint the walls of the Grand Council Chamber in the Palazzo Vecchio.
• Raphael paints The Marriage of the Virgin, which exemplifies some major principles of High Renaissance art.