1511

January–June

• April 9
• *St John's College, Cambridge, England, founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, receives its charter.
• *The Şahkulu Rebellion breaks out in Anatolia.

  July–December

• July - Henry VIII of England's flagship, the Mary Rose, is launched at Portsmouth.
• August 15 - Capture of Malacca: Afonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers Malacca, the capital of the Sultanate of Malacca, giving Portugal control over the Strait of Malacca, through which all sea-going trade between China and India is concentrated. The Sultanate then establishes rule from Johor, starting decades of skirmishes against the Portuguese to regain the fallen city. While taking the city, the Portuguese slaughter a large community of Chinese merchants living there. Malacca is the first city in Southeast Asia to be taken by a Western nation, gaining home rule only in 1957, when it becomes part of Malaysia.
• October 12 - James IV of Scotland's great ship, the Michael, is launched at Newhaven, Edinburgh; she is the largest ship afloat at this date.
• November - The Treaty of Westminster creates an alliance between Henry VIII of England and Ferdinand II of Aragon against France.
• November 20 - The vessel Frol de la Mar, transporting Afonso de Albuquerque and the valuable treasure of the conquest of Malacca, sinks en route to Goa.

  Date unknown

• Diego Velázquez and Hernán Cortés conquer Cuba; Velázquez is appointed Governor.
• Duarte Barbosa arrives in India for the second time. He works as clerk in the factory of Cananor, and as the liaison with the Indian rajah.
• After the fall of Malacca, Afonso de Albuquerque sends Duarte Fernandes on a diplomatic mission to Burma and Siam, becoming the first European to visit these countries diplomatically.
• Ferdinand II of Aragon observes that "one black can do the work of four Indians".
• Juan de Agramonte, a sailor from Spain, is thought possibly to have travelled to Newfoundland.
• Taíno, an indigenous uprising, occurs in southwestern Puerto Rico near Guánica.
• The first black slaves arrive in Colombia.
• The Spanish conquest of Yucatán begins.
• Erasmus publishes his most famous work, The Praise of Folly, as Moriae encomium / Laus stultitiae.