Year 1524 (MDXXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June January 17 – Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, on board La Dauphine in the service of Francis I of France, sets out from Madeira for the New World, to seek out a western sea route to the Pacific Ocean. March – Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado destroys the Kʼicheʼ kingdom of Qʼumarkaj, taking the capital, Quiché. March 1 (approximate date) – da Verrazzano's expedition makes landfall at Cape Fear. April 17 – Verrazzano's expedition makes the first European entry into New York Bay, and sights the island of Manhattan. April 30 – Battle of the Sesia: Spanish forces under Charles de Lannoy defeat the French army in Italy, under William de Bonnivet. The French, now commanded by François de St. Pol, withdraw from the Italian Peninsula. May 26 – Atiquipaque, the most important city of the Xinca people is conquered by the Spanish resulting in a significant reduction in the Xinca population. June 8 – Battle of Acajutla: Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado defeats a battalion of Pipiles, in the neighborhoods of present day Acajutla, El Salvador. July–December Summer – Paracelsus visits Salzburg; he also visits Villach during the year. July 8 – Verrazzano's expedition returns to Dieppe. August–September – Marseille is besieged by Imperial forces, under the Duke of Bourbon. August – Protestant theologians Martin Luther and Andreas Karlstadt dispute at Jena. October 28 – A French army invading Italy, under King Francis, besieges Pavia. December 8 – Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba founds the city of Granada, Nicaragua, the oldest Hispanic city in the mainland of the Western Hemisphere. The first Dalecarlian rebellions break out in Sweden. Births February 10 – Albrecht Giese, German politician and diplomat (d. 1580) February 17 – Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, French cardinal (d. 1574) May 28 – Selim II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1574) June 12 – Achilles Statius, Portuguese humanist (d. 1581) June 24 – Johann Stössel, German theologian (d. 1576) August 23 – François Hotman, French Protestant lawyer and writer (d. 1590) September 7 – Thomas Erastus, Swiss theologian (d. 1583) September 11 – Pierre de Ronsard, French poet (d. 1585) October 4 – Francisco Vallés, Spanish physician (d. 1592) October 5 – Rani Durgavati, Queen of Gond (d. 1564) October 9 – Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma (d. 1586)