Year 1502 (MDII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June January 1 – Portuguese explorers, led by Gonçalo Coelho, sail into Guanabara Bay, Brazil, mistaking it for the mouth of a river, which they name Rio de Janeiro. February 12 – Isabella I issues an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity. May 3 – Portuguese navigator João da Nova discovers the uninhabited island of Saint Helena. May 11 – Christopher Columbus leaves Cadiz, Spain for his fourth and final trip to the New World. He explores Central America, and discovers St. Lucia (possibly), the Isthmus of Panama, Honduras, and Costa Rica. July–December July – Ismail I becomes Shah of Persia. August 14 – Christopher Columbus lands at Trujillo, and names the country 'Honduras'. September – A Greek and Italian parallel text edition of Herodotus' Histories, done for Count Matteo Maria Boiardo, is published in Venice by Aldus Manutius. September 18 – Christopher Columbus lands at Costa Rica. September 29; The Wedding of Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary and Anne of Foix-Candale October 1 – An annular solar eclipse occurs. November 7 – Columbus reaches the coast of Honduras, and passes south to Panama. December 26 – Cesare Borgia kills Ramiro d'Orco; this incident is referenced in Machiavelli's The Prince December 31 – Cesare Borgia (son of Pope Alexander VI) occupies Urbino, where he imprisons two potentially treacherous allies, Vitellozzo and Oliveretto; he executes them the next morning. Date unknown The first African slaves brought to the New World arrive at the island of Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and Dominican Republic). Bristol merchants return from Newfoundland (first so named this year from a letter) to England, carrying three native people and cod from the Grand Banks. Moctezuma II is elected emperor of the Aztecs, following the death of Ahuitzotl. Meñli I Giray defeats the Golden Horde and sacks their capital, Sarai. Wittenberg University is founded. In Germany, Peter Henlein of Nuremberg uses iron parts and coiled springs to build a portable timepiece. In Italy, Asher Lämmlein declares that the Jewish Messiah will arrive in the next 6 months, resulting in the year of penance. The King's School, Macclesfield, England, is founded by Sir John Percyvale. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa receives the degree of magister artium from the University