1480: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Events

• Ivan III becomes Tsar of the Russians
• Moscow becomes independent from the Empire of the Golden Horde of the Mongols.
• Ludovico Sforza becomes Regent of Milan (reigns until 1499)
• Concorts and co-rulers Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile initiate the Spanish Inquisition (looking for heretics in converted Jews)
• Leonardo da Vinci invents the parachute
• Mohamed II fails in his attempt to capture Rhodes from the Knights of Rhodes

Births

• April 14/ April 18 - Lucrezia Borgia, illegitimate daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, the later Pope Alexander VI (d. 1519).
• Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese navigator (d. 1521)
• Georg Faust, originator of Faust legend
• Palma Vecchio, Italian painter (d. 1528)
• Diego Colón, Portugal, baptized Diogo Colom, first and only child of Christopher Columbus's marriage to Filipe Perestrelo Moniz. Despite leading a dramatic life of his own, he is best remembered as the motherless four-year-old who made Columbus a "single dad." The mariner arriving in Palos, Spain, in early 1485 with a small son in tow has long been a favorite theme for painters and sculpters. (d. 1526)

Deaths

• Jean Fouquet, French painter (b. 1420)