1491: King Nzinga of Kongo becomes first African Christian king
January: Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain, falls
April: Jews are expelled from Iberia
August: Spaniard Rodrigo Borgia elected as Pope Alexander VI
October: Columbus discovers the West Indies
Nicholas V, Romanus Pontifex (1456)
Alexander VI, Inter Caetera (1493)
Paul III, Sublimus Dei (1537)
Christopher Columbus, the Third Order Franciscan
