1488

• January 8 – The Royal Netherlands Navy is formed, by the decree of Maximillian of Austria.
• February 3 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay, after rounding the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa, becoming the first known European to travel this far south, and entering the Indian Ocean.
• February 28 – Choe Bu (1454–1504), the Korean Commissioner of Registers for the island of Cheju, shipwrecks on the south east coast of China in Taizhou, Zhejiang.
• June 11 – Battle of Sauchieburn: James IV of Scotland becomes king after his father is killed in action.{{cite book|author1=Richard Oram|author2=Richard D. Oram|author3=Geoffrey Stell|title=Lordship and Architecture in Medieval and Renaissance Scotland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s-LVAAAAMAAJ|year=2005|publisher=John Donald|isbn=978-0-85976-628-9|page=147}}
• July 12 – Joseon Dynasty official Choe Bu returns to Korea, after months of shipwrecked travel in China.Brook, Timothy. (1998). The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China. Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN|0-520-22154-0}} (Paperback), p. 51.
• July 28 – Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier: Troops loyal to King Charles VIII of France defeat rebel forces, led by the Dukes of Orleans and Brittany, in the main engagement of the Mad War.{{cite book|author1=Alfonso Lowe|author2=Hugh Seymour-Davies|title=The Companion Guide to the South of Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vy_v0vWgkzsC&pg=PA242|year=2000|publisher=Companion Guides|isbn=978-1-900639-33-0|pages=242}}
• September 9 – Anne of Brittany becomes Duchess of Brittany at the age of 11. Her marriage to King Charles VIII in 1491 effectively ends Breton independence from France.

• Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford, takes possession of Cardiff Castle.
• Michelangelo Buonarroti becomes apprentice to Domenico Ghirlandaio.
• The city of Bikaner in western India is founded by Rao Bika.
• Rathbornes Candles is established in Dublin; the company is still trading in the 21st century.

• January 6 – Helius Eobanus Hessus, German Latin poet (d. 1540)
• January 20
• John George, Marquis of Montferrat, Italian noble (d. 1533)
• Sebastian Münster, German scholar, cartographer, and cosmographer (d. 1552)
• March 19 – Johannes Magnus, last Catholic Archbishop of Sweden (d. 1544){{cite book|author1=Johannes|author2=Brita Larsson|title=Johannes Magnus' Latin Letters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ujnkAAAAMAAJ|year=1992|publisher=Lund University Press|isbn=978-0-86238-304-6|page=9}}
• April 16 – Jungjong of Joseon (d. 1544)
• April 21 – Ulrich von Hutten, German religious reformer (d. 1523)
• May 1 – Sidonie of Bavaria, eldest daughter of Duke Albrecht IV of Bavaria-Munich (d. 1505)
• May 5 – Lê Uy Mục, 8th king of the later Lê dynasty of Vietnam (d. 1509)
• May 7 – John III of the Palatinate, Administrator of the Bishopric of Regensburg (d. 1538)
• June – Heinrich Glarean, Swiss music theorist (d. 1563)
• June 29 – Pedro Pacheco de Villena, Spanish Catholic cardinal (d. 1560)
• July 15 – Juan Álvarez de Toledo, Spanish Catholic cardinal (d. 1557)
• October 17 – Ursula of Brandenburg, Duchess consort of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. 1510)
• December 15 – Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria (d. 1550)
• date unknown
• Rabbi Yosef Karo, Spanish Jewish scholar (d. 1575)
• Oswald Myconius, Swiss religious reformer (d. 1552)
• Jan Tarnowski, Polish nobleman (d. 1561)
• Thomas of Villanova, Spanish bishop (d. 1555)
• Gustav Trolle, Archbishop of Uppsala (d. 1533)
• Elisabeth of Nassau-Siegen, German noblewoman (d. 1559)
• probable
• Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, Lord Chancellor of England (d. 1544)
• Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur de Bonnivet, French soldier (d. 1525)
• Myles Coverdale, English Bible translator (d. 1568)
• Lütfi Pasha, Ottoman statesman (d. 1564)

• April 1 – John II, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1426)
• April 14 – Girolamo Riario, Lord of Imola and Forli (b. 1443)
• May 9 – Frederick I of Liegnitz, Duke of Chojnów and Strzelin from 1453 (b. 1446)
• May 26 – Iizasa Ienao, Japanese swordsman (b. c. 1387)
• June 11 – King James III of Scotland (at the Battle of Sauchieburn; b. c. 1451){{cite web |title=King James III: Biography on Undiscovered Scotland |url=https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/monarchs/jamesiii.html |website=www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk |access-date=29 January 2021}}
• July 18 – Alvise Cadamosto, Italian explorer (b. 1432)
• July 28 – Edward Woodville, Lord Scales (at the Battle of St. Aubin-du-Cormier; b. c. 1456)
• July 30 – Clarice Orsini, Florentine noblewoman and wife of Lorenzo de’ Medici (b. 1453)
• September – Abu 'Amr 'Uthman, Hafsid caliph of Ifriqiya (b. 1419)
• September – Lasse Huittinen, Finnish thief
• September 9 – Francis II, Duke of Brittany (fell from a horse) (b. 1433){{cite book|author=Susan Groag Bell|title=The Lost Tapestries of the City of Ladies: Christine de Pizan's Renaissance Legacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mowDH_q96boC&pg=PA97|date=29 November 2004|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-92878-7|pages=97}}
• September 13 – Charles II, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1434)
• October 11 – Geoffroy Cœur, French nobleman, son of Jacques Cœur
• November 1 – Johannes Crabbe, Flemish abbot and bibliophile
• date unknown
• Mary Stewart, Countess of Arran (b. 1453)
• Andrea del Verrocchio, Italian sculptor (b. c. 1435)
• Borommatrailokkanat, Ayutthaya king (b. 1431)

{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1488}}