1541
| Years: 1538 1539 1540 - 1541 - 1542 1543 1544 | |
| Decades: 1510s 1520s 1530s - 1540s - 1550s 1560s 1570s | |
| Centuries: 15th century - 16th century - 17th century | |
Events
- The first official translation of the entire Bible in Swedish
- February 12 - Pedro de Valdivia founds Santiago de Chile.
- May 8 - Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River naming it Rio de Espiritu Santo.
- May 23 - Jacques Cartier departs Saint-Malo France on his third voyage.
- August 29 - The Janissaries of Suleiman the Magnificent take Buda by ruse, hiding themselves as tourists.
- Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent seals off The Golden Gate in Jerusalem.
- Irish Parliament declares Ireland to be a kingdom
Births
- March 21 - Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (died 1587)
- April 8 - Michele Mercati, physician who was superintendent of the Vatican Botanical Garden (died 1593)
- Pierre Charron, French philosopher (died 1603)
- Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, English nobleman (died 1576)
- El Greco, Spanish artist (died 1614)
- Hatano Hideharu, Japanese samurai (died 1579)
- Abe Masakatsu, important member of the Abe clan of Mikawa
- Mizuno Tadashige, Japanese nobleman (died 1600)
- Guđbrandur Ţorláksson, mathematician
Deaths
- May 27 - Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury, daughter of George, Duke of Clarence (executed) (born 1473)
- June 26 - Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistador (born 1475)
- July 4 - Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish conquistador (born 1495)
- August 1 - Simon Grynaeus, German scholar and theologian (born 1493)
- September 24 - Paracelsus, famous alchemist
- November 24 - Margaret Tudor, queen of James IV of Scotland (born 1489)
- Francisco Alvarez, Portuguese missionary and explorer (born 1465)
- Wolfgang Fabricius Capito, German reformer
- Jean Clouet, French miniature painter
- Thomas Culpeper, young courtier in Henry VIII's time
- Giovanni Guidiccioni, Italian poet (born 1480)
- Andreas Karlstadt, Christian theologian and reformer
- Gendun Gyatso, 2nd Dalai Lama
- Jerzy Radziwill, Polish nobleman (born 1480)
- Amago Tsunehisa, Japanese warlord
- Juan de Valdés, Spanish religious writer (born 1500)