Events

January – Battle of Calicut
March – August – First siege of Cochin (1503)
Kingdom of Kochi is taken over by the Portuguese creating the first European settlement in India
Unniraman Koyikal I reign as King of Cochin ends
Unniraman Koyikal II reign as King of Cochin begins
The Portuguese army under Commander Dom Afonso de Albuquerque who reached Cochin in 1503, defeated the enemies of the King of Cochin and in return he gave them permission to build a fort in Kochi
The Casa de Contratación was founded by Queen Isabella I of Castile in 1503, eleven years after the discovery of the Americas in 1492.^[1]
Diogo Fernandes Pereira visited Socotra, the first European to do so, and he discovered the Mascarenes archipelago

Establishments

Pallipuram Fort established by the Portuguese in Kerala
St. Francis Church, in Kochi, Kerala, the oldest European church in India^[2]^[3]

^ John Michael Francis (2006). Iberia and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History : a Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-85109-421-9.
^ "St. Francis Church". Wonderful Kerala. Archived from the original on 17 March 2008. Retrieved 21 February 2008.
^ Ayub, Akber (ed), Kerala: Maps & More, Fort Kochi, 2006 edition 2007 reprint, pp. 20-24, Stark World Publishing, Bangalore, ISBN 81-902505-2-3

Years in India (1500–present)

Pre-British period

British India (1612–1950)