Age of Exploration

By 332371
  • 1492

    Columbian Exchange

    With Columbus arriving in America, they immediately started trading with the colonies. Crops like tomatoes, tobacco, cacao, and peanuts were traded from America to Europe.
  • Columbus Arrives at the Caribbean
    Oct 12, 1492

    Columbus Arrives at the Caribbean

    Spain sends Columbus on a voyage to find a trade route to Asia and they expected a successful outcome with Portugal's recent achievement. Once they made it to land Columbus originally thought they made it to East Asia. Little did they know they found new land for them. He introduced America to Europe. (technically did not fully discover it since natives lived in the Americas before he arrived)
  • John Cabot Arrived in North America
    Jun 24, 1497

    John Cabot Arrived in North America

    When he arrived at shore he originally thought he was in Asia but turns out he was in Canada. This was the earliest period anyone from europe had arrived in the 'New World'.
  • Vasco da Gama
    1498

    Vasco da Gama

    He was able to sail from Europe to India by rounding Africa's Cape of Good Hope. He found an ocean trading route and helped the development of the spice trade.
  • Apr 22, 1500

    Portugal Acquires Brazil

    Spain and Portugal agreed that Portugal can have all of Brazil with a treaty.Some Portuguese moved there to farm sugar.
  • Aug 13, 1521

    Tenochtitlan Conquered by Spain

    Hernan Cortez invaded Tenochtitlan with 100 other men, Somethings that aided in his victory was a smallpox outbreak and the Spanish had more advanced weaponry.
  • Giovanni da Verrazzano
    1524

    Giovanni da Verrazzano

    He set sail in order to look for the passage to the Pacific Ocean and Asia which he did not find. He ended up sailing along the coast of the new world. He charted unknown details to European mapmakers which would help future explorers.
  • New France was Founded
    Jul 24, 1534

    New France was Founded

    After explorer Jacques Cartier arrived at the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Claiming the land near there for France. With the name 'New France' given by King Louis XIV
  • Sir Francis Drake
    1577

    Sir Francis Drake

    He is well known for circumnavigating the earth. As he went, he preyed on Spanish ships, robbing them of their valuables. His expedition was intended to pass around South America through the Strait of Magellan and to explore the other coast.
  • East India Company

    This was a company developed by British merchants in order to trade with the West Indies. They traded spices, cotton, silk, peppers, etc.
  • Dutch East India Company

    Dutch East India Company

    The Dutch created their own company in order to trade within the East Indies, explore, and colonize. It was sponsored by the Dutch government and became very powerful.
  • Samuel de Champlain

    Samuel de Champlain

    He founded Quebec and the New France. He established the first permanent French settlement in the Americas. He strengthened French colonies and explored northern New York, the Ottawa River, and the eastern Great Lakes.
  • Henry Hudson

    Henry Hudson

    He set out with his crew to find the Northeast passage, but along the way, conditions became rough. He switched over to looking for the Northwest passage, but found neither. He traveled south along the Atlantic coast and into a great river. That river would be known as the Hudson from that point on.
  • Treaty of Paris

    After the signing of the treaty with the war over, the British withheld a victory and gained new territories from France including New France.
  • Discovering Hawaii

    Discovering Hawaii

    James Cook, an English explorer, discovers Hawaii while on his 3rd expedition with the H.M.S. Resolution and Discovery. He and his crew are welcomed as gods until a crewmate dies and they are revealed as normal mortals. Roughly a month and a half after his second trip to Hawaii, Cook is killed by the Natives and the Resolution and Discovery go back to England.
  • Colonizing Australia

    On May 13, 1787, Arthur Phillip leads a 252-day voyage towards the newly discovered Australia. There Phillip and his men create a penal colony at Botany Bay.
  • Circumnavigating Australia

    Matthew Flinders sails in the HMS Investigator to explore New Holland's (modern day Australia) coast. He becomes the first to circumnavigate the continent.
  • René Caillié Goes to Timbuktu

    René Caillié is the first person in Europe to return from Timbuktu alive. He gains a desire to become an explorer after being part of a crew for a French naval vessel and sails to Timbuktu. He stays there for 2 weeks then returns to France.
  • The Magnetic North

    The Magnetic North

    James Clark Ross leads an expedition in the scattered islands of Nunvat that gets trapped in ice. He then leads overland expeditions to map Arctic features. While there he discoveries the Magnetic North Pole, which has since moved.
  • Darwin Goes to the Galápagos

    Darwin Goes to the Galápagos

    Charles Darwin joins the HMS Beagle and spends the next five tears exploring. His discoveries include the Galápagos. His discoveries would later lead to the discovery of the theory of evolution.
  • Franklins Lost Expedition

    John Franklin leads an expedition to explore the Arctic. Both ships on the voyage get lost in the ice. The search for Franklin's expedition later leads to the discovery of a Northwest Passage in the Canadian Artic.
  • Paul Du Chaillu

    Paul Du Chaillu

    Paul Du Chaillu sails to Central Africa and spends nearly 4 years exploring from 1856 to 1859. While exploring Chaillu discoveries gorillas becoming the first modern European to see gorillas. Further into his explanation he discoveries the Pygmy people of central Africa.