Age of Exploration

  • Christopher Columbus reaches Americas
    1492

    Christopher Columbus reaches Americas

    Christopher Columbus wanted to sail west to reach Asia without going around Africa, and instead arrived at the Americas, landing in Cuba first. He also visited the Caribbean islands and named them Indies.
  • 1500

    Pedro Cabral landed in South America

    Cabral was a Portuguese sea captain and he landed in South America. Portugal claimed the land known today as Brazil.
  • 1518

    First Slave Ship

    During the 1500's, many plantations had a shortage of labor in the Americas. So in 1518, the first ship carrying african slaves from Africa to America.
  • Hernan Cortes arrives at Veracruz
    1519

    Hernan Cortes arrives at Veracruz

    Cortes and some troops landed in Veracruz and marched towards Tenochtitlan. Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, welcomed them. A couple days later, they took Montezuma hostage.
  • Ferdinand Magellan sets sail
    1520

    Ferdinand Magellan sets sail

    Magellan sails and passes around the tip of South America, then sails to the Philippines and is killed by ingenious people. A few survivors sailed back and Magellan is thought to be the first person to sail around the globe.
  • 1524

    Hudson River discovered

    Giovanni da Verrazano discovered the Hudson River
  • Francisco Pizarro landed on South America
    1531

    Francisco Pizarro landed on South America

    Pizarro brought weapon, gunpowder, and horses. They had spread diseases among the Inca, weakening them.
  • 1535

    Pizarro established a new capital at Lima

    Pizarro and his men sacked Cuzco, and established the new capital, which was a colony for the Spanish empire.
  • 1538

    Christopher Columbus left disease.

    When Columbus arrived in 1492, he and his crew brought diseases that the Natives had no immunities to. As a result many of them died. One example is Hispaniola. At the beginning, they had a population of 250,000. By then end, only 500 of them were left.
  • Dutch fleet arrives in India

    First Dutch fleet arrives in India, and after that they formed the East India Company.
  • Samuel de Champlain and Quebec

    Samuel de Champlain and Quebec

    Champlain made Quebec, the first permanent French settlement, and is located in Canada present-day.
  • Qing Dynasty Population Boost

    Because the Americas exported crops like maize and sweet potatoes to China, it's population rose during the Qing Dynasty.
  • English presence in India

    England had set up trading posts in India by 1650, and from there they would ship Indian-made cotton to the East Indies, obtains spices through trades, and ship them back to England.
  • Dutch fell

    Dutch's empire fell in America against the English and the French.
  • England and New York

    England seized the land that Dutch lost in the Americas and named it New York
  • French abolish slavery

    French abolish slavery

    Once the French Revolution came around, slavery was abolished. Europe had started to want to abolish slavery because of the Quakers, or Society of Friends, began to condemn it during the 1770's.