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Marco Polo and his family left Venice to travel the Silk Road. He stayed in China for 17 years, in which he explored and documented a lot that European had not known so far. -
Prince Henry, a prince of Portugal, started to sponsor trips into the Atlantic Ocean and down the African coast. The explorers reached the Senegal River and established a gold and slave trade with the natives there. -
The Ottoman empire bans trade with China and closes off the Silk Road, disabling European trade with China. -
Cape Verde, a series of islands off the coast of Africa, was discovered. It became an important trade stop and a permanent settlement had been founded in 1462. -
Bartolomeu Dias passed the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa, confirming a way to India around Africa. He did not continue because his crew turned back to Europe -
While trying to find another way to Asia, Christopher Columbus, sponsored by Spain, lands in the Caribbean. He has thought he reached East Asia, but has rediscovered the New World for Europe. -
Vasco de Gama makes the trip to India from sailing around Africa, and traded there. Portugal profits from trading the spices despite the sailors that died and the ships lost along the way and eventually establishes many colonies in Asia. -
John Cabot was a Venetian navigator and explorer most remembered for his expedition to North America, when he claimed land for England in Newfoundland. -
Pedro Álvares Cabral and his men land on the Brazilian coast. They claim the region of Brazil for Portugal, making it Portugal's first American colony
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Martin Waldseemuller, a German mapmaker, names the New World continent "America" and the islands that Columbus landed on the "West Indies." -
Asco Nunez de Balboa found the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Panama Canal. Balboa had 190 Spaniards and several hundred slaves with him. Those hunting for a way to the Pacific were enthralled by his finding.
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Hernán Cortés and his crew land in present-day Mexico, and interacted with locals, forming an alliance and took down the Aztecs. He further explored surrounding areas, such as Honduras, and claimed Mexico for Spain. -
On September 6, 1522, the ship traveled across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived in the Spanish town of Sanlcar de Barrameda, making it the first ship to circumnavigate the world. -
Alvarez was a Portuguese explorer credited with being the first European to reach China by sea. He has set up trade establishments for Europeans and the Chinese in what is now Hong Kong. -
On the expedition, he discovered the current locations of New York Harbor, Block Island, and Narragansett Bay, and was the first European explorer to name the newly discovered North Americans after people and places from the Old World. -
Alvar Nez Cabeza de Vaca led 600 men on a journey through what is now the southeastern United States. They were the first Europeans to explore most of this region. De Soto was sent by the King of Spain to explore and settle La Florida.
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Jacques Cartier, a French mariner, was the first European to navigate the St. Lawrence River, and his investigations of the river and Canada's Atlantic coast lay the groundwork for future French claims to the continent. Cartier is also credited for giving the country Canada its name. -
Three Portuguese merchants in China drifted to Tanegashima Island, on the southern tip of the Japanese islands. They were the first Europeans in Japan and established a trade route connecting Japan and India, and eventually the world. -
Frobisher got command of three small ships in 1576 after becoming intrigued in the potential of discovering a Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean. In one of them, he successfully crossed the Atlantic that year.
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Drake was chosen to lead an expedition that would tour South America, pass the Strait of Magellan, and explore the coast beyond. Drake completed the expedition successfully, and upon his return, Queen Elizabeth knighted him.
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Janszoon is the first European to make recorded contact with as well as map a part of the Australian continent. -
Henry Hudson departs from England in 1607 to discover a western route to Asia. On his third trip, sponsored by the Dutch East India company, he explored the northern coast of America and what is today New York (both city and state) and the Hudson River. -
On September 6, 1522, the ship traveled across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived in the Spanish town of Sanlcar de Barrameda, making it the first ship to circumnavigate the world.
