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In the 1400s European Merchants, new monarchs of England, Spain, Portugal, and France started finding a sea route to Asia because they wanted to increase their power by trading silks and spices found in Asia.
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A navigational school was founded by Prince Henry on the southwestern coast of Portugal
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Diogo de Silves discovers the Azores
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The Portuguese reached the mainland peninsula of Cape Verde and the Gambia River.
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Alvise Cadamosto and Diogo Gomes discover the Cape Verde Islands, 560 kilometres (350 mi) west of the Cape Verde peninsula.
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Vasco da Gama led an expedition that opened the sea route to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. He established a route around Africa's Cape of Good Hope, up the coast of East Africa, and finally to Calicut in India.
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Lopo Gonçalves becomes the first European sailor to cross the Equator.
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Diogo Cão reaches the Congo River, where he builds a padrão ("pillar of stone")
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Christopher Columbus wanted to reach the East Indies by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean. He, however, greatly underestimated the size of Earth. There were two previously unknown continents that separated Spain and the East Indies. On October 12 he discovered the Caribbean Islands accidentally and believed he had reached the East Indies.
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Spanish settlers and missionaries followed the army to Spain's new empire. Wherever they went, they established colonies, claiming the land and its people for their King and Church.
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João Alvares Fagundes explores Burgeo, Saint Pierre, Miquelon in Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia.
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Jacques Cartier explores the Gulf of St. Lawrence, discovering Anticosti Island and Prince Edward Island.
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Ruy López de Villalobos discovers three islands (Fais, Ulithi, and Yap) in the Carolines and eight atolls (Kwajalein, Lae, Ujae, Wotho, Likiep, Wotje, Erikub, and Maloelap) in the Marshall Islands.
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Steven Borough reaches as far as the Kara Strait, between Novaya Zemlya and Vaygach Island.
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Abraham Ortelius came up with a map that showed all of the continents in their correct shapes.
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Sir Francis Drake completes the second circumnavigation of the globe.
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Sir Walter Raleigh established the Roanoke colony.
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Willem Barentsz discovers Spitsbergen.
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Triangular Trade was a series of trade routes that linked Europe, Africa, and America. First, merchant ships brought European goods to Africa. Then, the goods were exchanged for slaves and the slaves were sailed to the Americas. In the Americas, the slaves were traded for raw materials which were shipped to Europe, completing the process.
