Oceanography Timeline

  • Vikings
    Feb 24, 1000

    Vikings

    Viking expansion Vikings ruled in the northern Atlantic
  • Period: Feb 24, 1000 to

    Oceanography lifespan

  • North America is Discovered
    Apr 5, 1002

    North America is Discovered

    Leif Erikson was a viking who traveled down from Greenland to Canada in the Newfoundland region.
  • Copper hooks
    Nov 10, 1100

    Copper hooks

    Copper hooks were still in use in 1100 and had been for over 6000 years prior .
  • Islam Grows in Power
    Feb 24, 1200

    Islam Grows in Power

    The Islamic world grows in size because of their conquest on the sea. They begin to control places outside the Mediterranean Sea and moved into Indian Ocean.
  • Song Dynasty in China
    Jan 3, 1279

    Song Dynasty in China

    China's Song Dynasty began the exploration of the Indian ocean and even the Pacific. They came back to china realizing that the rest of the world was technologically centuries behind them.
  • Prince Henry the Navigator
    Feb 25, 1450

    Prince Henry the Navigator

    He established a naval observatory for the Portuguese. Also led expedition south to Africa's west coast
  • Wrapping around Africa
    Mar 12, 1488

    Wrapping around Africa

    Bartholomeu Dias was a portuguese explorer, who was the first European to sail around Cape of Good Hope in the most southern point of Africa.
  • America gets its name
    Aug 8, 1507

    America gets its name

    America is used as the name of the New World after the great Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci made several voyages to the Americas in the 1500s which led to the creation of more detailed maps of the New World.
  • Vasco Da Gama
    Apr 3, 1513

    Vasco Da Gama

    He established trade routes in Indian Ocean
  • First European to reach the Pacific
    Jul 16, 1513

    First European to reach the Pacific

    Vasco De Nunez was a conquistador who with his men exlpored the Isthmus of Panama and reached the Pacific ocean.
  • Sir Isaac Newton

    Sir Isaac Newton

    He published his mathematical findings in 1687 which led to the understanding that gravity created the tides in the ocean.
  • Invention of the Marine Chronometer

    Invention of the Marine Chronometer

    James Harrison, an english carpenter who created the marine Chronometer. It helped ships at sea find their longitude, which made sea travel safer.
  • Captian James Cook

    Captian James Cook

    An English explorer who took first soundings and on his first voyage, he circumnavigated from England, to Rio de Janeiro to New Zealand and back to England.
  • Creator of the Atlas

    Creator of the Atlas

    Matthew Fontaine Maury was part of the US navy in the 1800s and also he created the first Atlas. He studied ocean currents and weather patterns on ocean.
  • The Challenger

    The Challenger

    The first ship dedicated to the study of the oceans. It was a british ship that sent back ineresting findings to the world. The expedition began in 1872 and ended in 1876.
  • Fridjof Nansen

    Fridjof Nansen

    Tested his theory on ice drift by freezing his vessel in ice in the arctic for 35 months. He tested air tempature and water chemestry. in 1896 his ship was released from the ice.
  • International Council of the Exploration of the Seas (ICES)

    International Council of the Exploration of the Seas (ICES)

    Created in 1902 by Germany, Holland, Great Britian, Russia and the Scandinavian countries. It was the longest lasting international science organization.
  • TOPEX Poseidon

    TOPEX Poseidon

    In 1992 the US and France put the TOPEX in space to study the circulation of the ocean. It increased public awareness of the importance of the ocean. it recieved information on the ocean from hundreds of buoys throughout the ocean.