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Portuguese navigators under Prince Henry claim surrounding islands and expand to Muslim North Africa, capturing ports on the African coast.
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Portuguese and Spain set out on journeys of exploration and conquering.
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Portuguese Bartholomeu Dias traveled around Africa's tip, founding a sea route to Asia through Cape Good Hope.
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Columbus sails west with the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria.
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Nearly a month after setting sail Columbus' crew spotted the Caribbean, thinking they had reached the Indies.
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Ferdinand and Isabella work with Spanish-born Pope Alexander VI to divide the world between the eastern and western hemispheres.
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The treaty signed between Spain and Portugal established the Line of Demarcation.
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Vasco da Gama led Portuguese ships around Cape of Good Hope on a brutal ten-month journey to reach spice ports in Calicut.
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Da Gama forces a treaty on Calicut's ruler to gain profit and control of the region's spice trade.
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German cartographer, Waldseemuller an Italian sea captain's descriptions of his voyage to publish a map with a region labeled
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Portuguese seize ports in the East Indies and start a new trading empire.
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While nations explored North America for a route from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans through the Arctic, Spanish explorer Balboa worked with the Indians to travel through Panama, where he found the South Sea (Pacific Ocean).
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Ferdinand Magellean leaves Spain with five ships in search of the Pacific before reaching South America's coast.
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At South America's tip Magellan find a passage, known as the Strait of Magellan, into Balboa's South Sea and renames it the Pacific.
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Magellan's crew finally reaches the Philippines after a four-month journey acroos the Pacific, where Magellan is killed.
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18 sailors, Magellan's surviving crew return to Spain being the first to sail around the world.
