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Jan 1, 1418
Prince Henry starts navigation school
About 1418 Prince Henry started the first school for ocean navigation, along with an astronomical school at Sagres, Portugal. In these schools people were trained in navigating, map-making, and science, all in order to be able to sail down the west of Africa. -
Jan 1, 1487
Bartolomeu Dias rounds the southern tip of Africa
In 1486 King João II assigned Dias to command a voyage with both spiritual and material goals. -
Oct 12, 1496
Christopher Columbus reaches Caribbean
On this day Columbus landed on a small island he called San Salvador. In fact Columbus didnt know he had landed in the Carribeans, but that he had reached the Indies instead, -
May 20, 1498
Vasco da Gama reaches port of Calicut on the Indian Ocean
Gama found nothing here and was forced to return with no discovery and the few spices he had purchased there. -
Mar 16, 1521
Ferdinand Magellan leads a Spanish expedition to Philippines
He was the first ever European to reach these islands. -
Apr 27, 1565
Spain begins settlements in Philippines
Navigator Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in the Philippine Islands and established the Spanish East Indies. -
France sets up its own East India Company
Established when the States-General of the Netherland granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia. -
Dutch establish trading center on Java
In 1603 the first permanent Dutch trading post was put up and established in Banten, West Java. In 1611, another was built in Jayakarta. -
Spain and Portugal sign Treaty of Tordesillas
This treaty divided newly discovered lands outside of Europe, between Spain and Portugal. The lands to the east of the meridian would belong to Portugal and the lands to the east would belong to Spain.
