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Period: 1470 to
By: Oluwaseun Ola-keji, Jermaine Tran, Katheryne Chov, Lily Nguyen
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1488
Dias became the first European mariner to round the tip of Africa
Dias ship had sailed around Africa's southernmost point, Cabo das Agulhas, to enter the waters of the Indian ocean. Dias breakthrough help increase trade with India and other Asian powers. -
Jun 24, 1497
Cabot lands on the east coast of North America
Cabot and his men traveled west and north, believing that the path to Asia from northern Europe would be shorter than Columbus's journey. Cabot landed on the east coast of North America on June 24, 1497, 50 days into his expedition. His explorations demonstrated the availability of a shorter passage across the northern Atlantic Ocean. This would eventually make it easier for other British colonies in North America to be established. -
May 20, 1498
Da Gama arrives in India
Vasco da Gama arrived in Calicut, India, on May 20, 1498, sailing for the Portuguese crown. Da Gama had pioneered a sea route from Europe to Asia that bypassed the Muslim states who controlled the overland spice trade. Da Gama's expedition to India had a number of impacts, including the establishment of the spice trade and the Portuguese colonization of Mozambique. It also sparked competition among European powers, at the time. -
May 11, 1502
Columbus' fourth and Final voyage
Christopher Columbus set out to the new world in a fleet of four ships. His goal was to explore areas that have not been mapped yet in order to find a pathway to the countries in the east. Unfortunately, during the voyage, the boats were disintegrated leaving Christopher and his men stranded in the new world. -
Apr 25, 1507
German mapmaker names the "New World" America
Martin Waldseemuller, a German mapmaker, was the first to adopt the word "America" for the New World in his 1507 world map, which he put on South America. Terra Ultra Incognita refers to the shrunken landmass of North America. The discovery of the newly discovered American landmass forever altered European perceptions of the world as being separated into only three parts: Europe, Asia, and Africa. -
1513
Ponce de León led an expedition to the coast of what is now Florida
Ponce de León returned to Florida with 200 men and 2 ships. After getting approval to colonize the region, he sailed to Florida and after his arrival, he was fatally wounded by an arrow during a Native American attack. Puerto Rico's third largest city, Ponce, is named to honor him. -
Mar 4, 1519
Cortés enters Mexico
Cortés' ships arrived on the Mexican shore at Yucatan in 1519. Cortés wanted to convert the indigenous people to Christianity. Cortés encountered native resistance in Tabasco. The tribesmen surrendered when he easily overcame them. Cortés played a significant role in his remodeling of the world. He paved the way for more exploration and conquest in Central America to the south, eventually leading to the conquest of California to the north. -
Sep 20, 1519
Magellan set sail from Spain in search of spices
Magellan set sail from Spain in search of spices in Indonesia. He set sail to find a western route. Magellan set sail with 5 ships with 270 men. Along his voyage, on October 21, Magellan discovered the straight he has been searching for. The Strait of Magellan is located around the tip of South America. Only 3 ships ventured in as 1 was deserted and destroyed. It took 38 days in order to fully explore the strait.Ocean was spotted at the end and the path to the east through the west was a success -
Aug 13, 1521
Cortes conquers the Aztecs
Hernan Cortes conquers the Aztecs. After 3 months of a besiege on the Aztecs, Spanish forces captured Tenochtitlan which is the capital of the Aztec empire. Cortes had men sweep and level the city and capture Cuauhtemoc who is the Aztec emperor. At Veracruz, Cortes trained his army and made sure to burn all of the ships to stop any plans of escape to make sure his plan will be done. In 1519, The Spaniards entered Tenochtitlan but were mistaken as divine envoys from their god. This was a mistake. -
Mar 1, 1524
Verrazano sighted land of Cape fear
From 1523 to 1524, Verrazano explored the southern and central coast of what is now North Carolins. This was done while Verrazan held out a reconnaissance of North America for the King of France. Verrazano made landfall on March 21, 1524, at a spot he named himself. That spot was named Selvi de Lauri. -
Aug 29, 1533
Pizarro kills the last Inca emperor
Pizarro sailed to Peru from the west coast of South America, arriving in Cajamarca, an Inca city. Atahuallpa was attacked by Pizarro and apprehended. Pizarro accepted Atahuallpa's offer of ransom for his release but placed him on trial for a variety of accusations. Atahuallpa was then sentenced to death. He was fastened to a stake on August 29, 1533, and executed. The fall of the Incan Empire made it possible for Spain to colonize Peru. Spanish culture came to dominate most of South America. -
Jun 9, 1534
Cartier sailed into St. Lawrence river
A french navigator named Jacques Cartier sailed into the St. Lawrence river. He was commissioned by King Francis I of France to explore in search of not only gold and spices but a passageway to Asia. This started the French exploration of Canada with the following of three voyages. -
1570
Martin Frobisher discovered Labrador and what is now Frobisher bay
When Martin Frobisher arrived in Frobisher bay, he spent weeks collecting ore. Martin Frobisher and his men failed to establish a settlement and they returned to England with 1,350 tons of ore. The ores were valueless and he had to seek other employment since his finance was collapsing. -
1577
Drake was chosen as the leader of an expedition intended to pass around South America
The expedition was backed by the queen, and nothing had suited Drake. It was planned for him to go straight through the Strait of Magellan to explore the coast beyond. He set off to his voyage with less than 200 men and 5 small ships. -
English merchants found the East India Company
The East India Company was established to profit from trade with East and Southeast Asia and India. It was founded on December 31, 1600, as a monopoly commercial entity to allow England to participate in the East Indian spice trade. It got involved in politics and became a British imperialist agent in India. Its impact as a cutthroat corporate pioneer influenced how modern business is done in a global market. England had a significant influence on the current global capitalist economic system. -
Dutch merchants found the Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was created in 1602 in the Dutch Republic to defend the state's trade in the Indian Ocean and to aid the Dutch in their fight for independence from Spain. As an instrument of the Dutch economic empire in the East Indies, the company prospered. The Dutch East India Company was the first company to connect the East and the West. It was the world's first global company. It is thought to be the world's largest corporation in recorded history. -
Willem Janszoom was the first European to make recorded and contact with and map part of the australian continent
Williem Janszoom was the captain of the ship The Duyfken. The Duyfken chart was found and it showed the west coast of Cape York. It was he first known map of Australia and it had showed where the Duyfken crew made landfall. -
Henry Hudson explored the Hudson River
Henry Hudson was chosen by the merchants of Dutch east India company in order to find a passage to the east to Asia. In 1609 he landed in North America which is now present-day New York. While looking for a way to get into Asia, Hudson sailed on his ship up the Hudson River and laid a foundation of Dutch colonization. -
Abel Tasman was the first European to discover New Zealand
He left New Zealand under the impression that he most likely discovered the west coast of the southern continent, which was possibly connected to the Staten Island. -
Frenchman Charles-Marie de La Condamine leads the first scientific exploration of the Amazon River.
La Condamine set off on his return expedition in 1743, which included a four-month raft trip down the Amazon River. He authored Journal du voyage fait par ordre du roi a l'équateur, the earliest scientific description of the Amazon (1751). -
Scottish explorer James Bruce becomes the first European to follow the Blue Nile to where it converged with the White Nile in Ethiopia.
James Bruce, a Scottish adventurer, claimed to have located the Nile's source in Ethiopia on November 14, 1770. In 1768, Bruce traveled to Africa to immerse himself in African culture and find the source of the Blue Nile. -
The quest for terra australis leads Dutch Admiral Jacob Roggeveen to the first of many islands to be visited by Europeans.
On Easter Day, April 5, 1722, Dutch Admiral Jacob Roggeveen (1659-1729) made the first European discovery of Easter Island, ending the island's 1,400-year seclusion. Easter Island, or Rapa Nui as it is called locally, is a triangular-shaped island in the South Pacific Ocean 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) west of the Chilean coast. -
James cook discovers Hawaii and explores the Alaskan coast
On January 18, 1778, Captain James Cook, an English explorer, was the first European to explore Hawaii. He first discovered it when he sailed past the island of Oahu. He proceeded to explore the rest of the islands with his fleet and named an island group "Sandwich Islands". -
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de la Pérouse explores the North Pacific from China to Japan.
On the return voyage via Australia, the comte and his crew were lost at sea. In an effort to discover La Pérouse's whereabouts, the French sent Antoine de Bruni (1739-1793) to the South Pacific, where he charted the Tasmanian and Australian coasts and many of the region's islands before dying of scurvy. De Bruni's accurate maps allowed France to lay claim to numerous islands he discovered—France soon expanded its territorial possessions to include many South Sea islands. -
British captain George Vancouver explores the North Pacific, surveys, and maps the Pacific coast from Alaska to Monterrey.
Vancouver's voyage, its critical survey, accurate soundings, and the coastal data returned had a tremendous impact on the expansion of British control of land and sea in the region. -
Scotsman Mungo Park locates the Niger River and follows it over 1,000 miles through the African interior.
He authored a popular and renowned travel book titled Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa after his investigation of the upper Niger River in 1796, in which he hypothesized that the Niger and Congo rivers combined to form the same river. -
Giovanni Battista Belzoni discovers the tomb of the pharaoh Seti I in the Valley of the Kings
Giovanni Battista Belzoni prompted Henry Salt to further expeditions to the temple of Edfu, Philae and Elephantine, where he cleared the great temple of Rameses II at Abu Simbel, excavated at Karnak, and in 1817 Belzoni discovered the tomb of the pharaoh Seti I, in the Valley of the Kings. -
Giacomo Beltrami discovered the headwaters of the Mississippi River
Giacomo Beltrami was convinced that he found the source to the Mississippi river but the rest of the world ignored his claim. During his travel, he recorded his observation and turned it into a book.