istoryworld
Events relating to exploration
Phoenicians sail round the Cape of Good Hope and bring back the surprising news that the sun was seen to the north of them
Pytheas, a Greek explorer, sails up the west coast of Britain and finds beyond it a more northerly land which he calls Thule
Zhang Qian, a Chinese diplomat, begins a spell of twelve years as a captive of the nomadic horde, the Xiongnu
Zhang Qian reaches Bactria and is the first to bring news of western Asia back to China
Seafarers colonize New Zealand, the last great island region in the Pacific to be reached by human beings
Eric Thorvaldsson, or Eric the Red, sails to Greenland when he is exiled from Iceland
Leif Ericsson claims to have made landfall at three places in north America, one of which he names Vinland - the land of wine
Thorfinn Karlsefni leads an expedition to north America, traces of which may survive in a longhouse at L'Anse aux Meadows
A Portuguese prince, Henry the Navigator, becomes fascinated by exploration down the coast of Africa and commissions successive voyages
Zheng He, a Muslim eunuch, makes voyages of trade and exploration with a fleet of Chinese junks
Bartolomeu Dias, sailing for the king of Portugal, becomes the first European navigator to round the Cape of Good Hope
Christopher Columbus, together with the brothers Martin and Vicente Pinzón, sails west from Palos in Spain
After sailing for five weeks from the Canaries, Columbus and the Pinzón brothers step ashore in the Bahamas
Columbus and his fellow explorers make landfall on the largest of the Caribbean islands, Cuba
Columbus returns to Spain, landing at Palos with news of his great discoveries
Henry VII commissions the Italian navigator John Cabot to cross the Atlantic in search of new territories for England
John Cabot, searching for a trade route to China, probably reaches Newfoundland
Vasco da Gama reaches the southern coast of India, at Calicut, after sailing across the Indian Ocean from east Africa
Portuguese explorer Pedro Cabral, with a fleet of thirteen ships, makes landfall in Brazil
Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci sets sail from Lisbon to explore to the south of the New World
The editor of a pamphlet proposes that the recently found continent should be named America after the explorer Amerigo Vespucci
Vasco Núñez de Balboa reaches the Pacific coast and claims the ocean for the king of Spain
Ferdinand Magellan and a small fleet depart from Seville, attempting to sail round the world
Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan crosses the Pacific in ninety-nine days and reaches Guam
Ferdinand Magellan is killed in the Philippines, in a skirmish with natives
