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Jan 28, 1418
Prince Henry starts a navigation school
About 1418, Prince Henry started the first school for oceanic navigation along with an astronomical observatory at Sagres, Portugal. In this school, people were trained in nagivation, map-making, and science, in order to sail down the west of Africa -
Oct 10, 1487
Bartolomeu Dias rounds the southern tip of Africa
King John II of Portugal appointed him, on 10 October 1487, to head an expedition to sail around the southern tip of Africa in the hope of finding a trade route to India. Dias was also charged with searching for the lands ruled by Prester John, who was a fabled Christian priest and ruler. -
May 29, 1492
• Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut on the Indian Ocean
Vasco da Gama on a mission to the port of Setúbal and to the Algarve to ... these separate segments into a potentially lucrative trade route into the Indian Ocean -
Oct 12, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Caribbean
On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean -
Jan 31, 1494
Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas
The Treaty of Tordesillas was the first attempt to assign areas of influence in the New World. It was signed in the Spanish village of Trdesillas in 1494 -
Mar 21, 1521
Ferdinand Magellan leads a Spanish expedition to the Philippines
Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese in the service of the Spanish crown, was looking for a westward route to the to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. On March 16, 1521, Magellan's expedition landed on Homonhon island in the Philippines. He was the first European to reach the islands. Rajah Humabon of Cebu was friendly with Magellan and embraced Christianity, but their enemy, Lapu-Lapu was not. Humabon wanted Magellan to kill Lapu-Lapu while Magellan wanted to convert Lapu-Lapu into Christianity. On A -
Jul 16, 1565
Spain begins settlements in the Philippines
Permanent Spanish settlement was not established until 1565 when an expedition led by the Conquistadores, Miguel López de Legazpi, arrived in Cebu from Mexico (New Spain). Spanish leadership was soon established over many small independent communities that previously had known no central rule. [6] Six years later, following the defeat of the local Muslim ruler, Rajah Solayman, Legazpi established a capital at Manila, a location that offered the excellent harbor of Manila Bay, a large population, -
The Dutch establish a trading center on Java
In 1603, the first permanent Dutch trading post in Indonesia was established in ... the centre of the spice production areas. -
France sets up its own East India Company
The French East India Company (French: La Compagnie française des Indes orientales or Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a commercial enterprise, founded in 1664 to compete with the British and Dutch East India companies in colonial India.
Planned by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, it was chartered by King Louis XIV for the purpose of trading in the Eastern Hemisphere. It resulted from the fusion of three earlier companies, the 1660 Compagnie de Chine, the Compagnie d'Orient
