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Portuguese explorers, led by João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira, discovered the Madeira islands, expanding Portuguese navigation and trade routes. -
Gil Eanes, a Portuguese navigator, successfully rounded Cape Bojador off the coast of Africa, breaking the myth of “the end of the world” and opening up further African exploration. -
Dias became the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa, opening the sea route to Asia. -
Christopher Columbus, sailing under the Spanish flag, reached the New World, landing in the Caribbean, marking the beginning of Spanish colonization in the Americas. -
Cabot, under an English commission, made landfall on the coast of North America, likely in Newfoundland, marking the first English exploration of the continent. -
Vasco da gama successfully navigated to Calicut, India, solidifying a sea route to the East and initiating an era of Portuguese dominance in the Indian Ocean. -
Magellan, under the Spanish crown, began the first circumnavigation of the globe, which would be completed by his crew in 1522. -
Cortés led the apanis conquest of the Aztec empire in present day Mexico, a pivotal moment in the colonization of the Americas. -
Verrazano, Sailing under the French flag, explored the east coast of North America, including what is now New York Harbor. -
Pizarro and his men captured the Inca capital of Cuzco, making the fall of the Inca empire and the establishment of Spanish control in Peru. -
Cartier began his exploration of the St. Lawrence river, laying the foundation for French claims in Canada. -
Raleigh’s expedition established the ill-fated Roanoke Colony, one of the first English efforts to colonize North America. -
The English navy, led by Sir Francis Drake and others, defeated the Spanish Armada, marking a shift in naval power in favor of England. -
The Virginia company established the first permanent English colony in North America at Jamestown, Virginia, beginning Englands sustain colonization efforts in the new world. -
Champlain established the settlement of Quebec, which became a critical center if French colonial activity in North America. -
Jolliet and Marquette explores the Mississippi River, opening the way for further French exploration and expansion into the interior of North America.