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1420
Prince Henry Sponsors Some Seafairing
Prince Henry the Navigator starts sponsoring people to sail around and explore. While his primary motivation is figuring where Prester John's Kingdom is (which doesn't exist), his sponsorship lets people map the coast of Africa, establish new trade routes, and win a few battles against the Muslims (who are enemies of Portugal). He also starts up a navigation school in hopes that someday someone will be able to go around Africa's west coast. -
May 29, 1453
The Fall of Constantanople
Once the Ottoman Turks had Constantinople, it blocked a lot of land trade from the Europeans with the rest of Asia, and so many European powers were trying to find ways to get to Asia by water without having to go through the Turks or land. -
1488
Bartholomew Diaz Sails Reaches the Tip
In 1486 King João II appointed Diaz to be the head of an expedition in search of a sea route to India. King João II also wants to find Prester's John's land, so he gets Diaz to go on the mission to meet up with two people in Etheopia. Diaz and his crew do make it past the tip of Africa, 1488, but his crew threatens to mutiny so they double back. -
Oct 12, 1492
Columbus Lands in the New World
Christopher Columbus, after asking around for a while, convinces the Royals of Spain to fund his expedition to reach Asia going west. He has accidentally messed up his math and thinks it will take two weeks. They do, and Columbus manages to land in the Bahamas after roughly two months and thinks he's made it to the East Indies. And so Europe makes contact with the Native Americans for the first time. -
Period: 1493 to 1500
The Columbian Exchange
Since Columbus rediscovered the Americas, there would be an exchange of ideas, food, and animals between the New World and the Old World. While most of the things transferred over will be different kinds of plants, such as tomatoes and tobacco, and a few domesticated animals, there will also be a trade in diseases and ideas. -
1494
Spain and Portugal Come to an Agreement
Portugal and Spain agree that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal. -
1497
John Cabot Settles in Canada
Like Columbus, Cabot believes that there is a way to get to Asia if one sails west for enough time. King Henry VII of England funds his trip if only Cabot claims some land for him. So Cabot sails northwest and lands in the New World in 1497. He mistakes Canada for Asia, claims a bit of land for England, and then heads back. -
1498
Vasco da Gama makes it to India
King Manuel I commissions da Gama to go on an expedition to reach India for trade by going around Africa. After enduring quite a few storms and a few outbreaks so scurvy, they make it around Africa, enter the Indian Ocean, and arrive at India. They couldn't immediately start trading, but they spent quite a few weeks studying the culture. After a while, they head back, having established trade with India. -
1500
Pedro Álvares Cabral "discovers" Brazil
Cabral was tasked to go to India to trade and is given a fleet (one of which is under Diaz's command). As they are making their way down south, Cabral overshoots how far southwest he has to go to get around Africa, and instead makes landfall on Brazil. They meet the natives, claim a bit of land for Portugal, and continue their journey to India. He returns having discovered Brasil but having half of his fleet dead and terrible relations with the Arab traders. -
1519
Hernán Cortés Meets the Aztecs
Cortés goes to Mexico to try and conquer it for Spain. He meets the Aztecs and decided to convert them. He ends up trashing most of their idols. He then heads down to Tabasco and slaughters and conquers the natives that are there. He then makes his way to the Aztec capital, recruits a few, and kills the ruler. He is made governor and starts builds Mexico City out of the ruins of the capital. -
Period: 1519 to 1522
Magellan's Circumnavigation Voyage
Ferdinand Magellan got the Spanish royals to fund his trip to find a way through the Americas. They agree, and he attempts to find a waterway. By the time they go through the Magellan strait, two of the boats are gone, and he had to stop a mutiny. When they reach the islands, Magellan dies attempting to kill a native leader. The ships eventually do make it back to Spain, making it the first voyage around the world. -
1523
Giovanni da Verrazzano Spots New York
Verrazzano attempts to find a route to the Pacific Ocean through the New World. After 50 days they spot North Carolina and go south. After they reach the tip of Florida, he starts going north. They enter the Bay of New York, and a storm pushes them to Rhode Island. The trip helped people get more of an idea of what the coast of the new world looked like. -
1526
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Starts
Portugal completes the first transatlantic slave voyage to Brazil, opening the waters for other countries to follow in their footsteps. -
1532
Francisco Pizarro Conquers Peru
Pizarro manages to get a commission from King Charles V to conquer the territory south of the equator. Accompanied by his brother, Pizarro overthrew the Inca ruler, later executing him, and conquers Peru. -
1534
Jacques Cartier Explores Canada
Jacques Cartier is the first navigator to explore the St. Lawrence River and the Atlantic coast of Canada. He's also credited with naming Canada. he laid down the foundation for the French later to colonize North America. -
1580
Sir Francis Drake Goes Around the World
Sir Francis Drake became the first Englishmen to circumnavigate the globe. He managed to do it all in one expedition and looted Spanish ships that he saw along the way. He brought back the information that the strait of Magellan wasn't the only way around South America, and that the land there were just islands and there was water at the bottom of South America. He leaves in 1577 and returns in 1580. -
East India Company is Created
East India Company is created to serve as a trading body for English merchants, specifically to participate in the East Indian spice trade. Later they have other wares, such as cotton, silk, and opium. And ever later they get involved with the slave trade. -
Christopher Newport sets up Jamestown
When the Virginia Company is allowed by the King to settle in the New World, Newport is selected to help get them there. He sails them through the Atlantic, they go to the Caribbean to restock and then attempt to find a nice place to settle more north. Once they make it to Virginia, they decide it's a nice place to settle, and they set up Jamestown. -
Henry Hudson Wades Though Ice and Water
Hudson had previously tried to get to Asia by sailing north, holding there was a way through the ice, and failed two times. He then tried going through Northern North America, and did map out quite a few water ways and helped improve people's geography on North America, but he still never found a passage through. -
The United States Get Cut Off Slavery
A new federal law makes it illegal to import captive people into the United States. This effectively cuts off the U.S.A. from the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
