Age of exploration timeline

  • 1341

    Portugal

    Portugal
    First to launch explatory expeditions
  • 1400

    Portugal

    Portugal
    After multiple attempts they reached India via this route.
  • 1419

    Portugal

    Portugal
    Prince Henry the navigator commissions a journey around Africas “Cape of Good Hope” to Asia
  • 1453

    Great Britain

    Great Britain
    Land routes (or the Silk Road) for expensive and dangerous
  • Period: 1492 to 1500

    Spain

    Christopher Columbus discovered the Caribbean but thought it was Asia
  • 1497

    Great Britain

    Great Britain
    John Cabot found present day Canada and New England
  • 1498

    Spain

    Spain
    Christopher began to go on voyages regularly
  • 1500

    Portugal

    Portugal
    Established a series of trading posts and forts
  • 1500

    Spain

    Spain
    They established trade routes across the Atlantic Ocean
  • 1534

    France

    France
    French explorer Jacques Cartier had his first voyage to North America exploring the gulf of St. Lawrence and claiming that land for France.
  • 1534

    Portugal

    Portugal
    They would go on lead missions to South America establishing colonies there.
  • 1565

    Spain

    Spain
    Spanish established the first permanent European settlement in the Philippines
  • Great Britain

    British sought a western route to Asia for trade.
  • Great Britain

    Established colonies in eastern North America.
  • France

    France
    Samuel de Champlain found Quebec City, having the first French settlement in North America
  • France

    Jean Nicolet found Lake Michigan. Which ended up being one of the first Europeans to explore the Great Lakes region.
  • France

    France established its first permanent settlement in the Caribbean founding the colony of Saint- Domingue.