Europe

European Exploration.

By kayla.boggia
  • Feb 3, 1488

    Bartolomeu Dias rounds the southern tip of Africa.

    Bartolomeu Dias rounds the southern tip of Africa.
    His crew forced him to abandon his quest to reach the Orient.
    Unknowingly rounded the African continent in a storm and made landfall at what is now Mossel Bay.
  • Feb 1, 1492

    Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut on the Indian Ocean.

    Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut on the Indian Ocean.
    Brought in cargo that was worth over 60 times the cost of expedition.
    Request to leave a factor behind in charge of merchandise was turned down, so Vasco de Gama carried a few Nairs and 16 fisherman with him by force.
  • Feb 3, 1492

    Christopher Columbus reaches the Caribbean.

    Christopher Columbus reaches the Caribbean.
    When Columbus discovered the islands, he found Lucayans and called them Indians.
    Columbus, in search of gold, spices and treasure, was searching for a new route to reach India--he had failed in his original quest and ended up in the Caribbean.
  • Feb 3, 1494

    Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas.

    Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas.
    The agreement was officially ratified during a meeting in the Spanish town of Tordesillas.
    The Treaty of Tordesillas re-established the line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands.
  • Feb 3, 1498

    Prince Henry starts a navigation school.

    Prince Henry starts a navigation school.
    In this school, people were trained in nagivation, map-making, and science, in order to sail down the west of Africa.
    This was the first school for oceanic navigation.
  • Feb 3, 1521

    Ferdinand Magellan leads a Spanish expedition to the Philippines.

    Ferdinand Magellan leads a Spanish expedition to the Philippines.
    The first recorded visit from the West is the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan, who sighted Samar on March 16, 1521 and landed on Homonhon Island southeast of Samar the next day.
    Before Magellan arrived, Negrito tribes roamed the isles, but they were later supplanted by Austronesians.
  • Feb 3, 1565

    Spain begins settlements in the Philippines.

    Spain begins settlements in the Philippines.
    Navigator Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in Guam and the Philippine Islands establishing the Spanish East Indies.
    In addition to the overseas empire in America and Oceania, the Spanish Monarchy controlled several European territories and a number of coastal strongholds in Africa.
    By the 17th century, Spain controlled an empire on a scale and world distribution that had never been approached by its predecessors.

  • The Dutch establish a trading center on Java

    The Dutch establish a trading center on Java
    2nd Multinational Corporation in the world.
    1st company to issue stock.

  • France sets up it's own East India Company.

    France sets up it's own East India Company.
    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 and Compagnie de Madagascar.