Exploration and Contact Timeline

By sribner1
  • Jul 11, 1405

    Zheng He Takes First Voyage

    He traveled in his extraordinarily large boat to collect wondrous goods for China from all over the world.
  • Sep 17, 1419

    Prince Henry Founds First Navigation School

    Prince Henry the Navigator established the Navigation School for Portugal in order to instill the art of map-making, navigating, and science among the Portuguese so they could explore.
  • Sep 17, 1433

    Ming China Adopts Isolationist Policy Following Zheng He’s Seventh Voyage

    Isolation was installed by the Chinese government and made it so that other countries (if they wanted to trade with China) would have to come and “kowtow” to the government.
  • Sep 17, 1492

    Christopher Columbus lands in Hispaniola

    Columbus’s first time in America was spent in Hispaniola, where he discovered the Native Americans that he named the “Indians” because he indeed belived that he had reached the West Indies.
  • Sep 17, 1494

    Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas

    Pope Alexander VI created an imaginary divide, the line of demarcation, between portugal and spain’s land across the world. To agree to the line put in place, the countries signed the Treaty of Tordesillas.
  • Sep 17, 1498

    Vasco da Gama reaches India

    When Vasco da Gama reached India, he established a port in Calicut. This port made Portugal overwhelming rich practically overnight.

  • Tokugawa Ieyasu becomes shogun of Japan

    The emperor at the time, Emperor Go-Yōzei, gave Ieyasu, the title of shogun meaning a military governor. Japan then became under Ieyasu’s control.

  • Manchus establish Qing Dynasty in China

    To gain power the Manchus seized Beijing like the Mongols did before. They took a Chinese name and declared the dynasty as the Qing Dynasty.