-
120
Ptolemy creates the first flat map of the world.
-
870
Swedish Viking Garðar Svavarsson circumnavigates Iceland.
-
870
Náttfari becomes the first permanent resident of Iceland.
-
874
Ingólfur Arnarson builds his homestead in present-day Reykjavík.
-
982
Eric the Red discovers Greenland.
-
1002
Leif Ericson discovers North America.
-
1271
Marco Polo goes to China.
-
1418
João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira discover Porto Santo.
-
1419
Gonçalves and Vaz discover Madeira.
-
1427
Diogo de Silves discovers the Azores.
-
1492
Columbus sails to the New World.
-
1497
John Cabot discovers Newfoundland while he searches for the Northwest Passage.
-
1497
Vasco da Gama sails to India and back.
-
1502
Amerigo Vespucci returns from his explorations of the New World. American continents named after him by German mapmaker.
-
1513
Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovers the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean.
-
Period: 1519 to 1522
Ferdinand Magellan and his crew sail around the world