-
1493
Christopher Columbus sailed westward
Christopher Columbus sailed westward to Asia but discovered the Americas. He also was introduced to the Tainos, indigenous people, that were settled in the land before he landed there. While Columbus was there he ordered his men to seize the Tainos people and they were forced into slavery and sold, they were subjected to extreme violence, brutality, and forced labor, they were also forced to convert to Christianity, and Columbus and his men brought diseases among the indigenous people too. -
1519
A Spanish force landed at Veracruz
A Spanish force under the leadership of Hernan Cortez landed at Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico where Cortez and his army marched to Tenochtitlan and made alliances with cities and states that were oppressed by Aztec rule and Cortez and his army and alliances conquered the Aztecs, which his victory opened North America to Spanish rule -
1520
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan passed through a waterway (Strait of Magellan) along the tip of South America into the Pacific Ocean while on his search expedition of a sea passage that passes through the Americas, but during the expedition, Ferdinand was killed by the indigenous people in the Philippines. This resulted in only one of his ships returning to Spain. In honor of his death, he had a strait named after him and he was remembered as “The first person to sail completely around the globe”. -
1535
Cartier's expedition
Cartier's expedition set out from St. Malo, France, to discover the riches said to exist in the three western “kingdoms” of Saguenay, Canada, and Hochelaga. The expedition spent the fall and winter at a compound built in modern Quebec. While they were there they met natives who told them about lands further inland along lakes where jewels and gold were readily available. However, he didn’t find much so instead the french traded metal pans and hatchets for furs, and eventually set sail for France -
1577
Drake's expedition to South America
Drake was sent by Queen Elizabeth I to South America to start an expedition against the Spanish along the Pacific coast of the Americas and when he returned from a said expedition he was titled the First Englishman to sail around the world -
The East India Company
The East India Company was an English company incorporated by royal charter to serve as a trading body for English merchants, specifically to participate in the East Indian spice trade. It later added such items as cotton, silk, indigo, saltpeter, tea, and opium to its wares and also participated in the slave trade. -
The dutch east India company
The dutch east India company was an official United East India Company that was a megacorporation founded by a government to serve its main purpose of trade, exploration, slavery, and colonization. -
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain was employed in the interests of successive fur-trading monopolies but not only did the successive fur-trade succeed he also founded Quebec, the first permanent french settlement in the Americas which he selected as a commanding site that controlled the narrowing of the St. Lawrence River estuary -
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson sailed on behalf of the Dutch. He sailed into Hudson Bay and up the Hudson River (New York) and he claimed New York and New York City for the Dutch. He was searching for the Northwest Passage, a mythical waterway to get from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean -
Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet
Jacques Marquette & fur trader Louis Joliet set out on a four-month voyage that confirmed that it's possible to travel from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico by water. Their voyage helped to initiate the first non-Native-American settlement in the North American interior that introduced Christianity into 600,000 square miles of wilderness, gave French city names from La Crosse to New Orleans, changed Indian cultures, and nearly exterminated the fur mammals of the Upper Midwest. -
The War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession fought by The Austrians, the Dutch, and English allies against France and its allies. This started because Charles II of Spain died without having a child to be the next ruler and ended by the Treaties of Utrecht and the partition of the Spanish Monarchy. France and Spain were united and Philip V stayed king of Spain. -
Camisard Rebellion
Camisard Rebellion was an armed revolt in France started by religious French Protestants rioting against the persecutions of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes which made Protestantism illegal. Ended when a protestant minister named Antoine Court arrived in Cévennes recreated a small, peaceful protestant community. -
Tuscarora War
Tuscarora War fought in North Carolina. This was fought between British, Dutch, and German settlers and the Tuscarora people of North Carolina. Known as the bloodiest war in North Carolina which was caused by colonists invading the lands of the Tuscarora people and capturing some of the Indians. The colonial government won the war and about 1,000 Indians dead, 1,000 Indians sold into slavery, 3,000 Indians forced out of their homes, and 200 colonists dead. -
The War of Jenkins' Ear
The War of Jenkins' Ear. Fought by Great Britain and Spain in the Caribbean. Caused by an event in 1731 when Spanish sailors boarded a British vessel and cut off the ear of its captain (Robert Jenkins). The war was fought over control of trade in the Caribbean -
East India Company begins
East India Company begins. They started operations in Bengal, India to trade Indian spices with English merchants. They, later on, grew to trade other things such as cotton, silk, opium, and more to even China. -
Modern mountaineering
In the year 1786 modern mountaineering was made as three men made momentous ascents of Mont Blanc in the alps. -
Rosetta Stone
Discovery of the Rosetta Stone in Egypt by French soldiers in Napoleon's army. All three events had a lasting impact on the science of archaeology. -
The bankrupt Dutch East India Company
January, The bankrupt Dutch East India Company (VOC) is formally dissolved and the nationalized Dutch East Indies are established. -
Science
In the end of the 1800s men turned to science, and governments turned to colonial expansion. Superstition and hearsay about the world's lands and oceans were a thing of the past. -
Antarctic Peninsula Sighting
Edward Bransfield sights the Antarctic Peninsula; also discovers northernmost islands of the South Shetlands.
