1001: Leif
Ericson explores North America
1265: Marco
Polo begins his exploration of China and Asia
1432: Portuguese
navigators discovered the Azores
1445 Dinis
Dias sails the west coast of Africa
1456: Cape
Verde islands are explored by Portuguese
1470 Portuguese
begin African exploration
1488: Bartholomeu
Dias of Portugal sails from the Iberian Peninsula to the south of Africa.
1492: The
Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus
1497: John
Cabot and his son Sebastian discover Canada, landing on the coast of
Newfoundland
1498: Vasco da
Gama sails around the Cape of Good Hope and reaches India
1499: Alonzo de Ojeda explores Columbia and Venezuela
1500: Vicente Pinzon and Juan Dias de Solis discover
Brazil
1501: Amerigo Vespucci explores the coast of South
America
1500: Rodrigo de Bastidas and Juan de
la Cosa discover Panama
1508: Juan Dias de Solis explores
Argentina
1513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa explores the Pacific coast of Panama and discovers
Pacific Ocean
Juan Ponce de
Leon explores Florida
1516: Juan Dias de Solis explores Uruguay
1517: Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba explores Yucatan
1518: Juan de
Grijalava explores Mexico
1519 Ferdinand
Magellan is the first to go around the world
Hernando Cortez kidnaps
Aztec Emperor Montezuma and loots the Aztec gold
Alonzo de Pineda explores
gulf Coast of America
1522: Gil
Gonzales de Avila and Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba explore Nicaragua & Granada
1524 Giovanni Verrazano discovers New York Bay
Hernando Cortes explores
the Honduras
Pedro de Alvarado explores
Guatemala and El Salvador
1526: Francisco Montejo explores Yucatan
1528 Panfilo de Narvaez conquers Cuba and explores Florida
Alvar Cabeza de Vaca
explores Texas, Arizona and New Mexico
1531: Francisco Pizarro explores Peru
1532: Francisco Pizarro invades and
loots the Incan Empire
1533: Sebastian de Benalcazar explores
Ecuador
1534: Jacques
Cartier explores the Great Lakes and the the St. Lawrence River
1536: Pedro de Mendoza explores Paraguay
1539 Hernando de Soto explores south-eastern North America
1540 Francisco Vázquez de Coronado explores south-western North America
Discovery of the Grand
Canyon by Garcia Lopez de Cardenas
Francisco de Orellana
explores Amazon River
1541 Francisco Vásquez de Coronado explores Kansas
1542: Cabrillo explores and
discovers the Californian coast
Rey Lopez de Villalobos explores the Philippines
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers San Diego Bay, California
1559: Tristan de Luna explores
North America
1562: John
Hawkins sails to Africa
1563: Francisco
de Ibarra explores New Mexico
1576: Sir
Martin Frobisher explores Baffin Bay and the Hudson Strait
1577: Sir
Francis Drake circumnavigates the world - December 13 1577 to September 26 1580
1584: Philip
Amadas and Arthur Barlowe (both in the service of Sir Walter Raleigh) explore
the coast of North Carolina
1585: Sir
Walter Raleigh establishes the Roanoke colony
1593: Sir
Richard Hawkins travels to the South Pacific
1595: Sir
Walter Raleigh seeks golden city of El Dorado in South America
Cornelis de Houtman discovers Sea Route to Indonesia
1598: Juan de Archuleta explores
Colorado
1607: Captain
John Smith explorer and founder of Jamestown
1609: Henry
Hudson explored parts of the Arctic Ocean and northeastern North America
including the Hudson River
1642: Abel
Tasman explores Tasmania and New Zealand
1652: Jan van
Riebeeck explores Africa and founded Cape Town
1768: Captain
James Cook discovers New Zealand
1791: George
Vancouver explores Canada
1804: Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark explore the Louisiana Territory
1820: Fabian
Gottlieb von Bellingshausen becomes the first person to see the Antarctic
continent
1843: Dr.
David Livingstone explores Africa
1897: Adrien de
Gerlache explores Antarctica
1912: Roald
Amundsen first on the South Pole followed by Robert F. Scott, Edward Wilson,
Edgar Evans and Lawrence Oates
1959: Yuri
Gagarin becomes the first Man in Space
1969: Moon Landing
Neil Armstrong commander of the Apollo 11 mission, accompanied by Buzz Aldrin
while their team mate Michael Collins controlled the command module Columbia
