Timeline of exploration

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