Age of Exploration Timeline

The Age of Exploration, also known as the Age of Discovery, was a time for growth and was a time for people to seek answers to questions about the new work. It was a time when famous explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Ponce de Leon and Jacques Cartier began their search for answers to these questions.

For a three hundred year time period, beginning in the 1400’s, explorers took to the sea and began looking for new lands, new passageways to previously discovered lands, and for inventions that made oceanic travel easier. Here is a listing of some of the more important dates:

1430 - Infante Dom Henrique (also known as Prince Henry the Navigator) sailed to the Madeiras and Azores, and along the coast of Africa.
1469 - 1474 - Fernão Gomes - sailed along the Africa Guinea coast.
1484 - Diogo Cão - discovered the mouth of the Congo River.
1492 - 1493 Christopher Columbus (First Voyage) - sighted land in the Bahamas, discovered Cuba, Española, and other islands in the West Indies.
1493 - 1496 Christopher Columbus (Second Voyage) - sighted the island of Dominica, in the West Indies. He sailed throughout the Caribbean and uncovered many other islands.
1497 - 1497 John Cabot (First Voyage) - landed on Belle Island on the northern coast of Newfoundland.
1497 - 1499 Vasco de Gama - sailed by the Cape of Good Hope, and reached India.
1498 - 1500 Christopher Columbus (Third Voyage) - sighted Trinidad and reached the coast of South America.
1498 John Cabot (Second Voyage) - set sail and his four ships, and crew were lost at sea, and never heard from again.
1499 - 1500 Amerigo Vespucci - reached the coast of Brazil and explored the coast of South America.
1501 - Amerigo Vespucci - sighted and explored the coast of Brazil.
1502 - 1504 Christopher Columbus (Fourth Voyage) - landed and explored Martinique, Cuba, and other neighboring islands.
1513 Juan Ponce de Leon –sighted a large island, which he gave the name of Pascua Florida.
1519 - 1522 Ferdinand Magellan - discovered the Straits of Magellan and reached the Pacific Ocean.
1521 Juan Ponce de Leon - went to colonize Florida, and had seeds, and priests to convert the Indians.
1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano - landed at Cape Fear, southernmost of North Carolina's three capes.
1534 Jacques Cartier (First Voyage) - set sail and made landfall at Newfoundland
1535 - 1536 Jacques Cartier (Second Voyage) – explored the area of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the islands in the gulf and Canada.
1536 - Hernando de
Soto - he landed near Fort Myers, Florida
1541 - 1542 Jacques Cartier (Third Voyage) - set sail with the purpose of going to colonize Canada.

To help understand the age of discovery and the age of exploration, we have gathered some resources for your use: