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Period: Jan 1, 1400 to
Age of Exploration
The Scientific Revolution, the Foundations of European Exploration, Voyages of Portugal & Spain, The Spanish and Dutch Empires. -
Period: Feb 6, 1400 to Feb 6, 1500
Strong states began to rise in West Africa.
Some of these kingdoms profited from the slave trade. Not all African states participated in the slave trade with Europeans. Many African societies, however, had practiced slavery well before the Europeans' arrival. -
Aug 1, 1492
Christopher Columbus left for Spain.
His three small ships—the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria—sailed westward across the Atlantic. -
Oct 12, 1492
Columbus landed in San Salvador.
It was a historic moment when Columbus and his captains planted the Spanish flag. Columbus claimed the land that he had reached for Spain. -
Period: Feb 5, 1497 to Feb 5, 1504
Amergio Vespucci crossed the Atlanttc several times a part of Spanish and Portuguese expiditions.
Unlike others, Vespucci did not think the land he saw was part of Asia. He called it a New World. A German mapmaker, impressed with Amerigo's argument, called the land America after Vespucci. -
Feb 5, 1498
Vasco da Gama landed in India.
He landed in India in 1498. Several years later, da Gama made a second voyage to India. He returned to Portugal, his ships full of valuable goods.Thanks to Dias and da Gama, an overseas trade route from Europe to India and the East Indies was now available. -
Feb 5, 1500
Pedro Cabral set sail westward for India.
Cabral's tiny fleet of 13 ships was blown off course, and the Portuguese made landfall on the coast of what is now Brazil. Under the Treaty of Tordesillas, Cabral was able to claim this incredibly rich land for Portugal. -
Period: Feb 6, 1500 to
Food prices increased many times over
The nearly continuous religious wars during Charles's reign drained Spain's human resources and treasury. Spain lacked industries and the government did little to promote them. So much of Spain's land was devoted to raising sheep for wool that the country could not produce enough food to feed its people -
Feb 5, 1513
Vasco Nunez made an overland crossing of the Isthmus of Panama.
Reaching a vast ocean, he named it the South Sea and claimed it for Spain. Balboa's discovery made it clear that the New World was not part of Asia. -
Feb 5, 1513
Pone de Leon sailed northward to what is now Florida.
A later voyage to Florida in 1528, led by Pánfilo de Narváez, ended in disaster and shipwreck. A handful of survivors from this tragic voyage traveled overland across what is now the southwestern United States and Mexico. Their travels opened even more land to Spanish claims and settlement. -
Feb 5, 1519
Ferdinand Magellan set out from Spain with 5 ships to cross the Atlanticc to South America.
Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan set out from Spain in 1519 with a fleet of five ships to discover a western sea route to the Spice Islands. En route he discovered what is now known as the Strait of Magellan and became the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean. The voyage was long and dangerous, and only one ship returned home three years later. Although it was laden with valuable spices from the East, only 18 of the fleet’s original crew of 270 returned with the ship. -
Feb 6, 1519
Hernán Cortés invaded Mexico.
He seized the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II, also known as Montezuma. Cortés captured and destroyed the great Aztec city of Tenochtitlán. The Spanish later built Mexico City on its ruins. Spanish horses and guns, unknown in the Americas, helped the Spanish defeat the great Aztec armies, as did a smallpox epidemic that swept through the Aztecs. -
Feb 6, 1530
Francisco Pizarro led 180 men and 37 horses on an expedition.
They traveled from the Isthmus of Panama to the capital of the Inca Empire in what is now Peru. In 1533 Pizarro claimed the land from present-day Ecuador to Chile for Spain. -
Feb 6, 1580
Spain annexed Portugal
Portugal did not regain its independence until 1640. Under Spanish control, Portugal's trade was greatly restricted and its overseas colonies were neglected. Only Brazil and Angola survived as major Portuguese colonies. -
Period: to
European slave ships carried thousands of slaves each year.
It has been estimated that some 10 million Africans survived the horrible journey to slavery in the Americas. Many perished during the horrible journey of the Middle Passage. Others died even earlier, on the hard trip from the African interior to slave ships on the coast.
