TIME LINE OF EXPLORATION

Ptolemy creates the first flat map of the world.

120

The Ptolemy world map is a map of the world known to Hellenistic society in the 2nd century. It is based on the description contained in Ptolemy's book Geography, written c. 150. Based on an inscription in several of the earliest surviving manuscripts, it is traditionally credited to Agathodaemon of Alexandria.

Swedish Viking Garðar Svavarsson circumnavigates Iceland.

870

Swedish Viking explorer Garðar Svavarsson was the first to circumnavigate Iceland in 870 and establish that it was an island. He stayed over winter and built a house in Húsavík. Garðar departed the following summer but one of his men, Náttfari, decided to stay behind with two slaves.

Náttfari becomes the first permanent resident of Iceland.

870

Garðar departed the following summer but one of his men, Náttfari, decided to stay behind with two slaves. Náttfari settled in what is now known as Náttfaravík and he and his slaves became the first permanent residents of Iceland.

Ingólfur Arnarson builds his homestead in present-day Reykjavík.

874

Ingólfur Arnarson was from the small village of Rivedal at Sunnfjord in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. According to the Icelandic Book of Settlements (Landnáma), he built his homestead in and gave name to Reykjavík in 874. However, archaeological finds in Iceland suggest settlement may have started somewhat earlier.

Eric the Red discovers Greenland.

982

Erik Raul Torvalds (approx. 950-1003 AD) was named Erik the Red primarily because of his red beard and hair, but perhaps also because of his fiery temper. It is said that he was a particularly hot-headed fellow who, after being exiled from Norway and later Iceland, finally settled in Greenland.

Leif Ericson discovers North America.

1002

After spending the winter in V inland, Leif sailed back to Greenland, and never returned to North American shores. He is generally believed to be the first European to reach the North American continent, nearly four centuries before Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492.

Marco Polo goes to China.

1271

Polo traveled extensively with his family, journeying from Europe to Asia from 1271 to 1295 and remaining in China for 17 of those years. Around 1292, he left China, acting as consort along the way to a Mongol princess who was being sent to Persia.

Alvise Cadamosto and Diogo Gomes explored the Cape Verde Islands.

1456

Alvise da Cadamosto (ca. 1428-1483) was an Italian trader and traveler from Venice who discovered the Cape Verde Islands and described the Canary Islands and the Senegal-Gambia-Geba area. Alvise da Cadamosto sailed aboard Venetian galleys to North Africa, Crete, Alexandria, and Flanders between 1445 and 1452.

Alvise Cadamosto and Diogo Gomes explored the Cape Verde Islands.

1456

Alvise da Cadamosto (ca. 1428-1483) was an Italian trader and traveler from Venice who discovered the Cape Verde Islands and described the Canary Islands and the Senegal-Gambia-Geba area. Alvise da Cadamosto sailed aboard Venetian galleys to North Africa, Crete, Alexandria, and Flanders between 1445 and 1452.

Pêro de Sintra reaches Sierra Leone.

1460

Pedro de Sintra, also known as Pêro de Sintra, Pedro da Cintra and Pedro da Sintra, (1399-1483) was a Portuguese explorer. He was among the first Europeans to explore the West African coast. Around 1462 his expedition reached what is now Sierra Leone and named it.
Missing

Cape Palmas is passed.

1470

Cape Palmas is a headland on the extreme southeast end of the coast of Liberia, Africa, at the ... missionary teacher Elizabeth Mars Johnson Thomson taught at Cape Palmas from 1835 until 1862, and died at Cape Palmas in 1864.
Missing

Fernão do Pó discovers Bioko.

1472

Fernão do Pó also known as Fernão Pó, Fernando Pó or Fernando Poo, was a 15th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer of the West African coast. He was the first European to see the islands in the Gulf of Guinea around 1472, one of which until the mid-1900s bore a version of his name, Fernando ... The island is now named Bioko and is part of Equatorial Guinea.

Lopo Gonçalves is the first to cross the equator.

1473

Lopes Gonçalves or Lopo Gonçalves was a Portuguese explorer of the African coast. He was the first European sailor to cross the equator, the first to reach the point where the coast turns south and the first to reach Gabon.

Diogo Cão reaches the Congo River, where he erects a “padrão” (pillar of stone).

1482

Ruy de Sequeira discovers São Tomé and Príncipe. Diogo Cão reaches the Congo River, where he erects a “padrão” (pillar of stone). Cão reaches Cape Cross, where he erects his last padrão.

Bartholomeu Dias discovers the southern tip of Africa.

1487

Cape Cross is a small headland in the South Atlantic in Skeleton Coast, western Namibia, on ... During his second voyage, in 1484–1486, Cão reached Cape Cross in January ... The current name of the place is derived from this padrão.

Columbus sails to the New World.

1492