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Feb 4, 1415
Prince Henry starts a navigation school
Henry was the third child of King John I of Portugal, founder of the Aviz dynasty, and of Philippa of Lancaster, John of Gaunt's daughter. Henry encouraged his father to conquer Ceuta (1415), the Muslim port on the North African coast across the Straits of Gibraltar from the Iberian peninsula. He learnt of the opportunities from the Saharan trade routes that terminated there, and became fascinated with Africa in general; he was most intrigued by the Christian legend of Prester John and the expan -
Feb 4, 1487
Bartolomeu Dias rounds the southern tip of Africa
Dias was a Knight of the royal court, superintendent of the royal warehouses, and sailing-master of the man-of-war, São Cristóvão (Saint Christopher). King John II of Portugal appointed him, on 10 October 1487, to head an expedition to sail around the southern tip of Africa in the hope of finding a trade route to India. Dias was also charged with searching for the lands ruled by Prester John, who was a fabled Christian priest and ruler. -
Feb 4, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Caribbean
In the early modern period, the voyages of Columbus initiated European exploration and colonization of the American continents, and are thus of great significance in world history. Christopher Columbus was a navigator and an admiral for Castile, a country that later founded modern Spain. He made four voyages to the Americas, with his first in 1492, which resulted in what is widely referred to as the Discovery of America[1] or Discovery of the Americas. -
Feb 4, 1492
Spain begins settlements in the Philippines
The Spanish Empire (Spanish: Imperio Español) comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power.[1] being the foremost global power. It lasted from the 15th century through — in the case of its African holdings — the latter portion of the 20th century -
France sets up its own East India Company
The Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC, "United East India Company") was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia. It was the second multinational corporation in the world (the British East India Company was founded two years earlier) and the first company to issue stock.[2] It was also arguably the first megacorporation, possessing quasi-governm -
• The Dutch establish a trading center on Java
West Java and in 1611, another was established at Jayakarta (later 'Batavia' and then 'Jakarta').[16] In 1610, the VOC established the post of Governor General to enable firmer control of their affairs in Asia.The stage was thus set for Houtman's four-ship exploratory expedition to Banten, the main pepper port of West Java, where they clashed with both the Portuguese and indigenous Indonesians. Houtman's expedition then sailed east along the north coast of Java, losing twelve crew to a Javanese -
Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas
Tordesilhas, Spanish: Tratado de Tordesillas), signed at Tordesillas (now in Valladolid province, Spain), 7 June 1494, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal along a meridian 370 leagues[note 1] west of the Cape Verde islands (off the west coast of Africa). This line of demarcation was about halfway between the Cape Verde Islands (already Portuguese) and the islands discovered by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage (claimed for Spain), named in the trea -
Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut on the Indian Ocean
Vasco da Gama's father was Estêvão da Gama, who had served in the 1460s as a knight of the household of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu[3] and went on to rise in the ranks of the military Order of Santiago. Estêvão da Gama was appointed alcaide-mór (civil governor) of Sines in the 1460s, a post he held until 1478, and continued as a receiver of taxes and holder of the Order's commendas in the region. -
Ferdinand Magellan leads a Spanish expedition to the Philippines
Philippine prehistory covers the events prior to the written history of what would become the Philippine archipelago. The current demarcation line between this period and the early history of the Philippines is 900 AD, which is the date of the first surviving written record to come from the Philippines, the Laguna Copperplate Inscription. This period saw the immense change that took hold of the archipelago from Stone Age culturens in the 4th century AD, continuing on with the gradual widening of
