European Exploration in the Northern Hemisphere 1488-1664
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1488
Bartolomeu Dias, a Portuguese navigator, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, revealing that a sea route from Europe to the orient was possible.
1492
Christopher Columbus (a Geonese with Portuguese experience), sailing for the King and Queen of Spain, tried to find an east to west route to China. He sailed across the Atlantic, along the coastlines of Cuba and Haiti. It was not until his third trip in 1498 that he realised that the American subcontinent lay just beyond. He continued to believe this was Asia and not a new discovery.
1493-1494
The world was divided between Spain and Portugal. In 1493, the Pope issued two edicts appointing Spain and Portugal as overlords of the newly discovered non-Christian lands. The treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal in 1494 formally divided the globe between them.
1497
In July, Vasco da Gama left Portugal with five ships and pioneered a route around Africa to India. He reached Calcutta in May 1498, returning to Spain a year later with a cargo of spices, woods and jewels.
1516
Portugal explored its part of the world, setting up trading networks around the Indian Ocean. It is believed that the Portuguese established a settlement at Timor as early as 1516.
1519-1521
The first circumnavigation of the world took place during this time. Spain had not been allowed to sail to the east through Portugal's part of the world. In September 1519, Magellan, a Portuguese sailing for Spain, set out to find a passage from Spain to India via America. In November 1520, he rounded Cape Horn into the Pacific and sailed in a north-westerly direction. He finally reached the Philippines in March 1521, where he was killed in fighting at Cebu. Some of his crew managed to complete the voyage -- the first circumnavigation of the world. The trip was a terrible one: the crew had been plagued by scurvy and had seen only insignificant islands as they crossed the Pacific. Spain colonised the West Indies and Central America. By the mid 1500s, other European nations started exploration and colonisation.
1560
The French started a fur trade with Canada.
1569
Spain, unable to sail to Asia via the Cape of Good Hope (and the trip around Cape Horn being too difficult), established a port on the west coast of Mexico at Acapulco. From here, ships sailed back and forth across the Pacific to Manila, where the Spanish had established a settlement to trade gold and silver from the mines in Mexico and Peru for goods such as silks, porcelains and medicines from China and other places. Returning to Acapulco, the goods were transported overland to Vera Cruz, then by sea to Spain. These ships sailed straight across the Pacific to the Philippines and returned by sailing up towards Japan, then across towards Alaska and down the coast of America to Mexico.
1583
The British failed to reach Newfoundland.
1600
Both the Dutch and the British also moved into the Indian Ocean, establishing trading companies there.
1605
The French colonised Nova Scotia.
1607
The British tried again to reach Newfoundland and were successful.
1608
Quebec in 1608.
1626
The Dutch colonised New York. The British and Dutch had settlements in the West Indies.
1664
The French also tried but did not prosper and finally the trading company went bankrupt.