Exploration & Expansion in the 15th century

157 sourced entries, 1400 CE to 1499 CE, oldest first. Also see Exploration & Expansion across every century or everything else in the 15th century.

• 1400July 7 – Sir John Swinton, an envoy of King Robert III of Scotland, crosses the border into England along with 20 knights, after being given a writ of safe conduct by King Henry IV to allow their travel to negotiate during the standoff between the two British kingdoms between phases of the Hundred Years' War.source
• 1400August 29 – Having failed in his expedition to receive a pledge of fealty from the King of Scotland, King Henry IV crosses back into England.source
• 1401June 24 – (13th day of 5th month Ōei 8) The shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu dispatches a mission to Ming Dynasty China as the first step of opening trade between the two nations.source
• 1401August 5 – The County of Geneva, located in southeastern France in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, comes to an end after more than 300 years when it is sold to Amadeus VIII, Count of Savoy for 45,000 gold francssource
• 1402The Aq Qoyunlu ("White Sheep Turkmen") tribal confederation, in modern-day northern Iraq and Iran, moves its capital from Amida to Diyarbakır.source
• 1402Conquest of the Canary Islands: King Henry III of Castile sends French explorer Jean de Béthencourt to colonize the Canary Islands. Béthencourt receives the title King of the Canary Islands but recognizes Henry as his overlord.source
• 1403May 21 – Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, an ambassador from the king of Castile to Timur, leaves Cadiz; he arrives in Samarkand over a year later.source
• 1403June 15 – John III of Soltaniyeh, a Dominican friar of the Roman Catholic Church, arrives in Paris as an emissary of the conqueror Timur, Emir of Transoxiana, in order to secure an agreement with King Charles VI of France in order to open trade relations between the two nations.source
• 1403September 4 – The first 200 Chinese treasure ships are ordered by the new Ming dynasty Emperor Cheng Zu from the Capital Guards at Nanjing.source
• 1403October 18 – An English fleet organised by John Hawley of Dartmouth and Thomas Norton of Bristol seizes seven French merchant vessels in the English Channel.source
• 1403In China, the Emperor Cheng Zu moves the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, commissions the Yongle Encyclopedia, one of the world's earliest and largest known general encyclopedias, and orders his coastal provinces to build a vast fleet of ships, with construction centered at Longjiang near Nanjing; the inland provinces are to provide wood and float it down the Yangtze River.source
• 1404April 12 – Centurione II Zaccaria buys the Principality of Achaea, located on the Peloponnese peninsula in modern-day Greece, from King Ladislaus of Naples.source
• 1405July 11 – Ming Dynasty fleet commander Zheng He sets sail from Suzhou, to explore the world for the first time.source
• 1406June 4 – The Chinese merchant Chen Yanxiang and his crew of 121 people depart from Java to Korea on the pretext of being Java's ambassador to Korea. His djong ship carries with it with various Southeast Asian products, including parrots, peacocks, agarwood, camphor, and black pepper.source
• 1406October 27 – In gratitude to the King of Korea, Chinese merchant Chen Yanxiang trades his ship to Korea for a smaller vessel, then departs Korea, but runs into a storm while approaching Japan's Seto Inland Sea.source
• 1409The Republic of Venice purchases the port of Zadar from Hungary.source
• 1409Cheng Ho (or Zheng He), admiral of the Ming empire fleet, deposes the king of Sri Lanka.source
• 1410May 19 – During his campaign against the Eastern Mongols, China's Emperor Cheng Zu stops with his troops at Minluanshu and orders the carving of an inscription on rocks at the north bank of the Kerulen river, declaring "In the eighth year of the Yongle geng yin, fourth month ding you, sixteenth day ren zi, the Emperor of the Great Ming passed here with six armies during the punitive expedition against the barbarian robbers."source
• 1412December 18 – China's Emperor Cheng Zu orders the fourth of the Ming treasure voyages, to be led by Admiral Zheng He.source
• 1414September 20 – A giraffe is presented to China's Emperor Cheng Zu as a gift from the Sultan of Bengal, Saifuddin Hamza Shah.source
• 1416November 14 – China's Emperor Cheng Zu and his fleet return to Nanjing from his fourth expedition for treasure after having been away since 1413.source
• 1416December 28 – China's Emperor Cheng Zu announces a fifth treasure voyage.source
• 1417June 29 – An English fleet, led by the Earl of Huntingdon, defeats a fleet of Genoese carracks and captures their admiral, the "Bastard of Bourbon".source
• 1418December 30 – The Ming Chinese explorers, commanded by Admiral Zheng He, arrive in Yemen to open trade with the Arab kingdom, and the admiral is brought to the court of the Emir Al Malik al Nasir. The Chinese stay until January 27.source
• 1418João Gonçalves Zarco leads one of the first Portuguese expeditions to the Madeira Islands.source
• 1419July 1 – Portuguese explorers João Gonçalves Zarco, Tristão Vaz Teixeira and Bartolomeu Perestrello, at the service of Prince Henry the Navigator, discover Madeira Island, a year after Zarco and Tristão had discovered Porto Santo Island.source
• 1419The final 41 treasure ships are built in the Nanjing shipyards for use in the expeditions of Zheng He.source
• 1420February 8 – Admiral Pietro Loredan of the Republic of Venice is assigned to carry out the conquest of Dalmatia (later part of Croatia) across the Adriatic Sea.source
• 1420Henry V of England's flagship Grace Dieu is commissioned and makes her only voyage.source
• 1421March 3 – Zheng He receives an imperial order from China's Emperor Zhu Di to begin the Ming treasure voyages, carrying imperial letters, silk products and other gifts to various rulers of countries around the Indian Ocean.source
• 1421Portuguese sailors sent by Prince Henry the Navigator cross Cape Non, going as far as Cape Bojador.source
• 1423December 15 – After a two-year expedition to Byzantium, Giovanni Aurispa arrives in Venice with largest and finest collection of Greek language texts up to that time, including 238 ancient manuscripts.source
• 1424June 22 – Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt under the leadership of Egyptian general Ibn bint al-Aqsarayi launch a series of military expeditions marking the start of the Mamluk campaigns against Cyprus (1424–1426).source
• 1427August 17 – The first band of Gypsies visits Paris, according to an account of the citizens of Paris.source
• 1427Diogo de Silves, Portuguese navigator, discovers seven islands of the Azores archipelago.source
• 1428May 13 – Joan of Arc makes her first attempt to reach the Armagnac court at Chinon, arriving at Vaucouleurs speaking to Robert de Baudricourt, captain of the royal garrison, and tells him that God told her in a vision that she had a mission to help restore the Dauphin Charles to the throne. Baudricourt initially declines her request to be given an escort to visit Charles in person.source
• 1432March 7 – The seventh Ming Chinese overseas expedition fleet, led by Admiral Zheng He, arrives at the port of Surabaya on the island of Java (now in Indonesia). The Chinese do trading until leaving on July 13source
• 1432August 3 – The Ming Chinese expedition arrives at Malacca in what is now Malaysia and stays until September 2.source
• 1432September 12 – The Ming Chinese expedition reaches the Samudera Pasai Sultanate on Sumatra (now part of Indonesia) and establishes trade agreements with the Sultan Zainal Abidin II, remaining at Pasai until November 2.source
• 1432November 28 – The Ming Chinese expedition lands at the island of Sri Lanka, coming ashore at Beruwala at the Kingdom of Kotte, ruled by Parakramabahu VI, but departs for India four days later.source
• 1432December 10 – The Ming Chinese expedition stops briefly at the Calicut Kingdom (now part of the Kerala state of India) and leaves on December 14 to sail westward across the Indian Ocean toward the island of Hormuz.source
• 1433January 17 – The seventh Ming Chinese overseas expedition fleet, led by Admiral Zheng He, arrives at the island of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, its furthest westward travel and stays for almost two months before setting off for its return to China.source
• 1433March 9 – The Ming Chinese expedition departs from Hormuz Island and begins its four-month voyage home to Beijing.source
• 1433July 22 – Admiral Zheng He and the crew of the seventh Ming Chinese overseas expedition return to China, arriving at Beijing two and one half years after their departure on January 19, 1411 from Nanjing. With the completion of the maritime expedition, the fleet is dispersed, altering the balance of power in the Indian Ocean, and making it easier for Portugal and other Western naval powers to gain dominance over the seas.source
• 1433September 14 – Emperor Xuanzong of Ming dynasty China welcomes the envoys of 11 foreign nations that had sent representatives to travel back to China with Admiral Zheng He's fleet. Present at the Imperial Court as guests are envoys of the kings of Samudera, Kingdom of Kotte, Kingdom of Cochin, Calicut, Dhofar, Aden, Coimbatore, Hormuz, Jayile and Mecca.source
• 1434August – Portuguese explorer Gil Eanes and his crew sail around the dangerous Cape Bojador of North Africa (off of Western Sahara) and survive, becoming the first Europeans to make the voyage and ending the legends about what lies on the other side of the "Dark Sea". The achievement is a breakthrough in trade between Europe and Asia.source
• 1435Gil Eanes and Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia explore the coast of Africa, as far as the Angra dos Ruivos (in modern-day Western Sahara).source
• 1436March 21 – Italian archaeologist Cyriacus of Ancona, exploring at the Greek village of Kastri) rediscovers the site of Delphi, eight centuries after it had been abandoned. More than four more centuries will pass before the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, the workplace of the Oracle of Delphi, will be found.source
• 1436August 31 – An attempt by Spain to recapture Gibraltar from the Moors fails as the expedition leader Enrique Pérez de Guzmán drowns along with 40 of his men after reaching the shore.source
• 1436Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia becomes the first European to explore the western coast of Africa, past the Tropic of Cancer.source
• 1437August 22– Portugal's disastrous Tangier expedition to attack Morocco begins as Prince Henry the Navigator and more than 6,000 troops (3,000 knights, 2,000 infantry, 1,000 archers) sail from the port of Belém toward Africa and the Portuguese colony of Ceuta. They arrive at Ceuta five days later.source
• 1437October 15 – Prince Henry the Navigator (Henrique, o Navegador), brother of King Duarte of Portugal, agrees on behalf Portugal to cede its North African colony of Ceuta back to Morocco in return for being allowed to withdraw all of his troops, including those taken prisoner.source
• 1439Beginning of the settlement of the Azores with the arrival of the first Portuguese settlers in Santa Maria.source
• 1441The first enslaved black Africans are brought to Europe at Lagos in the Kingdom of Portugal.source
• 1441Nuno Tristão reaches the Ras Nouadhibou (Cabo Branco) on the western coast of Africa. This is probably the first voyage where a caravel is used for maritime exploration.source
• 1442Portuguese sailors first arrive at the Senegal River.source
• 1443Portuguese explorer Nuno Tristão penetrates the Arguin Gulf, off the west coast of Africa.source
• 1444August 6 – A Portuguese fleet of caravels, led by Lançarote de Freitas, lands 235 slaves at Algarve, Portugal.source
• 1444The first European slave market for the sale of African slaves, the Mercado de Escravos, opens in Lagos, Portugal.source
• 1444Portuguese explorers reach the mouth of the rivers Senegal and Gambia.source
• 1445Portuguese explorer Dinis Dias discovers the Cap-Vert, on the western coast of Africa.source
• 1445The Portuguese set up their first trading post (Feitoria) in Africa, on the island of Arguin.source
• 1446Portuguese navigator Álvaro Fernandes reaches the mouth of the Casamance River in Senegal.source
• 1447Franzes I, Duke of Brittany, reverses the policy of his father, the late Duke Yann the Wise and allows the Caquin minority to have certain rights of trade within specified areas in the bishopric of Vannes.source
• 1449May – An English privateering fleet led by Robert Wennington challenges ships of the Hanseatic League.source
• 1449June 18 – Mary of Guelders arrives in Scotland at Leith after being escorted from the Duchy of Burgundy to Scotland following her selection by Lord Crichtonsource
• 1450March 10 – Colonization of Terceira Island by Portugal begins as Dom Henrique, om Navigadorsource
• 1450Machu Picchu (Quechua: Machu Pikchu, "Old mountain"), a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,400 meters (7,875 ft) above sea level, is believed to be under construction.source
• 1452Portuguese navigator Diogo de Teive discovers the islands of Corvo and Flores, in the Azores.source
• 1454Isaac Zarfati sends a circular letter to Rhineland, Swabia, Moravia and Hungary, praising the happy conditions of the Jews under the crescent, in contrast to the "great torture chamber" under the cross, and urging them to come to the Ottoman Empire.source
• 1455March 22 – Venetian explorer and slave trader Alvise Cadamosto and a crew commanded by Vicente Dias depart from Porto Santo on the first of two voyages down the coast of West Africa and reaches the Gambia River before being forced to turn back by the crew.source
• 1456Alvise Cadamosto discovers some of the Cape Verde Islands.source
• 1456Emperor Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia founds the city of Debre Berhan.source
• 1456Diogo Gomes reaches the Geba River in Guinea Bissau, and explores the Gambia River.source
• 1458Moctezuma I, Tlatoani of Tenochtitlán, leads an expedition to the city-state Coixtlahuaca in Mixtec territory, but is defeated.source
• 1459April 24 – The Fra Mauro map of the world is completed by the Italian cartographers Fra Mauro and Andrea Bianco, who had been hired by the late King Afonso V of Portugal to produce an up-to-date geography for the use by explorers.source
• 1459The Wallachian town of Bucharest is first mentioned.source
• 1460Portuguese navigator Pedro de Sintra reaches the coast of modern-day Sierra Leone.source
• 1462January 22 – On Saint Vincent's Day, Portuguese explorer Diogo Afonso and his men become the first Europeans to discover the island of São Vicente (now part of Cape Verde) off the coast of North Africa.source
• 1466September 23 – Peace talks begin in the city of Nieszawka in Poland to end the Thirteen Years' War between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Knights.source
• 1470November 28 – Emperor Lê Thánh Tông of Đại Việt launches a naval expedition against Champa, beginning the Cham–Annamese War.source
• 1470The first contact occurs between Europeans and the Fante nation of the Gold Coast, when a party of Portuguese land and meet with the King of Elmina.source
• 1470In Tonga, in or around 1470, the Tuʻi Tonga Dynasty cedes its temporal powers to the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua Dynasty, which will remain prominent until about 1600.source
• 1471January 17 – Portuguese navigators João de Santarém and Pedro Escobar discover the uninhabited island of Príncipe (now part of the nation of São Tomé and Príncipe). They initially call it "Ilha de Santo Antão" because they land it on the feast day of Saint Anthony.source
• 1471January – Portuguese navigators João de Santarém and Pedro Escobar reach the gold-trading centre of Elmina on the Gold Coast of west Africa, and explore Cape St. Catherine, two degrees south of the equator, so that they begin to be guided by the Southern Cross constellation. They also visit Sassandra on the Ivory Coast.source
• 1471Moorish exiles from Spain, led by Moulay Ali Ben Moussa Ben Rached El Alami, found the city of Chefchaouen in the north of Morocco.source
• 1472March 4 – A mount of piety is established in Siena (Italy), origin of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world's oldest surviving retail bank.source
• 1472An extensive slave trade begins in modern Cameroon as the Portuguese sail up the Wouri River and Fernão do Po claims the central-African islands Bioko and Annobón for Portugal.source
• 1473January 1 – The uninhabited island of Annobón, off of the coast of West Africa, is claimed by Portuguese explorers who name it in honor of the New Year. A year later, it becomes the home of enslaved Africans who either marry or work of Portuguese citizens, or sold.source
• 1473Possible discovery of the island of "Bacalao" (possibly Newfoundland off North America) by Didrik Pining and João Vaz Corte-Real.source
• 1477The first edition of The Travels of Marco Polo is printed.source
• 1478May 28 – Captain Juan Rejón of Aragon, charged with leading the conquest of the Canary Islands for the Spanish crown, departs with 600 men on three ships from the El Puerto de Santa María, at the time part of the Kingdom of Seville.source
• 1478June 24 – After a rendezvous with other Castilian Navy ships, Captain Rejón and 1,300 men arrive at the Bay of Isletas on Gran Canaria island.source
• 1478August 1 – Following a storm that prevents the landing of other ships at the island of Gran Canaria, the Portuguese Navy withdraws and sails back to Portugal.source
• 1479May 13 – Christopher Columbus, an experienced mariner and successful trader in the thriving Genoese expatriate community in Portugal, marries Felipa Perestrelo Moniz (Italian on her father's side), and receives as dowry her late father's maps and papers, charting the seas and winds around the Madeira Islands, and other Portuguese possessions in the Ocean Sea.source
• 1482August 4 – Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão and his crew arrive at Loango Bay in West Africa on Saint Dominic's Day, and Cão names the body of water Praia Formosa de São Domingos; from there he and the crew become the first Europeans to enter the Congo River.source
• 1484July 6 – Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão finds the mouth of the Congo River.source
• 1484Maximilian I, Duke of Burgundy, orders foreign merchants to leave Bruges. Most merchants move to Antwerp, greatly contributing to its growth as an international trading center.source
• 1484The King of Portugal appoints a commission of mathematicians to perfect tables, to help seamen find their latitude.source
• 1485August 1– Accompanied by his own troops and French mercenaries, Henry Tudor sets sail from Honfleur in France with 30 ships to begin his second attempt to invade the Kingdom of England.source
• 1486October 10 – King João II of Portugal appoints Bartolomeu Dias to lead an expedition to sail around what will be called the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa, in the hope of finding a trade route to India.source
• 1487May 7 – The Kingdom of Portugal dispatches Pêro da Covilhã and Afonso de Paiva across Europe and Africa to inquire about a sea route to India, as well as to inquire about the enigmatic Prester John. Covilha reaches Ethiopia but is not allowed to leave, while de Paiva is never heard from again.source
• 1487August – Bartolomeu Dias leaves Lisbon, on his voyage to the Cape of Good Hope.source
• 1487December 8 – Bartolomeu Dias and his crew, sailing southward along the African coast in the caravels São Cristóvão and São Pantaleão arrive at what is now Namibia's Walvis Bay, which Dias calls O Golfo de Santa Maria da Conceição.source
• 1488February 4 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after his ships had been blown off course while sailing southeastward along Africa's coast in search of the Cape of Good Hope. After having turned northward, Dias realizes later that he had actually rounded the Cape and seen it from a distance as his ships were sailing westward to reach his prior position.source
• 1488March 12 – The Bartolomeu Dias expedition from Portugal arrives at the Cape of Good Hope and the crew of the two expedition ships, São Cristóvão and São Pantaleão, become the first Europeans to set foot at Good Hope. They anchor at the Boesmans River at what is now the South African city of Kwaaihoek. In that the landing took place on the feast day of Saint Gregory, the Portuguese sailors erect the Padrão de São Gregório, a stone pillar and cross, to mark their arrival.source
• 1490Aldus Manutius moves to Venice.source
• 1490Merchants carry coffee from Yemen to Mecca (approximate date).source
• 1492January 15 – Christopher Columbus meets Ferdinand and Isabella at the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos in Córdoba, Andalusia, and persuades them to support his Atlantic voyage intended to find a new route to the East Indies.source
• 1492May 23 – At the shipbuilding town of Palos de la Frontera in Spain, an April 30 decree of Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon is read aloud to the residents, directing that two ships are to be delivered to Christopher Columbus and people chosen by the Pinzon brothers will be required to travel on the voyage westward "by command of Their Highnesses").source
• 1492August 3 – The Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus sails with three ships (Niña, Pinta and Santa María) from Palos de la Frontera, in the service of the Crown of Castile, on his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, intending to reach Asia.source
• 1492September 6 – Christopher Columbus sails from La Gomera in the Canary Islands, his final port of call before crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.source
• 1492October 7 – The Columbus expedition, having seen no land for 29 days while sailing westward, and with some of its sailors threatening to mutiny, spots large flocks of birds, confirming that land is ahead. Christopher Columbus orders a change of course to follow the flight direction of the birds.source
• 1492October 12 – Believing he has reached the East Indies, Christopher Columbus and his expedition of three ships make landfall in the Caribbean and land on the island of Guanahani, now part of the Bahamas. He names the island "San Salvador". Earlier in the day, sailor Rodrigo de Triana on the Pinta had become the first person to spot land. Because of his belief that he is in the East Indies, Columbus refers to the natives as "indios".source
• 1492December 5 – Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola in present day northwestern Haiti.source
• 1492Martin Behaim constructs the first surviving globe of Earth, the Erdapfel. As Columbus would only return from his voyage in 1493, this globe does not show the New World yet.source
• 1492In Ming dynasty China, the commercial transportation of grain to the northern border, in exchange for salt certificates, is monetized.source
• 1493January 15 – Christopher Columbus and his crew begin their voyage back to Europe on their two remaining ships, the caravel La Niña (guided by Columbus) and the Pinta (piloted by Martín Alonso Pinzón), departing from the island of Hispanola and what becomes known as the Bay of Rincón in the Dominican Republic. The decision to return to Spain comes two days after the crew's battle with the indigenous residents, the Ciguayos.source
• 1493February 14 – A storm east of the Azores threatens to capsize both of the remaining ships, the Niña and the Pinta, on the expedition of Christopher Columbus as the crew are returning to Europe after being the first to reach the "New World". The two ships are separated and neither crew knows the fate of the other. The crew takes a vow for one of them to make a pilgrimage if they survive the storm. Columbus himself later makes a pilgrimage to the cathedral at Moguer in Andalusia in Spain.source
• 1493February 15 – Columbus begins writing his first account of his voyage to the New World, titled "Letter of Columbus, on the islands of India beyond the Ganges recently discovered", an account later printed and sold throughout Europe. His reference to the Ganges river in India confirms that he thought he had reached Asia.source
• 1493March 1 – Martín Alonso Pinzón returns in the Pinta to the city of Bayona in Spain from Christopher Columbus's voyage of discovery, sending the first notice about the discovery to the Catholic Monarchs. Columbus himself is delayed by a storm in the Azores.source
• 1493March 4 – Christopher Columbus anchors in Lisbon and completes his February 15 letter on the first voyage, conveying the news of his discoveries.source
• 1493March 15 – Christopher Columbus and Martín Alonso Pinzón return to Palos de la Frontera, the original port in Spain from where they started the first voyage of discovery.source
• 1493March 30 – In light of his success, Christopher Columbus is granted the title of "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" ("Almirante del mar Océano") and "Viceroy and Governor of the islands which he has discovered in the Indies".source
• 1493September 24 – Christopher Columbus leaves Cádiz on his second voyage of exploration.source
• 1493November 19 – Christopher Columbus lands on the coast of the island of Borinquen, which he renames San Juan (modern-day Puerto Rico).source
• 1494April 30 – On his second voyage to the New World, Columbus and his crew become the first Europeans to sail into what is now Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.source
• 1494May 5 – Christopher Columbus first sights Jamaica.source
• 1494August 29 – King Charles VIII of France departs from Grenoble with 30,000 troops and 10,000 naval crew on his way toward Italy, in order to assert his claim to become King of Naplessource
• 1496February 24 – King Henry VII of England signs the commercial treaty Intercursus Magnus with Venice, Florence, and the cities of the Hanseatic League and the Netherlands.source
• 1496March 10 – Christopher Columbus leaves Hispaniola for Spain, ending his second visit to the Western Hemisphere. During his time here he has forcibly subjugated the island, enslaved the Taíno, and laid the basis for a system of land grants tied to the Taíno's enslavement.source
• 1496August 5 – Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher Columbus, formally founds the city of Santo Domingo (first settled in March) on Hispaniola (in the modern-day Dominican Republic), making it the oldest permanent European settlement in the New World.source
• 1497April 18 – Captain Andrea Loredan of the Republic of Venice departs southward on the Adriatic Sea on a large, heavily-armed warship with a crew of 450, with a mission of locating the Spanish Navarrese pirate Pedro Navarro.source
• 1497May 10 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz, for his first voyage to the New World. The account of a voyage (lasting until October 15, 1498) is doubted because the only mention of it is in a letter written six years later, and the course described would have traveled across the land of Mexico and into the Pacific Ocean.source
• 1497May 20 – Italian-born explorer John Cabot sets sail from Bristol in England, on the ship Matthew (principally owned by Richard Amerike), looking for new lands to the west (some sources give a May 2 date).source
• 1497June 24 – John Cabot lands in North America (near modern-day Bonavista, Newfoundland).source
• 1497July 8 – Vasco da Gama's fleet departs from Lisbon, beginning his expedition to India.source
• 1497November 7 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama and his crew become the first Europeans to set foot on South African soil as the ship São Gabriel arrives at St Helena Bay and makes landfall.source
• 1497November 22 – The Vasco da Gama expedition discovers the first sea route from Europe to India as he and his crew, on four ships, round the Cape of Good Hope.source
• 1497December 16 – The Vasco da Gama expedition travels past the Great Fish River on South Africa's Eastern Cape and sails into previously unexplored waters in the Indian Ocean.source
• 1497The Ottomans give Russian merchants freedom of trade within the empire.source
• 1498February 3 – King Henry grants John Cabot a royal patent for a second westward sea voyage toward North America, with hopes that Cabot will discover a seaward route to Asia. The patent declares that "By thiesee presentes geve and graunte to our well beloved John Kaboto, Venecian, sufficient auctorite and power that he may take at his pleasure vi englisshe shippes and theym convey and lede to the londe and Iles of late founde y the seid John in our name." The expedition launches in early May, but with fewer ships than promised.source
• 1498March 2 – Vasco da Gama visits Quelimane and Mozambique, in southeastern Africa.source
• 1498April 14 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama reaches Malindi, in modern-day Kenya.source
• 1498May 17 – Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut (modern-day Kozhikode), India, becoming the first European to get there by sailing around Africa, thus discovering the maritime route to India. He finds a local Arab merchant who is able to interpret for him.source
• 1498May 21 – In England, the members of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London are granted a trade monopoly with the Netherlands by King Henry VII "in return for the payment of £5,000" to the royal coffers.source
• 1498May 30 – Christopher Columbus sets out on his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere from Sanlúcar, Spain.source
• 1498May – In "early May", the John Cabot expedition departs from Bristol on a second expedition westward to find a sea route between England and Japan.source
• 1498July 31 – Columbus becomes the first European to visit the island of Trinidad.source
• 1498August 1 – Columbus discovers the mouth of the Orinoco at what is now Venezuela on the continent of South America, but does not enter.source
• 1498August 4 – Columbus begins eight days of exploring the Gulf of Paria between Trinidad and Venezuela.source
• 1498August 5 – Columbus lands on the Paria Peninsula, in what is now Venezuela in the first definitely recorded landing of Europeans on the mainland Americas.source
• 1498August 12 – Columbus concludes his exploration of Venezuela.source
• 1498João Fernandes Lavrador and Pedro de Barcelos journey to Greenland; during their voyage, they discover the land which they name Labrador.source
• 1499June 1 – Pedro Alonso Niño, who had accompanied Columbus on his first voyage to the New World in 1492, departs from Palos in Spain toward South America on a 7-month voyage to the New World. Niño sets sail in a small caravel with 33 mensource
• 1499August 24 – Lake Maracaibo is discovered, by Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci.source
• 1499September 18 – Vasco da Gama arrives at Lisbon, returning from India, and is received by King Manuel of Portugal.source