Timeline of maritime migration and exploration facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

This timeline shows important events of people traveling and exploring by sea. It doesn't include journeys made only over land.

Early Ocean Journeys (Before 2000 BCE)
Ancient Sea Routes (2000 BCE - 500 CE)
Medieval Sea Voyages (500 CE - 1400 CE)
The Age of Exploration (1400 CE - 1600 CE)
Global Discoveries and Modern Exploration (1600 CE - Present)
See also

Early Ocean Journeys (Before 2000 BCE)

This section covers some of the first amazing sea trips made by humans.

Year	Event
~128,000 BCE	Early humans from North Africa sailed to the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea.
~53,000 BCE	Modern humans from Southeast Asia traveled to Sahul, which includes modern Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania.
~36,000 BCE	People from East Asia settled on the Japanese islands of Honshu and Kyushu.
~33,000 BCE	People from Southeast Asia moved to the Maluku Islands, Talaud Islands, and Palawan.
~30,000 BCE	People from eastern Siberia might have sailed into the Americas.
~20,500 BCE	People from eastern Siberia began moving to Beringia (a land bridge between Asia and the Americas) by land and sea.
~18,000 BCE	People settled on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.
~14,000 BCE	Small groups of Beringian sailors started moving along the Pacific Coast of the Americas.
~13,000 BCE	People from Honshu settled on the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
~9000 BCE	People from Sardinia settled on the Mediterranean island of Corsica.
~8800 BCE	People settled on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
~8000 BCE	People from South America settled on Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego.
~6500 BCE	People settled on the Mediterranean island of Crete.
~6000 BCE	People settled on the Mediterranean island of Sicily.
~5900 BCE	People from Sicily settled on the Mediterranean island of Malta.
~4500 BCE	People from South America settled on the Caribbean islands of Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Cuba, and Jamaica.
~4500 BCE	Early Paleo-Inuit people traveled from northeastern Siberia across frozen seas to Greenland.
~4500 BCE	People from China moved to the island of Taiwan. They mixed with earlier people who had arrived from China when a land bridge existed.
~2300 BCE	Trade ships from the Indus Valley began sailing to Mesopotamia.
~2,200 BCE	Sailors from Taiwan traveled to the Batanes Archipelago and northern Luzon. They later settled the rest of the Philippines and mixed with earlier people who arrived by land bridges.

Ancient Sea Routes (2000 BCE - 500 CE)

This period saw more organized trade and exploration across seas.

Year	Event
~1,500 BCE	Sailors from the Philippines traveled to the Mariana Islands.
1500-300 BCE	Phoenicians sailed, traded, and settled around most of the Mediterranean Sea. They also sailed through the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar) and explored the Atlantic Coast of Iberia and North Africa.
~600 BCE	Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II reportedly sent a Phoenician ship that sailed from the Red Sea, around Africa, to the mouth of the Nile River in three years. This story was told by Greek historian Herodotus.
~500 BCE	Carthaginian explorer Hanno the Navigator explored the Atlantic Coast of Africa.
~500 BCE	Paleo-Inuit people traveled across frozen seas to the North American Arctic.
~325 BCE	Greek geographer Pytheas of Massalia explored the British Isles and the North Sea.
~200	Chinese envoys sailed through the Strait of Malacca to Kanchipuram in India.
~420	People from the Sunda Islands of Southeast Asia settled on the African island of Madagascar.

Medieval Sea Voyages (500 CE - 1400 CE)

During this time, new groups like the Vikings and Polynesians made incredible journeys.

Year	Event
674	Chinese explorer Daxi Hongtong reached Aden in Yemen.
~750	Monks from the islands of Dál Riata settled on the North Atlantic island of Iceland.
~750	Ships from the Sunda Islands of Southeast Asia sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and reached Ghana in Africa.
793	Norse Vikings raided the Lindisfarne Priory, off the coast of Great Britain.
870	Norwegian Náttfari settled on the North Atlantic island of Iceland.
978	Icelander Snæbjörn galti Hólmsteinsson sailed to Greenland but failed to settle there.
982	Norwegian Erik Thorvaldsson (Erik the Red), exiled from Iceland, explored Greenland. Erik led the Icelandic settlement of Greenland in 985.
~1001	Iceland-born Greenlander Leif Erikson, son of Erik Thorvaldsson, set up a settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows on Newfoundland and explored nearby lands in North America.
~1010	Norsemen left Newfoundland and North America.
~1025	Polynesians settled in the Society Islands of the Pacific Ocean.
~1100	Polynesians settled in the Marquesas Islands of the Pacific Ocean.
~1100	Polynesians settled on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the Pacific Ocean.
~1219	Polynesians settled in the Hawaiian Islands of the Pacific Ocean.
1258	Japanese sailors landed on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu.
1270	Japanese sailors carrying sugar cane landed on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
~1320	Polynesians settled in the Pacific islands of New Zealand.
~1250	The Thule people from the Arctic Coast of Alaska settled on the Arctic islands of North America and Greenland.
~1350	The Inuit people from the Alaskan Arctic settled on the Arctic islands of North America and Greenland.

The Age of Exploration (1400 CE - 1600 CE)

This era saw European powers begin to explore and claim new lands across the globe.

Year	Event
1403	The Yongle Emperor of China ordered Zheng He to build a large fleet to explore the Indian Ocean and show Chinese power.
1405	Zheng He left Nanjing with 27,800 men on 255 ships for a two-year journey. The fleet visited many places, including Sri Lanka and India.
1407	Zheng He left Nanjing with 247 ships for a second two-year journey.
1409	Zheng He left Nanjing with 27,000 men for a third two-year journey.
1413	Zheng He left Nanjing for a fourth two-year journey. The fleet sailed as far west as Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf.
1417	Zheng He left Nanjing for a fifth two-year journey. The fleet sailed as far west as Hormuz Island, Yemen, Somalia, and Kenya.
1421	Zheng He left Nanjing for a sixth journey of 18 months.
1431	By order of the new Xuande Emperor, Zheng He left Nanjing for a seventh two-year journey.
1434	Portuguese captain Gil Eanes, sailing for Prince Henry the Navigator, rounded Cape Bojador in Western Sahara. This marked the start of Portuguese exploration of Africa.
1436	The new Zhengtong Emperor of China banned the building of large imperial sea-going ships.
~1450	Norsemen left Greenland.
1460	Portuguese sailors António de Noli and Diogo Gomes, sailing for Prince Henry the Navigator, discovered the islands of Cabo Verde.
1473	Portuguese sailor Lopes Gonçalves was the first European to sail across the Equator and reached Cape Saint Catherine in Gabon.
1482	King John II of Portugal ordered Diogo Cão to explore the Atlantic Coast of Africa. Cão sailed up the Congo River and then south to Angola.
1485	King John II of Portugal ordered Diogo Cão to return to Africa. Cão sailed up the Congo River and then south to Cape Cross in Namibia.
1488	King John II of Portugal ordered Bartolomeu Dias to find a sea route to India. Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
1492	Genoan Christopher Columbus led an expedition for Queen Isabella I of Castile, looking for a short westward sea route to China. Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean and landed on the Caribbean island of San Salvador on October 12, 1492. He explored the Caribbean, thinking China was nearby. Columbus set up a fort at La Navidad on Hispaniola, the first European settlement in the Americas. He made three more voyages to the Caribbean trying to reach China.
1493	Queen Isabella I of Castile sent Christopher Columbus on a second expedition with 17 ships and 1200 men to settle the Caribbean. Columbus found La Navidad destroyed and started a new settlement at La Isabela on Hispaniola. The settlers forced native Arawak people to work for them.
1497	King Henry VII of England sent Venetian sailor John Cabot to find a route to China. Cabot landed on Newfoundland, the first European to explore the island since the Vikings four centuries earlier.
1497	King John II of Portugal ordered Vasco da Gama to lead an expedition of four ships and 170 men to find a sea route to India. Da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and sailed across the Indian Ocean, landing at Kappadu in India on May 20, 1498.
1498	On his third voyage to the Caribbean, Christopher Columbus landed on the Paria Peninsula of Venezuela, becoming the first European to reach South America. He thought it might be the Garden of Eden.
1499	Florentine sailor Amerigo Vespucci, sailing for Spain, reached the mouth of the Amazon River.
1500	King Manuel I of Portugal sent Pedro Álvares Cabral to lead an expedition of 13 ships and 1500 men to India. Cabral sailed to Cabo Verde and then south to Brazil, claiming it for his king. He then sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean to Calicut in India.
1501	King Manuel I of Portugal sent Spanish captain Alonso de Ojeda and Florentine sailor Amerigo Vespucci to explore the coast of newly claimed Brazil. Ojeda followed the Brazilian coast south to Guanabara Bay. This journey convinced Vespucci that the land was not the East Indies but a new continent. In 1507, a German mapmaker named the new continent America in Vespucci's honor.
1502	On his fourth voyage to the Caribbean, Christopher Columbus landed at Puerto Castilla in Honduras, becoming the first European to reach Central America.
1501	King Manuel I of Portugal sent cousins Afonso and Francisco de Albuquerque to lead an expedition of six ships to India. They fought the Zamorin of Calicut and allied with the King of Cochin, who allowed them to build Fort Immanuel in 1503, the first European settlement in India.
1505	Portuguese-born Spanish explorer Diego Columbus, son of Christopher Columbus, brought people from Africa to work against their will on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. This marked the beginning of the forced movement of people across the Atlantic.
1508	Ferdinand II of Aragon, Regent of Castile sent Juan Ponce de León to settle the island of San Juan Bautista (Puerto Rico). Ponce de León founded Caparra, the first European settlement on the island.
1508	King Henry VII of England sent Sebastian Cabot, son of John Cabot, to search for the Northwest Passage to China. Cabot explored the Atlantic Coast of North America from Ungava Bay to Chesapeake Bay.
1509	King Manuel I of Portugal sent Portuguese nobleman Diogo Lopes de Sequeira to the rich Malacca Sultanate on the Malay Peninsula. Portuguese general Afonso de Albuquerque would take Malacca in 1511.
1510	Spanish conqueror Vasco Núñez de Balboa established Santa María la Antigua del Darién in Colombia, the first European settlement on the mainland Americas.
1511	Diego Columbus directed Spanish conqueror Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar to settle the island of Cuba. Cuéllar established Baracoa, the first European settlement on the island.
1513	Juan Ponce de León, the Spanish governor of San Juan Bautista, explored Florida, thinking it was another island. He was the first European to explore mainland North America since the Vikings four centuries earlier.
1513	Portuguese explorer Jorge Álvares became the first European to reach China by sea.
1513	Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the Spanish governor of Veragua (Panama), crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the shore of a sea he named the South Sea (Pacific Ocean). Balboa claimed all lands connected to this sea for Spain.
1515	Spanish Franciscan friars set up a mission at Cumaná, the first European settlement in Venezuela.
1516	Portuguese-born Spanish explorer Juan Díaz de Solís reached Río de la Plata between Uruguay and Argentina.
1518	Spanish conqueror Juan de Grijalva explored the east coast of Yucatan and Mexico.
1519	Spanish Captain-General Hernán Cortés established the first European settlement in Mexico at Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz on May 18, 1519. Cortés then marched to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.
1519	On August 15, 1519, Spanish governor Pedro Arias Dávila established Panamá (Panama City) in Panama, the first European settlement in Central America.
1520	King Charles I of Spain sent Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan to lead an expedition of five ships and 270 men to find a westward sea route to the East Indies. Magellan discovered the Strait of Magellan and found a sea he named the Peaceful Sea (Pacific Ocean). Magellan was the first explorer to cross the Pacific Ocean, which was much larger than he thought, taking a difficult four-month journey.
1521	Ferdinand Magellan was killed on the island of Mactan in the Philippines, but the expedition's two remaining ships tried to return to Spain.
1522	On September 6, 1522, the ship Victoria arrived in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain with the 18 survivors of the Magellan Expedition, having sailed all the way around the Earth.
1526	Portuguese traders brought people from Africa to work against their will in Brazil. This marked the beginning of the Portuguese forced movement of people.
1526	Spanish conquistador Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón sailed with six ships from Santo Domingo on Hispaniola to set up a colony north of the Bahama Islands. Ayllón chose the mouth of the Sapelo River in Georgia and established the colony of San Miguel de Gualdape on September 29, 1526. The colony failed in a few months, and the survivors returned to Hispaniola.
1527	Venetian Captain-General Sebastian Cabot, sailing for the Spanish Council of the Indies, built the Sancti Spiritu fort on the Carcarañá River, the first European settlement in Argentina.
1532	Portuguese nobleman Martim Afonso de Sousa established Porto dos Escravos in Brazil, the first Portuguese settlement in the Americas.
1533	Spanish Marquesado Don Hernán Cortés ordered Diego de Becerra to sail from Colima in Mexico looking for the mythical Strait of Anián and the Islands of California. Mutineers killed Becerra and landed at the Bay of La Paz in Baja California Sur.
1539	Spanish Marquesado Don Hernán Cortés ordered Francisco de Ulloa to lead an expedition of three ships to search for the mythical Strait of Anián. Ulloa sailed from Acapulco north along the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Ulloa sailed around and named the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) and sailed around the Baja California Peninsula to Isla de Cedros, proving that the Sea of Cortez is a gulf, not a strait, and that Baja California is a peninsula. (Spanish secrecy allowed the idea of an Island of California to continue for over two centuries.)
1542	Antonio de Mendoza, the first Viceroy of New Spain, directed Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo and Ruy López de Villalobos to explore the Pacific Ocean from Barra de Navidad in Jalisco. On June 27, 1542, Cabrillo sailed northwest with three ships to explore the Pacific Coast of Mexico and the Californias. Cabrillo reached the Russian River before turning back. Cabrillo died in the Channel Islands on the way back. On November 1, 1542, López de Villalobos sailed west with six large ships and 400 men across the Pacific Ocean to the East Indies. The expedition explored the Philippine Islands and the eastern Islands of Indonesia, but was captured by Portuguese authorities in 1544. López de Villalobos died on April 4, 1544, in a Portuguese prison on the Island of Amboyna. The Portuguese sent the 117 survivors of the expedition to Lisbon.
1559	Spanish conquistador Tristán de Luna y Arellano sailed with 11 ships from San Juan de Ulua in Veracruz to establish the colony of Santa Maria de Ochuse at Pensacola Bay in Florida. A hurricane largely destroyed the colony after only six weeks, though the survivors were not rescued until 1561.
1560	King Philip II of Spain ordered Captain-General Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to lead the first Treasure Fleet from Mexico and the Caribbean back to Spain.
1562	English trader John Hawkins brought people from Africa to work against their will in Hispaniola. This marked the beginning of the English forced movement of people.
1564	French explorer René Goulaine de Laudonnière led an expedition of three ships to found the colony of Fort de la Caroline on the May River in Florida.
1564	Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi led an expedition of five ships and 500 soldiers from Barra de Navidad in Jalisco to the Philippines. López de Legazpi landed in the Mariana Islands and went on to the Philippines. In 1565, López de Legazpi founded the colony of Villa del Santisimo Nombre de Jesús on the Island of Cebu, the first Spanish settlement in the East Indies.
1565	King Philip II of Spain ordered Captain-General Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to drive the French out of Florida. Aviles sailed for Florida and on September 8, 1564, established the settlement of San Agustín (St. Augustine) on the Matanzas River. The city still exists today. Avilés then attacked Fort de la Caroline and killed most of its inhabitants.

Global Discoveries and Modern Exploration (1600 CE - Present)

This period includes more detailed mapping of the world and journeys to extreme environments.

Year	Event
1605	French explorer Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons established a colony on Saint Croix Island in Maine. The next year, the colony moved to Port-Royal in Nova Scotia, becoming the first European settlement in Canada since the Vikings five centuries earlier.
1606	Dutch captain Willem Janszoon sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to the Indonesian island of Java. He then sailed to New Guinea and Australia, becoming the first European to explore those lands.
1607	In 1606, King James I of England allowed the Virginia Company of London to set up colonies in North America. The next year, the company established Jamestown in Virginia.
1616	Dutch explorer Willem Cornelisz Schouten sailed around Cape Horn and west across the Pacific Ocean, visiting many islands before reaching the Indonesian island of Java.
1619	In late August 1619, the Dutch privateer ship The White Lion arrived at Point Comfort, Virginia with 20 people from Ndongo in present-day Angola who were forced to work. These African people were sold to the Governor and Cape Merchant of the Colony of Virginia. The White Lion and another ship had captured these people from a Portuguese ship bound for Veracruz. This marked the beginning of the forced movement of people to America.
1624	France brought people from Africa to work against their will to settle Guiana in South America. This marked the beginning of the French forced movement of people.
1642	Dutch explorer Abel Tasman explored Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Fiji Islands.
1648	Russian explorer Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev rounded Cape Dezhnev in the Bering Strait.
1671	The Danish West India Company became involved in the forced movement of people across the Atlantic.
1675	English merchant Anthony de la Roché was blown off course and found shelter in a bay of the South Atlantic island of South Georgia.
1690	English captain John Strong landed in the Falkland Islands of the Atlantic Ocean.
1722	Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen landed on the Pacific island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island).
1732	Russian geodesist Mikhail Spiridonovich Gvozdev sailed from Petropavlovsk on Kamchatka to Cape Dezhnev, the easternmost point of continental Eurasia. He then sailed east across the Bering Strait to Cape Prince of Wales, the westernmost point of the continental Americas. Gvozdev then mapped the northwest coast of Alaska.
1767	British explorer Samuel Wallis landed on Tahiti in the Society Islands of the Pacific Ocean.
1770	British explorer James Cook explored and sailed around the Pacific islands of New Zealand. Cook landed at Botany Bay in Australia and explored the Pacific Coast of the continent.
1775	British explorer James Cook explored the South Atlantic island of South Georgia and claimed it for the United Kingdom.
1778	British explorer James Cook explored the Hawaiian Islands and the Northwestern Coast of North America from Alta California to the Chukchi Sea.
1820	Russian, British, and American ships first saw Antarctica.
1869	The Suez Canal between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea opened, making sea travel much faster.
1880	Finnish-born Swedish explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld sailed through the Northeast Passage and completed the first trip around Eurasia by way of the Suez Canal on the SS Vega.
1906	Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first to sail through the Northwest Passage on the Gjøa.
1914	The Panama Canal between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean opened, connecting two vast oceans.
1956	The United States Navy opened Naval Air Facility McMurdo on McMurdo Sound in Antarctica.
1957	American explorer Finn Ronne, with the United States Navy Reserve, discovered Berkner Island off the coast of Antarctica.
1958	The American nuclear submarine USS Nautilus became the first ship to reach the North Pole and the first ship to cross the Arctic Ocean underwater.
1960	Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and American oceanographer Don Walsh descended to the bottom of the Challenger Deep (-10,911 meters) in the Mariana Trench of the Pacific Ocean in the bathyscaphe Trieste on January 23, 1960.