Looking at this timeline may give you some perspective on the period we are studying. It gives you a sense of some of the history of native peoples before the arrival of Europeans It also shows you the simultaneous nature of the voyages by ship and the journeys to a new understanding of the world which we are studying. You will not be required to know any of the dates contained in this timeline.
I plan on developing this Great Voyages Timeline into a true mutlimedia, hypertext WWW document. At present there are a few links to other web sites.
DATE EVENT =================================================================1459 Birth of Nicolo MACHAIVELLI, Italian political philosopher; dies 152730KBC (or earlier) Probable crossing of Bering Straits by Indian ancestors 61 Spinden date for the Leyden Plate, a carved jade plaque in Mexico 68 Spinden date for oldest stone monument or stela, in Mexico 217 Year of oldest Pueblo roofbeam that can be carbon-14 dated 400 Heyday of the Moundbuilders in Mississippi and Ohio valleys 711 Islamic invasion of Spain (at the invitation of one party in a Christian civil war) 732 The northern advance of Islamic power halted at the Battle of Tours 725 Casa Grande, an Indian fort and large irrigation works built - Arizona 850 Norsemen defeat Irishmen, eject them from Iceland 985 Eric the Red colonizes Greenland 1000 Leif, Eric's son, builds dwelling on NE coast of Newfoundland 1000 Tiahuanaco civilization in Peru, widespread planting of potatoes, corn 1056 Beginning of the democratic Pataria movement in Milan 1085 Surrender of Toledo by its Islamic ruler to Ferdinand I of Leon. Toledo contained a good library of Arabic learning concerning medicine, astrology, astronomy, pharmacology, psychology, physiology, biology, optics, chemistry, physics, mathematics (algebra, geometry and trigonometry), music, and navigatioon among other subjects. These materials were to make their way into Europe
1100 Mayan civilization reaches it's height in Central America
1478 Birth of Sir Thomas
MORE,
English philsopher, coiner of the term "utopia"; dies 1535
1482 
1484 Birth of Bartoleme DE LAS
CASAS, Spanish Domenican priest, defender of the Indians.
1492 Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain complete the "reconquista"
by capturing the Alhambra and expel the Moors from Spain
1492 Columbus departs Palos, Spain, in Santa Maria. Hopes to
find gold/Indies
1492 Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain require that their Jewish
subjects either convert to Christiantiy or depart from Spain
1492/93 Birth of Francisco de
VITORIA, Spanish philosopher and just war theorist.
1494 Spain and Portugal divide New World in Treaty of
Tordesillas
1497 John Cabot makes landfall in Newfoundland, claims it for
England
1498 Cabots explore as far south as Hatteras; claim continent
for England
1499 Ojeda explores Venezuelan coastline
1516 Raffael paints The School of Athens
1500 Fernandes explores Labrador
1500 Pedro Alvarez Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal
1501 Gaspar Corte-Real kidnaps 57 Indians in Newfoundland
1501 Rodrigo de Bastidas explores Central American coast &
Caribbean
1507 Lands of the New World named for Amerigo Vespucci by
Waldseemuller
1510 Spain begins settlements in Jamaica; two years later in
Cuba
1512 Juan Ponce de Leon names discovery after Easter Sunday;
Pascua Florida
1513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa names large body of water as
"Pacific"
1519 Hernando Cortes begins assault on Mexico, defeats the Aztecs
1519 Cortes brings Arabian horses to Americas from Spain
1519 Domenico de Pineda explores Gulf of Mexico from Florida to
Vera Cruz
1520 Magellan navigates through the straits from Atlantic to
Pacific
1521 Martin Luther excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church, Jan 3
1521 Guam, where America's day begins, explored by Magellan
1524 Giovanni da Verrazano explores Hudson River and New York
harbor waters
1526 Spanish attempt colonization of Cape Fear; it lasts only a
few months
1528 Panfilo de Narvaez invades Florida from Cuba, wars with
Indians
1531 Spain invades Peru; end of Inca civilization
1533 Birth of Michel de
MONTAIGNE, French philosopher and essayist; dies 1592
1534 Jacques Cartier explores coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland
1535 Jacques Cartier explores St. Lawrence River, trades with
Huron Indians
1536 Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aries
1536 Al var Nunez Cabeza de Vaca reaches Culiacan after roaming
all over south
1538 Bogota settled by Quesada
1539 Hernando de Soto leaves Havana to find Seven Cities; finds
Indian war
1539 First printing press set up in the New World - at Mexico
City
1540 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado treks north from Mexico to
Zuni territory
1540 Coronado's troops discover the Grand Canyon
1541 Hernando de Soto explores Mississipi River valley and Gulf
Coast
1542 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo explores in area of San Diego for
Spain
1544 Sebastian Cabot publishes map of the world with remarkable detail
1548 Birth of Giordano Bruno; dies 1600. Bruno is perhaps the most
famous of Italian Renaissance philosophers. His thought is largely
connected with Hermetic philosophy and the associated magical traditions.
Bruno did hold some form of Copernicanism, and was seized by the
Inquisition and burned at the stake after being tried and convincted as a
heretic. It is, however, more likely that the heretical views for which
he was condemned invovled magic rather than science.
1551 Francis BACON,
English philosopher, essayist, advocate of natural science, and Lord
Chancellor of Engliand is born; dies 1626
1555 First tobacco taken from America to Spain
1555 Rio de Janeiro colony established by the French
1558 Reign of Elizabeth I begins; ends in 1603
1562 French establish trading post in South Carolina, erect
monument in FL
1562 John Hawkins begins slave trade between Guinea and West
Indies
1564 French Huguenots try to start colony at Jacksonville; are
killed by Spain
1564 French found Fort Caroline, FL. First European colony on
the mainland
1565 Spanish attack Fort Caroline, and find St. Augustine in the
process
1571 Birth of Johannes Kepler, German astronomer; dies 1630
1572 Francis Drake attacks Spanish harbors in the Americas
1576 Martin Frobisher puts his name on Frobisher's Bay, Canada
1577 Sir Francis Drake begins explorations on west coast of
North America
1581 Franciscan friars begin missionary work in "New Mexico"
1584 Walter Raleigh knighted by Virgin Queen for naming new
colony for her
1585 English attempt colony at Roanoke Island, NC, but have
Indian trouble
1586 Potatoes from Columbia introduced to England by Herriot
1587 New colony established at Pamlico Sound. It disappeared
within 2 yrs
1587 Virginia Dare was first child born in the colonies; fate
unknown
1588 English defeat Spanish armada of King Philip II
1588 Birth of Thomas
HOBBES, English philosopher and materialist; dies 1679
1590 Galileo describes the law of falling bodies
1592 Alleged date of Juan de Fuca discovery of inland passage
1592 Birth of Pierre
GASSENDI,
French philosopher, a moderate skeptic, Gassendi is largly responsible
for reintroducing Epicureanism - that is atomism - as a viable
alternative in European thought
1595 Birth of Rene DESCARTES, French scientist, mathematician and philosopher; dies 1650
1598 Colonists landed on Sable Island 1598 Henry IV issues Edict of Nantes to quiet religious wars 1598 Don Juan de Onate claims all of New Mexico for SpainHistorical Time Line 1600-1800
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Last Updated: 12/95