CHRONOLOGY

1480

  • Portuguese ships reach Congo.

    • 1488

  • Bartolomeu Dias rounds Cape of Good Hope.

    • 1492

  • Christopher Columbus lands in Caribbean.

    • 1493

  • Columbus makes second voyage to New World.

    • 1494

  • Portugal and Spain sign Treaty of Tordesillas.

    • 1497

  • John Cabot searches for Northwest Passage.

    • 1498

  • Vasco da Gama sails to India.

    • 1513

  • Vasco Núñez de Balboa crosses Isthmus of Panama.

    • 1517

  • Protestant Reformation begins in Germany.

    • 1519

  • Hernán Cortés searches for wealth in Mexico.

  • Ferdinand Magellan sets out to sail around world.

    • 1520

  • Mexica in Tenochtitlán revolt against Spaniards.

    • 1521

  • Cortés conquers Mexica.

    • 1532

  • Francisco Pizarro begins conquest of Peru.

    • 1535

  • Jacques Cartier explores St. Lawrence River.

    • 1539

  • Hernando de Soto explores southeastern North America.

    • 1540

  • Francisco Vásquez de Coronado starts to explore Southwest and Great Plains.

    • 1542

  • Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explores California coast.

    • 1549

  • Repartimiento reforms replace encomienda.

    • 1565

  • St. Augustine, Florida, is settled.

    • 1576

  • Martin Frobisher explores northern Canadian waters.

    • 1587

  • English settle Roanoke Island.

    • 1598

  • Juan de Oñate explores New Mexico.

    • 1599

  • Acoma pueblo revolts against Oñate.