Ashkan Torkaman 1

Bartholomeu Dias sails around the tip of Africa

The voyages of columbus

1488
1492-1502

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494

Vasco da Gama lands at Calicut in India

1498

Portuguese seize Malacca

1511

Landing of Portuguese ships In southern china

1514

Magellans voyage around the world

1519-1522

Spanish conquest of Mexico

1519-1522

Pizarros conquest of the Inca

1530-1535

1: King John II of Portugal appointed him, in October of 1487, to head an expedition to sail
around the southern tip of Africa in the hope of finding a trade route to India. Having rounded the
Cape of Good Hope, Dias continued east. Dias wanted to continue sailing to India, but he was
forced to turn back when his crew refused to go further. It was only on the return voyage that he
actually discovered the Cape of Good Hope, in May 1488. Dias returned to Lisbon in December
of that year, after an absence of sixteen months. The discovery of the passage around Africa
was significant because, for the first time, Europeans could trade directly with India and the
other parts of Asia, bypassing the overland route through the Middle East, with its expensive,
and often duplicitous, middlemen.
2: Christopher Columbus most famous voyage took place in 1492, when he discovered
previously unknown lands to the west of Europe: the Americas. After that, he returned to Spain,
and was commissioned to return with a larger fleet. All in all, he made four journeys to the New
World.
3: Briefly after Spain and Portugal began their navigation to the Americas, they decided that to
avoid problems, they would split the west. So they drew a line in between the continent. Spain
lined present day South America, all of Ecuador, Colombia, etc. Portugal received present day
Brazil.
4: He is one of the most famous and celebrated explorers from the Discovery Ages, being the
first European to reach India through sea. This discovery was very significant and paved the
way for the Portuguese to establish a long lasting colonial empire in Asia. The route meant that
the Portuguese wouldnt need to cross the highly disputed Mediterranean nor the dangerous
Arabia, and that the whole voyage would be made by sea. After decades of sailors trying to
reach India with thousands of lives and dozens of vessels lost in shipwrecks and attacks, Gama
landed in Calicut in May 1498. Reaching the legendary Indian spice routes unopposed helped
the Portuguese Empire improve its economy. These spices were mostly pepper and cinnamon
at first, but soon included other products, all new to Europe which led to a commercial monopoly
for several decades.

Ashkan Torkaman 2

5: The Capture of Malacca in 1511 occurred when the Portuguese admiral Afonso de
Albuquerque subdued the city of Malacca in 1511. The port city of Malacca controlled the
narrow strategic strait of Malacca, through which all sea-going trade between China and India
was concentrated. The capture of Malacca was the result of a plan by the King of Portugal
Manuel I, who in 1505 had resolved to thwart Muslim trade in the Indian Ocean by capturing
Aden, in order to block trade through Alexandria, capturing Ormuz, in order to block trade
through Beirut, and Malacca to control trade with China.
6: Portuguese fleet landed in southern china in 1514. This began a trading route to and from
china to Portugal.
7: Magellan believed that the Spice Islands could be reached by sailing west through the New
World. He was rejected by the Portuguese king, so went to Charles V. He set out with 5 ships
and hundreds of men. When they arrived at the Pacific ocean they had three ships left. On
March 28 1521, they landed in the Philippines. Magellan and his crew were persuaded into
helping a tribe kill their enemy. On April 21, 1521, Magellan took part in the Battle of Mactan and
was killed. Three years later, one ship with 17 men made it back to Spain.
8: Hernn Corts was a Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire (1519-1521)
and won Mexico for the crown of Spain. In 1519 Corts was to command his own expedition to
Mexico, but Diego Velzquez cancelled it. Corts ignored the order and traveled with about 500
men and 11 ships to Mexico. Corts became allies with some of the native peoples he
encountered, but with others he used deadly force to conquer Mexico. He fought Tlaxacan and
Cholula warriors and then set his sights on taking over the Aztec empire. He marched to
Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital and home to ruler Montezuma II. Corts took Montezuma
hostage and his soldiers raided the city. Corts left the city after learning that Spanish troops
were coming to arrest him for disobeying orders. He returned to Tenochtitlan to find a rebellion
in progress. The Aztecs eventually drove the Spanish from the city, but Corts returned again to
defeat them and take the city in 1521.
9: In 1526 Francisco Pizarro traveled to Peru and received permission to claim the land for
Spain. Pizarro took the Inca leader Atahualpa hostage, had him killed, and then conquered the
Inca city of Cuzco. He founded Lima, now the capital of Peru.