Chronology of the Portuguese Discoveries

Portuguese discoveries, trips and participations: Dates and first places of the landings between 1415–1543, main routes in the Indian Ocean (blue), areas of Portugal in the reign of King John III. (green)

Chronology of the Portuguese Discoveries (1415–1543)

date	discovery	Ocean / sea	Continent / archipelago	king
1336	Possible first expedition by the Portuguese to the Canary Islands , followed by other expeditions in 1340 and 1341, although this is controversial.	Atlantic	Canaries	Alfonso IV (1325-1357)
1415	Under the command of John I , Portuguese troops conquer Ceuta . This event is commonly referred to as the beginning of the Portuguese expansion and with it the discoveries of the Portuguese.	Mediterranean Sea	North africa	Johann I (1385-1433)
1419	João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira discover the island of Porto Santo in Madeira .	Atlantic	Madeira Archipelago
1420	The same seafarers, together with Bartolomeu Perestrelo, discover the island of Madeira , which is subsequently colonized.	Atlantic	Madeira Archipelago
1422	Subsequent trips to Cape Nun , which Arabs and Europeans regard as the outermost navigable border to the south. Cape Now is crossed and Cape Bojador is reached.	Atlantic	Africa
1427	Diogo de Silves discovered or rediscovered the central and western islands of the Azores , which were colonized by Gonçalo Velho Cabral in 1431 and settled from 1439.	Atlantic	Azores archipelago
1434	Gil Eanes circumnavigates Cape Bojador and finally dispels the fear that seafarers had so far of this promontory.	Atlantic	Western Sahara	Eduard (1433-1438)
1435 - 1436	Gil Eanes and Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia discover Angra dos Ruivos and the latter reaches the Río de Oro . in Western Sahara.		Western Sahara
1441	Nuno Tristão arrives at Ras Nouadhibou with Gonçalo Afonso.	Atlantic	Africa ( Mauritania )	Alfonso V (1438–1481)
1443	Nuno Tristão sails in the Gulf of Arguin .	Atlantic	Africa (Mauritania)
1443	The ruler D. Pedro decreed the monopoly of shipping on the West African coast, which was bestowed on his brother Henry the Navigator by the papal bull Rex regum .	-	-
1444	Dinis Dias discovered the Cape Verde Islands , ( Dakar ) and the island of Gorée .	Atlantic	Africa ( Senegal )
1445	Álvaro Fernandes passed Cabo Verde (Cape) and Gorée and reached the "Cape of Masts" (Red Cape?), Probably located between Cape Cabo Verde and the Gambia River .	Atlantic	Africa (Senegal, Gambia )
1446	Álvaro Fernandes reaches the north of Guiné-Bissau .	Atlantic	Africa (Guiné-Bissau)
1452	Diogo de Teive discovers the Azores islands of Flores and Corvo .	Atlantic	Azores archipelago
1455	The Bull Romanus Pontifex of Pope Nicolas V confirms the previous Portuguese conquests and stipulates that all lands and seas south of Cape Bojador and Cape Nun are the property of the kings of Portugal.	-	-
1455	Alvise Cadamosto explores the Gambia River to the Rio Geba in Guiné-Bissau and the Bissagos Archipelago . At the mouth of the Gambia, he observed the almost complete disappearance of the North Star behind the horizon and sketched a first representation of the Southern Cross .	Atlantic	Africa ( Gambia , Guiné-Bissau )
1456 - 1460	On the trips of Alvise Cadamosto , Diogo Gomes and António da Noli , the first islands of the Cape Verde archipelago ( Boavista , Santiago , Maio and Sal ) are explored.	Atlantic	Cape Verde
1459	Alfonso V has a map of the world ( Mapa-múndi ) made that combines the geographical knowledge of the era of Fra Mauro and Andrea Bianco .	-	-
1460	Death of Heinrich the Navigator . He achieved the systematic exploration of the Atlantic along the African coast during his lifetime, from 8 degrees north to 40 degrees east ( Lake Zaragoza ), with the arrival of Pedro de Sintra , called Sierra Leone .	-	-
1461	Diogo Gomes and Antonio da Noli continue to explore Cape Verde.	Atlantic	Cape Verde archipelago
1462	Diogo Afonso discovers the 5 western Cape Verde Islands ( Brava , São Nicolau , São Vicente , Santo Antão and the small uninhabited islands Branco and Ilhéu Raso ).	Atlantic	Cape Verde archipelago
1469	Treaty of Fernão Gomes da Mina to explore the southern coast of Guiné to the south of Sierra Leone ; Start of trading in Grains of Paradise , which lasted until 1475.	-	-
1471	João de Santarém and Pêro Escobar meet the Gulf of Guinea , reach the area around the Cape of the Three Points in Ghana and the Niger Delta .	Atlantic	Africa (Ghana, Nigeria)
1472	Rui de Sequeira reaches Benin , names the country Lagoa de Lagos ("Bay of Lagos"), Lagos , ( Nigeria ).	Atlantic	Africa ( Benin , Nigeria)
1472 - 1473	Fernão do Pó explores the Wouri River and names the area Camarões , today's Cameroon and the islands of Bioko and Annobón , after the shrimp that was found there .	Atlantic	Africa ( Gulf of Guinea )
1472 - 1474	João Vaz Corte-Real and Álvaro Martins Homem could both have reached Newfoundland . This discovery cannot be proven.	Atlantic	North America ( Canada )
1473	Lopo Gonçalves discovered Cap Lopez , at the confluence with the Ogooué River, and was the first person to be credited with crossing the equator to reach the southern hemisphere .	Atlantic	Africa ( Gabon )
1474	Alfonso V consults the geographer Toscanelli , who recommends navigating west to reach India .	-	-
1475	Before the contract of Fernão Gomes expires, Rui de Sequeira and Lopo Gonçalves reach Cape St. Catherine, at 2 degrees south latitude	South Atlantic	Africa (Gabon)
1479	The Treaty of Alcáçovas establishes Portuguese control over the Azores, Guiné, Elmina , Madeira and Cape Verde as well as Castile control over the Canary Islands .	-	-
1481	In the papal bull Aeterni regis , all areas south of the Canary Islands are assigned to the Portuguese.	Atlantic	Southern hemisphere
1482 - 1484	Diogo Cão reaches the mouth of the Congo ( Congo ), where he erects a stone cross ( Padrão ) in exchange for the wooden crosses previously used; then drove 150 km up the river to the Ielala Falls near Matadi .	Atlantic	Africa (Congo, Angola )	John II (1481–1495)
1484 - 1486	Afonso de Paiva , Duarte Pacheco Pereira and José Vizinho contact the Kingdom of Benin , considering the presence of pepper as a geographical proximity to India.	Atlantic	Africa (Nigeria)
1485 - 1486	Diogo Cão's second trip with the German Martin Behaim as a cosmographer ; they pass the Cape Cross and come to Walvis Bay in Namibia .	Atlantic	Africa ( Namibia )
1487	Gonçalo Eanes and Pêro de Évora are sailing up the Senegal River on an expedition into the African hinterland to Tucurol? and Timbuktu .	-	Africa (Mauritania, Senegal)
1487	Afonso de Paiva and Pêro da Covilhã leave Lisbon by land in search of the kingdom of the Priest King John in Ethiopia .		Africa (Ethiopia)
1487 - 1488	Bartolomeu Dias circumnavigates the Cape of Storms , later called the Cape of Good Hope , and crowns 50 years of efforts with countless expeditions, where he sails into the Indian Ocean for the first time . Afonso de Paiva and Pêro da Covilhã arrive in Aden .	Atlantic Indian Ocean
1489 - 1492	Various expeditions to the South Atlantic to map the wind conditions.	Atlantic
1494	Signing of the Treaty of Tordesillas , which "divides" the still-to-be-discovered world between Portugal and the recently formed Kingdom of Spain after King John II repulsed Spanish claims after Christopher Columbus' voyage .	-	-
1495 or 1500	Journey by João Fernandes Lavrador and Pero de Barcelos to Greenland ( Bacalao (island) ). On this trip, the two see land they call Labrador (Lavrador).	Atlantic	North America (Greenland)	Manuel I (1495-1521)
1497 - 1499	Vasco da Gama commands the first fleet to circumnavigate Africa and reach Calikut in India .	Indian Ocean	Asia (India)
1498	On a secret mission, Duarte Pacheco Pereira explores the South Atlantic and reaches the mouth of the Amazon and the island of Marajó . There is no known record of this.	Atlantic	South America
1500 - 1501	A second fleet, led by Pedro Álvares Cabral , lands at Porto Seguro in Brazil .	Atlantic	South America (Brazil)
1500 - 1501	Gaspar Corte-Real and Miguel Corte-Real arrive in Newfoundland , which they initially name Terras de Corte Real .	Atlantic	North America (Canada)
1500	On August 10, Pedro Álvares Cabral's navigator, Diogo Dias , discovered an island during his second trip to India, which he named São Lourenço, which was later renamed Madagascar .	Indian Ocean	East Africa (Madagascar)
1502	On the way back from India, Vasco da Gama saw the Amiranten ( Seychelles ).	Indian Ocean	East Africa
1502	Miguel Corte-Real sets out for New England to look for his brother Gaspar. João da Nova discovers the island of Ascension . Fernão de Noronha discovers the islands that bear his name, Fernando de Noronha , in Pernambuco (Brazil).	Atlantic	South America
1503	On the return journey from the Orient , Estêvão da Gama discovers the island of St. Helena .	Atlantic	Africa
1503	On the way to India, António de Saldanha is the very first European to anchor in Saldanha Bay , climb Table Mountain in South Africa and give it his name.	Atlantic	South Africa
1505	Gonçalo Álvares sets sail with the fleet of the first viceroy to the south, where “the water and the wine freeze” and discovers Gough Island	Atlantic
1505 - 1506	Lourenço de Almeida is sent to the Maldives and reaches, as he calls it, Portuguese Ceylon ( Sri Lanka ), the " Taprobana " (historical name for islands in the Indian Ocean in classical Greek records).	Indian Ocean	Asia
1506	Tristão da Cunha discovers Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic. Portuguese sailors land in Madagascar .	Atlantic	(South Africa, Mozambique )
1507 - 1512	Portuguese were the first to land on the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean, named in honor of Pedro Mascarenhas	Indian Ocean	Mascarens
1509	Diogo Lopes de Sequeira sails the Bay of Bengal and reaches Sumatra and Malacca ( Malaysia ); Ferdinand Magellan , who later made the first circumnavigation of the world from 1519 to 1522 in the service of Spain, travels with him .	Indian Ocean	Asia (Southeast Asia)
1511	The first European in the Kingdom of Siam ( Thailand ) is Duarte Fernandes , who was commissioned by Afonso de Albuquerque to go there on the occasion of the conquest of Malacca .	Indian Ocean	Asia (Thailand)
1511	Rui Nunes da Cunha is the first European in Pegu ( Burma , Myanmar ), sent from Albuquerque.	Indian Ocean	Asia (Burma)
1511	António de Abreu , Francisco Serrão and Simão Afonso Bisagudo are sent off from Albuquerque in search of the Spice Islands . They are shipwrecked in Ternate on the Moluccas ( Indonesia ).	Indian Ocean	Asia (Southeast Asia)
1512	António de Abreu reaches the islands of Timor , the Banda Islands , the island of Ambon and Seram .	Indian Ocean	Asia (Southeast Asia)
1512	Pedro Mascarenhas discovers the Diego Garcia atoll and also reaches the islands of Mauritius , which are already known from previous expeditions by Diogo Dias and Afonso de Albuquerque .	Indian Ocean	Mascarens
1512 - 1514	João de Lisboa and Estevão Fróis explore the estuary of the Río de la Plata and probably the Golfo San Matías at 42 degrees south in Argentina . The financier of the trip, Cristóvão de Haro , is a contemporary witness and learns of the news that Lisboa and Fróis had found the White King (the Inca ruler) and received the "silver ax" from the natives and that King Manuel I. offered.	Atlantic	South America (Uruguay / Argentina)
1513	Afonso de Albuquerque crosses the Strait of Bab al-Mandab in the Red Sea and leads the first European fleet to sail in these waters.	Red Sea	Africa / Asia
1513	Jorge Álvares travels from Malacca to southern China and is the first European on the island of Nei Lingding Dao , in the estuary of the Pearl River .	Indian Ocean Pacific	Asia ( China )
1516	Portuguese settle in Da Nang , in the Kingdom of Champa, and call it Cochin, (now Vietnam ).	Indian Ocean	Asia (Indochina)
1516 - 1517	Rafael Perestrelo commands the first merchant ship to dock in Canton ( Guangzhou ), China . Fernão Pires de Andrade and Tomé Pires are dispatched by King Manuel I to establish official relations between the Portuguese Empire and the Ming Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Zhengde .	Indian Ocean Pacific	Asia (China)
1520	Francisco Álvares arrives with a diplomatic delegation to Ethiopia , where they meet Pêro da Covilhã.	Indian Ocean	Africa
1520	When Diogo Pacheco visits Kimberley in Australia and is looking for the island gold, which according to locals is to be located south and south-east of Sumatra , Java and Sunda , Malays and people from Sumatra tell him about it. (Discovery not officially recognized)	Indian Ocean Pacific	(Southeast Asia / Oceania)
1521	Cristóvão de Mendonça discovered Australia and New Zealand after starting from Belém near Lisbon (not officially recognized).	Indian Ocean Pacific	(Oceania)	Johann III. (1521–1557)
1525	Gomes de Sequeira and Diogo da Rocha are commissioned by Governor Jorge de Meneses to research the territories north of the Moluccas . They are the first Europeans to explore the Caroline Islands , northeast of New Guinea, which they call "Ilhas de Sequeira". (Australia was discovered by Christopher de Mendonça and Gomes de Sequeira in 1525, but not officially recognized).	Pacific	Carolines
1525	In the service of Spain, Aleixo Garcia explores the Río de la Plata , as a member of Juan Díaz de Solís' expedition ; later he leads a private expedition of Europeans and Guarani Indians to Paraguay and Bolivia . Eight years before Francisco Pizarro, Aleixo Garcia is the first European to cross the Chaco and who also manages to advance as far as the outer defensive lines of the Inca Empire in the mountains of the Andes and the Sucre region , now Bolivia.	South America	Brazil / Paraguay / Bolivia
1526	Jorge de Meneses explores the north coast of New Guinea and the offshore islands	Pacific	Oceania ( Melanesia )
1528	Diogo Rodrigues explores the Mascarene archipelago , which he names in honor of his colleague Pedro Mascarenhas , consisting of Réunion , Mauritius and Rodrigues .	Indian Ocean	Mascarens
1529	The Zaragoza Treaty is signed. This clarifies the Treaty of Tordesillas by establishing an eastern demarcation line for the Portuguese and Spanish discoveries and solving the so-called "Moluccas Question".	-	-
1538	João Fogaça arrives in Papua New Guinea , sent by António Galvão .	Pacific	Oceania
1542 - 1543	Fernão Mendes Pinto , Diogo Zeimoto and Cristovão Borralho arrive in Japan .	Pacific	Asia (Japan)
1586	António da Madalena , a Capuchin , was one of the first western visitors to Angkor (now Cambodia ).		Asia (Cambodia)	Philip II (1581–1598)
1602 - 1606	Bento de Gois , a Jesuit - missionary , was the first European to take the overland route through Central Asia from India to China.	-	Central Asia	Philip III (1598-1621)
1606	Pedro Fernandes de Queirós reaches the archipelago of the New Hebrides and lands on a large island that he thought was part of the southern continent he was looking for and named it Espiritu Santo , now Vanuatu .	Pacific	Oceania (Melanesia)
1606	Luiz Váez de Torres (nationality unclear) discovers what is now known as Torres Street .	Pacific	Oceania (Australia, New Guinea )
1624	The Jesuit missionaries Antonio Freire de Andrade and Manuel Marques are documented as the first Europeans to travel from Agra to Tsaparang and reach western Tibet	-	Asia ( Tibet )	Philip IV (1621-1640)
1626	Estêvão Cacella , a Jesuit missionary, is the first European to travel across the Himalayas and reach Butane .	-	Asia ( butane )
1636 - 1638	Pedro Teixeira starts from Belém do Pará up the Amazon and reaches Quito ( Ecuador ). More than a thousand people take part in this expedition.	Amazon	Brazil ( Amazonia )
1660 - 1662	David Melgueiro is setting out from Tanegashima Island in Japan and may have made the first crossing of the Northeast Passage in the service of the Dutch Navy, but the voyage has hardly been documented.	North Atlantic	Siberia	Alfonso VI (1656–1662)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ This field does not list the complete order of all kings of Portugal, it lacks those during whose mandate no relevant discoveries were made. For the complete list, see List of Kings of Portugal .
2. ^ BW Diffie: Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, p. 28.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac} Diffie, Bailey: Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415–1580. Chronology of Portuguese Expansion
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Ramos, Rui, Sousa, Bernardo Vasconcelos e, Monteiro, Nuno Gonçalo: História de Portugal. Cronologia seleccionada, A Esfera dos Livros, 2009, ISBN 978-989-626-139-9 , pp. 839-854.
5. ↑ Jorge Nascimento Rodrigues; Tessaleno Campos Devezas: Portugal: o pioneiro da globalização: a Herança das descobertas. Centro Atlantico, 2009, ISBN 978-989-615-077-8 , p. 91.
6. ↑ Malyn DD Newitt, A History of Portuguese Overseas Expansion, 1400–1668. Routledge, 2005, ISBN 0-415-23979-6 .
7. ↑ Alexandre Magno de Castilho: Descripção e rediro da costa occidental de Africa: desde o cabo de Espartel até o das Agulhas. Volume 1, Imprensa Nacional, 1866, p. 117.
8. ↑ Cadamosto (Kerr), p. 244 ; Ital: p. 116r Port: p. 57  ?
9. ^ Afonso, Diogo. In: Joel Serrão (Ed.): Dicionário de História de Portugal. 1st edition. Iniciativas Editoriais, Lisboa 1971, ISBN 972-661-160-1 , p. 49.
10. ↑ CHAM, Cronologias: ATLÂNTICO, Exploração do (1419–1500)
11. ↑ Lopo Gonçalves. In: Encyclopædia Britannica On-line. (English)
12. ^ JH Parry: The Age of Reconnaissance. 1963, p. 149.
13. ^ Luiz Fernando da Silva Pinto: Sagres: a strategic revolution. Cronologia. FGV Editora, 2002, ISBN 85-225-0388-5 , p. 268.
14. ↑ CHAM, Cronologias: ATLÂNTICO, Exploração do (1419–1500)
15. ↑ Formed by the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon
16. ↑ Frances Gardiner Davenport (Ed.): European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies to 1648. Carnegie Institute of Washington, Washington, DC 1917, pp. 107-111.
17. ↑ Mary Gunn, L. e. Codd, LEW Codd: Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa: An Illustrated History of Early Botanical Literature on the Cape Flora: Biographical Accounts of the Leading Plant Collectors and Their Activities in Southern Africa from the Days of the East India Company Until Modern Times. CRC Press, 1981, ISBN 0-86961-129-1 , pp. 5-7.
18. ^ DW Ferguson: The discovery of Ceylon by the Portuguese in 1506. In: Journal of the Ceylon Asiatic Society. vol. xix, no. 59, 1907, pp. 284-384.
19. ↑ Marsden: The history of Sumatra: containing an account of the government, laws, customs, and manners of the native inhabitants, with a description of the natural productions, and a relation to the ancient political state of that island . William J. McCreery, London 1811.
20. ^ Donald Frederick Lach, Edwin J. Van Kley: Asia in the making of Europe. University of Chicago Press, 1994, ISBN 0-226-46731-7 , pp. 520-521.
21. ^ Antonio Galvano Galvano: The Discoveries of the World from Their First Original unto the Year of Our Lord 1555 . BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009, ISBN 1-113-68747-9 , pp. 114 .
22. ↑ Manuscrito Newen Zeytung auss Pressilandt dos arquivos Fugger Cuevos.
23. ^ Edmonds: China and Europe Since 1978: A European Perspective. Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-521-52403-2 .
24. ^ Tana Li Li: Nguyễn Cochinchina: southern Vietnam in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries . SEAP Publications, 1998, ISBN 0-87727-722-2 , pp. 72 .
25. ^ Sir Henry Yule, AC Burnell, William Crooke Yule: A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases: Hobson-Jobson . Routledge, 1995, ISBN 0-7007-0321-7 , pp. 34 .
26. ↑ According to disagreeable theories of the discovery of Australia by the Portuguese, listed in KG McIntyre: The Secret Discovery of Austrália, Portuguese ventures 200 years before Cook. Souvenir Press, Menindie 1977, ISBN 0-285-62303-6 and Peter Trickett: Beyond Capricorn: How Portuguese adventurers secretly discovered and mapped Australia and New Zealand 250 years before Captain Cook. ISBN 978-0-9751145-9-9 .
27. ↑ based on the work of João de Barros , Armando Cortesão indicates that Cristovão de Mendonça reached Australia on a trip in 1521, the purpose of the trip was to find the "island gold" for the Governor General of India.
28. ^ História da Expansão Portuguesa no Mundo . tape II . Editorial Atica, Lisboa 1939, OCLC 491294547 , chap. 11 . , quoted in Luís de Albuquerque (ed.): Mendonça, Cristóvão de . tape III , p. 22 .
29. Jump up ↑ Antonio Galvano, Richard Hakluyt, CR Drinkwater Bethune: The discoveries of the world: from their original unto the year of our Lord 1555. The Hakluyt Society, 1862, a partir da tradução inglesa de 1601 da edição portuguesa em Lisboa, 1563.
30. ↑ De acordo com José Nicolau da Fonseca, Rodrigues jaz em Goa com o seu túmulo assinalado com a inscrição: Acqui jaz Diogo Rodrigues o do Forte, Capitão desta Fortaleza, o qual derrubou os pagodes destas terras. Fallceu on April 21st of 1577 annos. José Nicolau da Fonseca: Historical and Archaeological Sketch of the City of Goa. Thacker, Bombay 1878, pp. 47-48. (Reprint: Asian Educational Services, 1986, ISBN 81-206-0207-2 )
31. ↑ João de Barros, Manoel Severim de Faria, João Baptista Lavanha : Da Asia de João de Barros e de Diogo de Couto . tape 13 . Na Regia officina typografica, 1780, p. 91 .
32. ↑ Bibliografia - Sítio dos descobrimentos portugueses ( Memento of the original from January 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
33. ^ ^{A b} T. D. Mutch: The First Discovery of Australia . Mutch, Projecto Gutenberg da Austrália, Sydney 1942, p. 55 .
34. ^ C. Wessels: Early Jesuit travelers in Central Asia 1603–1721. Asian Educational Services, 1997, ISBN 81-206-0741-4 .
35. ↑ digitalhimalaya.com ( Memento of the original from August 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. FATHER ESTEVAO CACELLA'S REPORT ON BHUTAN IN 1627.  
36. ^ Damião Peres: História dos Descobrimentos Portugueses. 4th edition. Vertente, Porto 1992, p. 439.