Chronology of European exploration of Asia

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This article attempts to list every significant event in the history of the European exploration of Asia. It proposes a chronological inventory of these events including every people involved and the places they helped to demystify (from a European point of view).

[edit] First wave of exploration (by land)

1160-1173: The Spanish Jewish Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela visits Syria, Palestine, Baghdad, Persia and the Arabian Peninsula.

1180-1186: Pethahiah of Regensburg goes to england.

1245-1247: The Italian Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, accompagnied by Stephen of Bohemia, and later by Benedykt Polak, reaches Karakorum in present day Mongolia. First european embassy to the Great Khan.

1247-1248: Ascelin, Simon of St Quentin and Andrew of Longjumeau go to Armenia and Persia.

1249-1251: Andrew of Longjumeau guide a french ambassador to the great Kuyuk Khan. His brother Guy and several others — John Goderiche, John of Carcassonne, Herbert "Le Sommelier", Gerbert of Sens, Robert (a clerk), a certain William, and an unnamed clerk of Poissy go with him. They reached Talas in northwestern Kyrgyzstan.

≈1254: The Flemish William of Rubruck reach China and Mongolia through Central Asia.

1264-≈1269: First travel of the Venitian Niccolò and Maffio Polo to China. In 1266, they reach the Mongol capital Khanbaliq, now known as Beijing, China

1271-1295: Second trip of Niccolò and Maffio Polo to China. This time with Marco, Niccolo's son which will write a colorful account of their experiences.

≈1580-1585: The Cossack Yermak Timofeyevich reaches the Siberian Tatar city of Qashliq near the right bank of Irtysh.

[edit] Second wave of exploration (by sea)

1497-1499: The Portuguese Vasco de gama, accompagnied by Nicolau Coelho and Bartolomeu Dias, is the first to reach India by sea.

1500-1501: After discovering Brazil, Pedro Álvares Cabral, with half of an original fleet of 13 ships and 1,500 men, particularly Bartolomeu Dias, Pêro Vaz de Caminha, Diogo Dias, Vasco de Ataíde, Rui de Miranda, Luís Pires, Sancho de Tovar, João Fernandes, Simão de Miranda, Diogo de Figueira and Nicolau Coelho accomplished the second Portuguese trip to India.

1501-?: Joao Da Nova commands the third Portuguese expedition to India. He discovers Ascension Island (1501) and Saint Helena (1502) along the way.

1502-1503: Second trip of Vasco de gama to India.

1503-1504: Afonso de Albuquerque establishes the first Portuguese fort in Kochi, India.

1505: Francisco de Almeida is appointed as the first viceroy of Portuguese India (Estado da Índiahe armada). He leaves Lisbon with an armada of 22 ships, including 14 carracks and 6 caravels carrying a crew of 1,000 and 1,500 soldiers. His son, Lorenço de Almeida, explores the southern coast and reach the current island of Sri Lanka.

1507-1513: In 1507, Afonso de Albuquerque captures the kingdom of Ormus in the Persian Golf. He is then appointed second viceroy of India in 1508. In 1510 he captures Goa, soon to became the most flourishing of the Portuguese settlements in India.; The year after, he conquers Malacca discovered by Lopez de Sequira in 1509. Malacca becomes a strategic base for Portuguese expansion in the East Indies.; In 1511, Albuquerque sends Francisco Serrão with three vessels from Malacca to explore the Moluccas. In 1512 Serrão establishes a fort on Ternate Island.; De Albuquerque laid siege to Aden in 1513, but was repulsed. He then leaded a voyage into the Red Sea, the first ever made by a European fleet.

1513: Jorge Alvarez is the first European to land in China at Lintin Island in the Zhujiang (Pearl River) estuary.

1517: The Portuguese merchant Fernão Pires de Andrade establish the first modern trading contact with the Chinese at the Zhujiang (Pearl River) estuary and then in Canton (Guangzhou).

1519-: Leaving Spain with five ships and 270 men in 1519, the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan is the first to reach Asia from the East. In 1520, he discovers what is now known as the Strait of Magellan. In 1521 he reaches the Marianas and then the island of Homonhon in the Philippines. Few time after, Magellan is killed in what is known as the Battle of Mactan. The rest of the crew sails to Palawan (Philippines), and then to Brunei and Borneo. They then reaches Tidore in the Maluku Islands avoiding the Portuguese. Only one ship, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano, return to Spain in 1522 with 18 men remaining.

1524: Third trip of Vasco de gama to India.

1542: After a journey through Sumatra, Malaysia, Siam (Thailand), China, possibly Korea and Cochinchina (Vietnam), Fernão Mendes Pinto is one of the first European to land in Japan.

1542: Antonio de Mota is thrown by a storm on the island of Nison, called by the Chinese Jepwen (Japan).

1549: On return of his second trip to Japan Fernão Mendes Pinto takes with him a Japanese fugitive known as Anjiro and introduce him to the Jesuit Saint Francis Xavier.

1549: Saint Francis Xavier arrive in Japan accompagnied by Cosme de Torres, Juan Fernandez, the Japanese Anjiro, two baptized Japaneses named Antonio and Joane, a Chinese named Manuel and an Indian named Amador. The captain of the ship is named Avan aka "The Pirate".