1600
The Liefde, piloted by the Englishman William Adams, becomes the first Dutch vessel to reach Japan.
1600
The East India Company receives its first charter.
1600
James Lancaster commands the first East India Company fleet, successfully establishes an alliance with Aceh and Sumatra, and founds a factory in Bantam, Java.
1601
Matteo Ricci establishes a Jesuit Mission in Beijing.
1601 - 1603
Sebastián Vizcaíno leads an expedition to locate safe harbours in Alta California for Spanish Manila galleons to use on their return voyage to Acapulco from Manila. Vizcaíno reaches and names prominent features including San Diego Bay, the Santa Barbara Channel Point Conception, the Santa Lucia Mountains, Point Lobos, the Carmel River, and Monterey Bay.
1602
The Dutch East India Company (VOC) is founded.
1602
Bartholomew Gosnold lands in Massachusetts Bay, commencing the English exploration of the east coast of North America.
1603 - 1607
De Goes becomes the first European since Marco Polo to reach China from the West, after travelling along the Silk Route from Lahore
1604 - 1605
Luís Vaz de Torres establishes that New Guinea is an Island.
1605
The French establish a settlement at Port Royal, Nova Scotia.
1606
Willem Janszoon becomes the first European known to reach Australia.
1607
John Smith founds Jamestown, Virginia.
1607 - 1611
The Muscovy Company sponsors a series of voyages to Greenland and the Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage, led by Henry Hudson.
1607 - 1609
William Keeling on Red Dragon explores the Cocos Islands during the East India Company's third voyage.
1608
The city of Quebec is founded.
1608
The telescope is invented by Hans Lippershey.
1609
The VOC upset local sensitivities when Fort Nassau on Bandanaira Island is reinforced. 41 Dutch are ambushed and killed in what becomes known as the Verhoeven massacre.
1609
The East India Company establishes a trading base in Bengal.
1609
Galileo Galilei invents the microscope.
1610
Dutch and Portuguese traders start importing tea into Europe.
1610
The Dutch establish a fur trading post on the edge of Lake Champlain.
1611 - 1613
The Eighth East India Company voyage, led by Captain John Saris of the Clove, establishes the first British contact with Japan.
1611 - 1615
Brîlé explores North America's Great Lakes.
1612 - 1616
The French establish a short-lived colony in Brazil (Equinoctial France).
1612
The port of Patani, on the Malay Peninsula is opened up, allowing Anglo-Siamese trade to commence.
1613
Adriaen Block establishes trading relationships with the Mohawks and Mohicans.
1614
Tokugawa Ieyasu bans the practice of Christianity, and expels Christian missionaries from Japan.
1615
Sir Thomas Roe of the East India Company agrees terms with Mughal Emperor Jahangir to build a trading base in Surat.
1615 - 1616
William Baffin and Robert Bylot explore Hudson's Bay, reaching Baffin Bay.
1615 - 1617
Schouten and Le Maire pioneer a new route to Pacific via Cape Horn during their circumnavigation of the globe.
1616
Dirk Hartog lands on an island off the coast of Western Australia.
1618 - 1619
The García de Nodal expedition reconnoitres the passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, rounding Cape Horn.
1620
The slide rule is invented by William Oughtred.
1621
Jan Pieterszoon Coen leads genocidal reprisals against the Bandanese, replacing them with slaves, convicts and immigrants. Spices are eradicated from islands they cannot control.
1621
The VOC establishes a monopoly in the trade of nutmeg.
1622
Portugal is forced to cede the Straits of Hormuz.
1623
10 English, 10 Japanese and a Portuguese man are massacred by Dutch troops in what becomes known as the Ambon Massacre.
1623 - 1626
The Nassau Fleet under Jacques l'Hermite and Gheen Huygen Schapenham explores and charts the Hermite Islands.
1627
England establishes a colony in Barbados.
1627
Cardinal Richelieu founds the Compagnie des Cents-Associés to manage the French fur trade.
1628
The Mohawk Iroquois defeat the Mohicans and establish a fur trade monopoly with the Dutch at Fort Orange.
1631
Luke Foxe attempts to discover the Northwest Passage, seeking a route to Japan.
1632
England establishes a colony in Antigua.
1632
Galileo Galilei publishes his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which describes the earth's movement around the sun.
1634 - 1635
Jean Nicollet travels from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan.
1637 - 1639
Pedro Teixeira explores and surveys the River Amazon.
1639
The East India Company establishes a factory in Madras.
1639
A Russian expedition led by Ivan Moskvitin and Vassili Poyarkov reaches the Sea of Okhotsk.
1641
The Dutch seize Malacca from the Portuguese.
1641
English slave traders begin importing slaves to Barbados.
1642 - 1643
Abel Tasman reaches contemporary Tasmania, New Zealand and Tonga.
1643
Admiral Pedro Porter y Casanate explores the west coast of California.
1643
The barometer is invented by Evangelista Torricelli.
1644
Abel Tasman maps the north coast of Australia.
1645
The vacuum pump is invented by Otto von Guericke.
1648
After 80 years of conflict, the Netherlands gain independence from Spain.
1648
Semyon Dezhnev sails through the Bering Strait.
1650
Significant VOC imports of Bengal opium begin.
1652
The VOC establishes Fort de Goede Hoop at what is now Cape Town, South Africa.
1652 - 1654
The First Anglo-Dutch War is fought in a series of naval engagements in the seas around Europe.
1655
English forces capture Jamaica from Spain.
1656
Dutch forces capture Ceylon from the Portuguese.
1658 - 1667
Bernier explores India, describing Agra, Delhi and Kashmir in detail.
1658
Dutch traders establish small coffee plantations in Ceylon.
1659 - 1660
Groseilliers and Radisson explore Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region of North America
1660
The Company of Royal Adventurers into Africa (alternatively known as the Royal African Company) receives its charter from Charles II of England.
1660
The Royal Society is founded.
1661
The Earl of Sandwich carries out scientific experiments into the depth, tides and salinity of the Mediterranean for the Royal Society.
1661
Robert Boyle proposes that matter consists of tiny corpuscles in The Sceptical Chymist.
1661
Bombay is granted to England as part of the dowry of Catharine of Braganza.
1662
The Royal Society issues its Directions for seamen bound for voyages, giving fresh impetus to scientific exploration.
1664
The French East India Company (Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) is established.
1664
English forces capture the New Netherlands, including the city of New Amsterdam, which is renamed New York.
1664 - 1667
Bartholomew Verwey travels to China and the East Indies.
1665
Pierre Radisson and Des Grosseilliers visit London and convince Britain to join the fur trade.
1665 - 1667
The Second Anglo-Dutch War sees a Dutch fleet sailing up the Thames. Under the Treaty of Breda, England cedes its interests in Sumatra and the Spice Islands to the Netherlands in return for New Amsterdam (Manhattan).
1668
The East India Company establishes a factory at Bombay.
1669
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle explores Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and the Ohio River valley.
1670
La Salle explores Lake Michigan and then is the first European to sail down the length of the River Mississippi, arriving in the Gulf of Mexico.
1670
Jamaica, now under English control, becomes the world's largest exporter of sugar.
1670
The Hudson's Bay Company receives its royal charter.
1670
Dutch traders establish small coffee plantations in Southern India.
1670
Fort Albany is established by the Hudson's Bay Company.