1531
The Spanish cultivate tobacco in San Domingo.
1531
Francisco Pizarro leads a third expedition against the Inca Empire, capturing Coxamaraca.
1532 - 1535
Pizarro completes the annihilation of the Incas, eventually capturing Cuzco.
1534
The Sultans of Gujarat cede Bombay and other territories to Portugal.
1534
Jacques Cartier embarks upon his first voyage, from St Malo to Newfoundland and the mouth of the St Lawrence River.
1535
Cartier embarks upon a second voyage, making contact with Hwon Indians. He claims contemporary Quebec and Montreal for King Francois I of France.
1535
The fur trade is established in Canada.
1535 - 1537
Almagro crosses the Andes from Cuzco.
1536 - 1538
Belalcázar, Jiménez de Quesada and Federman search for gold in what is now Colombia.
1539
Francisco de Ulloa sails the western shores of the Baja California peninsula, establishing that it is not an island.
1539 - 1542
Hernando de Soto travels through what is now Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The expedition introduces pigs, horses and smallpox to North America.
1540 - 1542
Francisco de Orellana explores the Amazon River from Rio Napo to the sea.
1540 - 1542
Coronado, Alacon and Cardenas explore the South-western part of North America. Coronado reaches contemporary Kansas; Cardenas reaches the Grand Canyon, and Alarcon reaches the mouth of the Colorado River.
1541
Cartier establishes a settlement in Quebec.
1541 - 1546
Valdivia explores Chile, founding the city of Santiago.
1542 - 1543
Cabritlo explores the west coast of North America, reaching as far as Monterey Bay.
1542
Spain establishes the Viceroyalty of Peru, which administers its Southern American colonies.
1543
Copernicus publishes his theory that the planets move round the sun.
1543
A group of Portuguese traders become the first Europeans known to have reached Japan, landing on the island of Tanegashima.
1546
Smallpox wipes out a large portion of the Inca people.
1548
Hans Staeden, a German mercenary, joins a Portuguese expedition to Rio de la Plata, and is subsequently captured by indigenous people.
1549
Francis Xavier establishes a Christian mission in Japan.
1552
Bartolomé de las Casas' Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies is published.
1553
Sir Hugh Willoughby’s attempt to find a Northeast Passage ends in disaster.
1555
The Muscovy Company is formed to promote British trade with Russia.
1556
Spanish settlers grow cotton in Florida.
1557
Portugal leases a trading outpost in Macau on the coast of China, trading silver for silk, porcelain and tea.
1558
Anthony Jenkinson makes his first expedition through Russia and Persia.
1560
Jasper de Cruz, a Portuguese Jesuit, becomes the first Westerner to taste and then write about tea.
1564
John Hawkins embarks upon his first slaving voyage.
1564
Frenchman Rene Goulaine de Laudonnière embarks upon a voyage to colonise Florida.
1564 - 1565
Miguel Lopez de Legaspi leads an expedition to the Philippines and Guam.
1565
An expedition led by Andrés de Urdaneta crosses the Pacific, from the Philippines to Mexico.
1567 - 1569
Álvaro de Mendaña y Neira explores the South Pacific, reaching an island group which he dubs the Solomon Islands.
1567 - 1573
Francis Drake embarks upon a series of voyages to the West Indies, intended to disrupt and capture Spanish shipping.
1568
The Dutch Revolt against the Spanish begins.
1571
A port intended to harbour Portuguese vessels is established at Nagasaki.
1571
A Spanish fleet supported by Venice, Genoa, the Pope and others defeats an Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto, severely damaging Turkish influence in the Mediterranean.
1571
A law is passed in Portugal which prohibits the sale of Chinese and Japanese slaves.
1575
The Portuguese are ousted from their base in Ternate, and move the focus of their activities to Ambon.
1576
Martin Frobisher reaches Baffin Bay.
1577 - 1580
Francis Drake circumnavigates the world in the Pelican (renamed the Golden Hind), passing through what becomes known as the Drake Passage.
1577
Frobisher embarks upon his second voyage to find a route to Cathay (China.)
1578
Frobisher leads a third voyage in search of a Northwest Passage.
1579
Francis Drake captures a Spanish treasure ship carrying 26 tons of silver and 80 lbs of gold.
1579
Akbar establishes friendly relations with the Portuguese and allows Jesuit missionaries to visit Delhi.
1580
Spain annexes Portugal.
1580 - 1584
Martín Ignacio de Loyola completes his first circumnavigation, pausing to pursue missionary efforts in China.
1581
The Dutch United Provinces declare independence from Spain.
1581
The pendulum is invented by Galileo Galilei.
1582
Richard Hakluyt publishes Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America.
1582 - 1590
Berrío explores the Orinoco valley looking for El Dorado; he is eventually captured by Sir Walter Raleigh.
1583
Jan Huyghen van Linschoten sails from Portugal to Goa. During his sojourn in Goa, Linschoten keeps a detailed record of routes to the Spice Islands, which later facilitates Dutch attempts to challenge Portugal's influence in the region.
1583
Sir Humphrey Gilbert claims Newfoundland for Elizabeth I of England.
1584
Sir Walter Raleigh receives a patent to explore and settle in North America. He tries, but fails to establish a colony in Virginia.
1585 - 1604
The Anglo-Spanish War sees intermittent conflict, mostly at sea, in Europe and South America.
1585 - 1589
Martín Ignacio de Loyola circumnavigates the world for a second time, visiting China again.
1585
The first shipment of cacao beans arrives in Spain from Mexico.
1585 - 1587
John Davis makes three successive attempts to discover the Northwest Passage
1586 - 1588
Sir Thomas Cavendish circumnavigates the world, raiding Spanish bullion ships and visiting Guam and the Philippines.
1587
Francis Drake raids Cadiz and sinks a large section of the Spanish fleet.
1587
Francis Drake captures a Portuguese ship carrying spices worth £140,000.
1588
Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado claims to have successfully navigated the Northwest Passage.
1588
The Spanish Armada is defeated in its attempt to invade England and Spanish sea power is broken.
1592
John Davis discovers the Falkland Islands.
1593
Galileo Galilei invents the thermometer.
1593
Sir Richard Hawkins sails for the West Indies aboard the Dainty.
1594
Willem Barentsz and Jan Huyghen van Linschoten seek the Northeast Passage, but are forced to turn back when they encounter frozen seas.
1595
Drake and Hawkins make their final voyage to the Caribbean.
1595
The first Dutch fleet sails for the Spice Islands, commanded by Cornelis van Houten.
1595 - 1596
Álvaro de Mendaña y Neira and Pedro Fernandés de Quirós reach the Marquesas Islands.
1595 - 1596
Raleigh leads an unsuccessful expedition to find gold in the Caroni Valley.
1595
Barentsz embarks upon a second voyage in search of the Northeast Passage.
1596 - 1605
Onate leads the colonisation of contemporary New Mexico for Spain.
1596 - 1597
Cornelus de Houtman leads a trading voyage to the East Indies.
1596 - 1597
Barentsz dies while leading a third voyage in search of the Northeast Passage, which is forced to winter in Nova Zembla.
1598 - 1601
Oliver van Noort becomes the first Dutchman to circumnavigate the world, via the Spice Islands.
1598
The Dutch build their first forts on the Gold Coast.
1599
Henry IV of France grants a 10 year fur trade monopoly to Pierre de Chauvin de Tonnetuit, who establishes a trading post in Quebec.
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.