Voyages & exploration

Charting the unknown

In Hand of History for June 2, 2026 you place these 10 real events back into the order they happened. Here they are in chronological order, with the date revealed and why each one matters.

1295

Marco Polo returns from China

Marco Polo's account of his 24-year journey across Asia opens European eyes to the riches of the East and inspires future exploration.

Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant, explorer, and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in The Travels of Marco Polo, a book that described the then-mysterious culture and inner workings of the Eastern world, including the wealth and great size of the Mongol Empire and China under the Yuan dynasty, giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into China, Persia, India, Japan, and other Asian societies.

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1405

Zheng He launches first treasure fleet voyage

Chinese admiral Zheng He sets sail with a colossal fleet, projecting Ming Dynasty power across Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.

Zheng He was a Chinese explorer, admiral, diplomat, and eunuch from the early Ming dynasty, who is often regarded as the greatest admiral in Chinese history. Born into a Muslim family as Ma He, he later adopted the surname Zheng conferred onto him by the Yongle Emperor.

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1488

Dias Rounds the Cape of Good Hope

Bartolomeu Dias becomes the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa, opening a sea route toward the Indian Ocean.

Bartolomeu Dias was a Portuguese mariner and explorer. In February 1488, he became the first European navigator to round the southern tip of Africa and to demonstrate that the most effective southward route for ships is in the open ocean, well to the west of the African coast. His discoveries were later used by Vasco da Gama to establish a sea route between Europe and Asia.

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1492

Columbus makes landfall in the Americas

Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Caribbean permanently links the Old and New Worlds, transforming global history.

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four Spanish transatlantic voyages in the name of the Catholic Monarchs, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean and Central and South America.

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1498

Da Gama Reaches India by Sea

Vasco da Gama arrives in Calicut, India, completing the first direct oceanic trade route from Europe to Asia and transforming global commerce.

Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese mariner, explorer and nobleman. His discovery of the first direct maritime route between Europe and India via the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean from Malindi in Kenya to Kozhikode was to open up European exploration of, and commerce with, India, and is considered a landmark event and a turning point in world history.

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1522

Magellan–Elcano expedition circles the globe

The first circumnavigation of Earth proves the planet's spherical shape and vastness, revolutionising geography and navigation.

The Magellan expedition, sometimes termed the Magellan–Elcano expedition, was a 16th-century Spanish expedition planned and led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Its purpose was to secure a maritime trade route with the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, in present-day Indonesia. The expedition departed Spain in 1519 and returned there in 1522 under the command of Spanish navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano, who completed the voyage after Magellan's death in the Philippines. One of the most significant voyages in the Age of Discovery, the nearly three-year expedition totaled 60,440 km (37,560 mi) and achieved the first circumnavigation of Earth in history. It also marked the first crossing of the Pacific by a European expedition, revealing the vast scale of that ocean, and proved that ships could sail around the world on a western sea route.

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1580

Francis Drake completes circumnavigation

Drake becomes the first Englishman to sail around the world, challenging Spanish dominance of the seas.

Sir Francis Drake was an English explorer and privateer best known for making the second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580. He is also known for participating in the early English slaving voyages of his cousin, John Hawkins, and John Lovell. Having started as a simple seaman, in 1588 he was part of the fight against the Spanish Armada as a vice admiral.

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1609

Hudson Sails Into His Famous River

Henry Hudson's voyage up the river that bears his name opens the northeastern Americas to Dutch colonization and fur-trade rivalry.

Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the Northeastern United States.

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1642

Tasman sights New Zealand

Dutch navigator Abel Tasman becomes the first European to reach New Zealand and Tasmania, mapping the edges of the Pacific world.

Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer and explorer, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first European to reach New Zealand, which he named Staten Landt. He was also the eponym of Tasmania.

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1911

Amundsen reaches the South Pole

Roald Amundsen leads the first successful expedition to the South Pole, marking the culmination of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

The first expedition to reach the Geographic South Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four other crew members made it to the geographical South Pole on 14 December 1911, which was to be five weeks ahead of the British party led by Robert Falcon Scott as part of the Terra Nova Expedition. Amundsen and his team returned safely to their base, and about a year later heard that Scott and his four companions had perished on their return journey.

📷 Wikimedia Commons