Egyptians begin maritime exploration
-99999
Canal of the Pharaohs constructed
-2249
Mycenaean civilization promotes long-distance trade
-1749
Egyptians use camels for trade
-1538
Explorers and navigators spread across the Pacific Islands
-1459
Egyptian Harkhuf travels to Nubia
-2899
Trade between Mesopotamian civilizations & Shang dynasty
-1849
New Kingdom Egyptians travel widely
-1599
Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut dispatches maritime expedition
-1499
Phoenician Ships circumnavigate Africa
-799
Scylax of Caryanda explores the Indus River
-521
Hecataeus of Miletus pioneers travel books
-500
Pytheas sails around Britain
-329
Silk Road connects China and Middle East
-299
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
-127
Greeks turn to sea trade
-999
Royal Road built
-609
Bantu-speaking people expand across Africa
-514
Birth of Herodotus
-499
Arawak explorers discover America
-300
Zhang Qian explores Central Asia
-149
Greek geographer Strabo publishes travel adventures
-99
Apostle Paul travels Eurpoe
24
Ptolemy writes Guide to Geography
78
Indian Gupta empire trades with Asia
162
Easter Island populated by Polynesians
328
Strait of Malacca trade route established
403
Irish Monk St. Brendan begins legendary journey
548
Xuanzang journeys from China to India
619
Trans-Saharan trade established
686
Arab and Persian seafarers detail sailing the Indian Ocean
751
Lateen sail boats become popular
821
Collapse of the Tang dynasty
901
Bjarni Herjólfsson gets lost in fog
983
Pliny the Elder finishes Natural History book
41
Roman silk merchants travel to China
128
Emperor Constantine's mother travels to Jerusalem
321
Buddhist Monk Faxian pilgrimage to India
401
Cosmas of Alexandria essays on scientific geography
501
Buddhist Persecutions in China
601
St. Adamnan writes De locis sanctis
630
Astrolabe instrument popular with navigators
741
City of Seylac, Somalia founded
801
Vikings explore the world
851
Viking Eric the Red discovers Greenland
908
Caribs and Arawaks voyage to America
987
Polynesian explorers discover New Zealand
1000
Icelander Thorfinn Karlsefni settles Vinland
1002
Founding of port city of Mombasa
1021
Pope Urban II calls for crusade
1091
Norse explorer Leif Eriksson sails to North America
1001
al-Biruni suggests Indian Ocean flows to Atlantic
1005
Magnetic compass first used for navigation
1051
Tahitian mariners sail to Hawaii
1096
Letter from Prester John inspires explorers
1101
First use of wind rose on maps
1188
Alexander Neckam describes compass in print
1166
Giovanni and Benedict trek across Asia
1207
Sailing aids rise to city-state Great Zimbabwe
1248
Italian explorer Marco Polo journeys across Asia
1254
John of Montecorvino travels to Peking
1288
Genghis Khan rises to power
1201
André de Longjumeau travels to Asia
1246
Discoveries made by Willem van Ruysbroeck
1251
Rabban bar Sauma ventures across Europe
1272
Mariners begin to use portolans for navigation
1295
Abulfeda writes geographic works
1301
Francesco Balducci Pegolotti publishes Eastern guidebook
1338
Giovanni de' Marignolli travels across Russia
1344
Birth of Prince Henry the Navigator
1376
Ruy González de Clavijo journeys to Turkistan
1397
Odoric of Pordenone tells of China travels
1325
Ibn Battutah dictates amazing travel adventures
1339
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville published
1356
Johann Schiltberger captured by Turks
1395
Ptolemy book teaches mariners location
1406
Niccolò de' Conti travels to Java
1415
Portuguese navigator Gil Eanes sails around Cape Bojador
1433
Bartolomeu Dias explores Africa
1442
Caravel sailing ship developed
1455
Fernão Gomes explores African Coast
1458
King John II ascends Portuguese throne
1481
José Vizinho measures altitude of the sun
1483
Bartolomeu Dias first to sail around Cape of Good Hope
1488
Christopher Columbus voyages to Americas
1491
Treaty of Tordesillas divides world
1494
Italian explorer John Cabot finds Canada
1497
Explorer Amerigo Vespucci calculates Earths circumference
1499
Chinese mariner Zheng He explores far
1404
Zheng He travels to Africa
1410
Portuguese explorer Diogo de Senill discovers Azores islands
1420
Gil Eannes returns from Africa
1435
Printing press spreads Ptolemy's Guide
1446
Alvise Cadamosto describes West Africa
1457
Astrolabe adapted for nautical use
1470
Diogo Cão explores African coast
1482
Pêro da Covilhã maps route to India
1486
Arab navigator Ahmad ibn Mājid authors compendium
1489
Columbus leads epic voyages discovering countries
1493
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama
1495
Christopher Columbus discovers Trinidad
1498
Mapmaking becomes big business in Europe
1500
Explorer Amerigo Vespucci discovers Patagonia
1501
French fish off Newfoundland coast
1503
Explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crosses Isthmus of Panama
1509
Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés captures Mexico
1519
Juan Sebastián Elcano circumnavigation circumnavigation of Earth
1521
Spanish Francisco Pizarro defeats Incan Emperor
1525
Gugielmo de Lorena designs diving bell
1535
Francisco de Orellana explores Amazon river
1541
Spanish pilot Juan Fernández names islands
1554
Álvaro de Mendaña discovers Solomon Islands
1566
Abraham Ortelius publishes first modern atlas
1570
Francis Drake voyages around the world
1577
Adventurer Humphrey Gilbert finds Newfoundland
1583
Richard Hakluyt publishes English voyage accounts
1586
Willem Barents explores Arctic
1593
Pedro Álvares Cabral finds Brazil
1500
Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte-Real is lost
1501
Christopher Columbus departs on final voyage
1502
Juan Ponce de León conquers Puerto Rico
1505
Explorer Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigates Earth
1514
João Álvares Fagundes explores Nova Scotia
1520
Giovanni da Verrazzano explores Americas
1523
Jacques Cartier claims Canada for France
1533
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado explores USA
1536
Englishman Richard Chancellor meets Tsar of Russia
1542
Flemish navigator Olivier Brunel explores Russia's coast
1564
Gerardus Mercator develops new map projection
1569
Martin Frobisher explores Canada
1571
Dutchman Jan Huygen van Linschoten sails to Goa
1578
English navigator John Davis sails to Arctic Circle
1584
John Davis discovers Falkland Islands
1590
Founding of the East India Company
1595
Pedro Fernandes de Queirós voyages to Australia
1601
Henry Hudson ascends the Hudson River
1609
French explorer Samuel de Champlain founds city of Quebec
1612
Dutch explorer Jakob Le Maire explores Cape Horn
1616
Inventor Cornelis Drebbel builts first navigable submarine
1617
John Greaves copies Zij-i Sultani
1635
Salvagers using diving bells recover canons from Vasa
1643
Evliya Çelebi publishes book of travels
1671
Edmond Halley commands Atlantic voyage
1698
Invention of the Telescope changes exploration
1606
Henry Hudson is marooned by mutinous crew
1610
William Baffin attempts North West Passage discovery
1616
Dutch captain Dirk Hartog finds Western Australia
1616
French explorer Jean Nicolet discovers Lake Michigan
1621
Dutch navigator Abel Tasman discovers Tasmania
1638
Founding of Hudson's Bay Company
1664
Buccaneer William Dampier publishes his adventures
1685
Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island
1699
Vitus Bering explores North America
1723
Russians embark on Great Northern Expedition
1731
George Anson begins voyage around the world
1740
Sextant becomes popular navigation aid
1744
John Hadley invents the quadrant
1729
French explorer Bouvet discovers small island
1734
Charles-Marie de La Condamine maps Amazon
1741
John Harrison invents marine chronometer
1754
Louis-Antoine leads French naval expedition
1766
James Cook voyages to New Zealand
1768
Samuel Hearne leads Canadian expedition
1770
Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec discovers small island
1771
Domínguez & Escalante explore American West
1773
English naturalist Joseph Banks
1777
George Vancouver surveys North American coast
1790
Mungo Park explores Niger and writes of travels
1794
Scotsman James Lind prevents scurvey
1751
Nevil Maskelyne publishes Nautical Almanac
1762
Samuel Wallis discovers Tahiti
1767
Gaspar de Portolá discovers San Francisco Bay
1769
James Bruce discovers Lake Tana
1770
Second voyage of James Cook
1772
Third voyage of James Cook
1776
Mutiny on the Bounty
1779
Explorer Alexander Mackenzie completes first East West crossing of America
1793
Alexander von Humboldt explores Americas
1796
Matthew Flinders circumnavigates Australia
1800
Zebulon Pike discovers Pikes Peak
1805
British officer James Tuckey explores Africa
1809
Russian Fabian von Bellingshausen discovers Antarctica
1819
William E. Parry's 3rd expedition to the Arctic
1823
Royal Geographical Society founded in London
1830
James Clark Ross discovers north magnetic pole
1831
Transatlantic steamship service commences
1838
Explorer John C. Frémont maps US West
1840
T.H. Huxley joins Voyage of the Rattlesnake
1846
Englishman H.W. Bates explores Amazon Valley
1848
Lewis and Clark Expedition to the Pacific
1802
Simon Fraser charts British Columbia, Canada
1807
Captain John Ross explores the Arctic
1817
Trader Jedediah Smith explores the Rocky Mountains
1820
British explorer Charles Sturt's expedition to Australia
1825
Charles Darwin aboard the Beagle explores Galápagos
1831
Lieutenant Charles Wilkes South Seas expedition
1832
James C. Ross commands Antarctic expedition
1839
John Franklins doomed Arctic ice expedition
1843
Explorer Johannes Rebmann finds Mt. Kilimanjaro
1847
Matthew F. Maury becomes Father of Modern Oceanography
1849
William Lewis Herndon leads Amazon expedition
1850
Scottish explorer John Rae befriends Inuit people
1851
Explorer David Livingstone begins Africa trek
1853
Richard Burton and John Speke search for Nile River origin
1855
British explorer Samuel Baker discovers Nile River source
1861
Clarence King explores Sierra Nevada mountains
1867
Heinrich Schliemann tries to find Lost City of Troy
1870
HMS Challenger begins oceanography expedition
1872
Verney L. Cameron crosses equatorial Africa
1873
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld sails Northeast Passage
1878
Explorer Joseph Thomson adventures in Africa
1882
Hans Meyer first to top of Kilimanjaro
1888
Adrien de Gerlache leads Belgian Antarctic Expedition
1894
The Southern Cross expedition to Antarctica
1899
Robert McClure first to traverse the Northwest Passage
1850
Geologist Ferdinand V. Hayden surveys western U.S.A
1853
British naturalist Alfred Wallace formulates theory of natural selection
1854
American Charles Francis Hall explores the Arctic
1859
Geologist John Wesley Powel traverses Grand Canyon
1865
Egypt's Suez Canal completed
1868
Henry Morton Stanley finds Doctor Livingstone in Africa
1871
Explorer Karl Weyprecht discovers Arctic Archipelago
1872
Henry Morton Stanley maps Congo River
1876
Karl Weyprecht advocates international cooperation in polar exploration
1880
Sámuel Teleki and Ludwig von Höhnel climb Mt Kenya
1883
Fridtjof Nansen makes first crossing of Greenland interior
1890
Otto Sverdrup leads expedition to geographical North Pole
1898
Brit Halford Mackinder climbs Mt Kenya
1899
Expedition to Canada's Arctic Archipelago
1900
Norwegian Roald Amundsen first to navigate Northwest Passage
1903
Nimrod expedition of South Pole
1907
Roald Amundsen first to reach South Pole
1910
Robert Falcon Scott leads fateful Antarctic expedition
1912
USS F-4 Submarine recovered
1915
Wright brothers invent powered flight
1903
Prince Luigi Amedeo climbs Ugandan mountains
1904
Robert Peary first to reach North Pole
1909
Hiram Bingham discovers Machu Picchu
1911
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of endurance
1913
German Meteor expedition
1916
Richard Byrd falsely claims to reach North Pole via airplane
1926
Charles Lindbergh completes first nonstop solo transatlantic flight
1927
Richard Byrd's Early Antarctic expedition
1929
Nazi Germany polar expedition
1933
Jacques Cousteau and Émile Gagnan invent Aqua-Lung
1939
American pilot Chuck Yeager breaks sound barrier
1947
Norwegian–British–Swedish Antarctic Expedition
1948
Explorer Lincoln Ellsworth crosses North Pole
1926
George Wilkins explores ice north of Alaska via airplane
1927
William Beebe and Otis Barton invent Bathysphere
1930
Second International Polar Year
1935
Operation Highjump establishes US Antarctic research base
1944
Thor Heyerdahl begins Kon-Tiki expedition
1947
International Geophysical Year
1954
Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh descend to 35,800ft in submersible
1958
Project Mohole begins drilling into Earth's crust
1961
First United States human spaceflight
1961
Inventor Edwin Link builds first undersea station
1962
First woman to travel into space
1963
DSV Alvin finds missing hydrogen Bomb
1964
Deep-sea drilling voyages of Glomar Challenger
1968
Tektite Habitat undersea laboratory
1970
Canoe sailed from Hawaii to Tahiti
1974
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summit Mt Everest
1950
Soviet Union launches satellite Sputnik 1
1957
International Indian Ocean Expedition
1959
Soviet Yuri Gagarin first human in space
1961
Astronaut John Glenn orbits the Earth 3 times
1962
Jacques Cousteau lives underwater for 7 days
1962
Wreckage of American nuclear submarine Thresher found
1963
Apollo 1 failed moon mission
1967
First humans to walk on the Moon
1969
Skylab space station launched
1971
Deep-sea submersible Alvin explore Mid-Atlantic Ridge
1977
Titanic wreckage discovered
1982
Space shuttle Challenger explodes
1986
Japanese Kaikō ROV in Mariana Trench
1995
Volcanic activity on Loihi Seamount
1996
Robert Ballard pioneers deep-sea archaeology
1997
Scientists proclaim water on Earth's Moon
1998
Chandra X-ray Observatory satellite launched
1999
Two unmanned spacecraft sent to Mars
1976
US begins Space Shuttle program
1978
Soviets launch Mir space station
1986
Hubble Space Telescope repaired
1987
Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with Russian Mir
1995
Mars Pathfinder arrives on Red Planet
1997
John Glenn becomes oldest man in space
1998
Spacecraft Liberty Bell 7 recovered from ocean
1999
Lunar Prospector deliberately crashed into Moon
1999
Three-man crew arrives at International Space Station
2000
Meteorite from Mars contains evidence of life
2001
First Canadian to walk in space
2001
First Successful Ascent of Mount Everest by a Double Amputee
2003
Launch of SpaceShipOne
2004
Launch of Columbus Module to the ISS
2008
Astronomer Geoffrey Marcy finds new planets
2000
Russian space station Mir abandoned
2001
NEAR Shoemaker lands on asteroid
2001
Launch of NASA's Messenger to Mercury
2004
International Polar Year Begins
2007
Record Low Arctic Sea Ice Extent
2012
James Cameron's Deep-Sea Dive
2012
Philae Lander Touches Down on Comet 67P
2014
Launch of Parker Solar Probe
2018
Beresheet Lunar Lander Mission
2019
Victor Vescovo's Deepest Ocean Dive
2019
Messenger Enters Orbit Around Mercury
2011
Curiosity Rover Lands on Mars
2012
First Solo Unsupported Antarctic Crossing by a Woman
2013
New Horizons Flyby of Pluto
2015
InSight Lander Arrives on Mars
2018
First Image of a Black Hole Released
2019
China's Tianwen-1 Mission to Mars
2020
Launch of Solar Orbiter Mission
2020
NASA's DART Mission Successfully Alters Asteroid's Trajectory
2022
China's Chang'e 6 Returns Samples from the Moon's Far Side
2024
China's Chang'e 5 Moon Mission
2020
NASA's Mars 2020 Mission
2020
Discovery of Water on the Moon
2020
India's Chandrayaan-3 Lands near Moon's South Pole
2023