| 1418—1420 | Portuguese mariners discover and settle the Madeira Islands in the Atlantic Ocean |
| 1425 | Enrique of Castile born |
| 1434 | Gil Eannes sails south along the African coast past Cape Bojador, beginning the Portuguese naval exploration of Africa and the slave trade under Henry the Navigator |
| 1439 | Portuguese mariners discover and settle the Azores |
| 1440 | Probable date for Gutenberg's first printing press |
| 1451 | Isabella of Castile born; Christopher Columbus born |
| 1452 | Pope Nicholas V issues the bull Dum Diversas, which provides the moral authority for the slave trade |
| 1453 | Constantinople falls to the invading armies of Mehmet the Conqueror |
| 1454 | Enrique becomes king of Castile |
| 1455 | Pope Nicholas v issues the bull Romanus Pontifex, establishing Portuguese monopoly along the African coast |
| — | King Enrique marries Juana of Portugal |
| 1462 | Juana la Beltraneja born |
| 1464—1468 | War for the Castilian succession |
| 1469 | Isabella and Ferdinand secretly wed in Toledo |
| 1474 | King Enrique IV dies in Madrid, Isabella proclaimed queen of Castile; war with Portugal |
| 1476 | Battle of Toro |
| — | Christopher Columbus washed ashore in Portugal after shipwreck |
| 1477 | A new translation of Ptolemy's Geography published in Bologna |
| 1478 | Papal bull of Sixtus IV establishes the Inquisition in Castile |
| 1479 | Treaty of Alcáçovas ends war between Castile and Portugal |
| 1480 | Ferdinand Magellan born |
| 1481 | King Afonso V of Portugal dies; his son João becomes king |
| — | Pope Sixtus IV issues Aeterni Regis, sanctioning the terms of the Treaty of Alcáçovas and affirming Portuguese claims south and east in the Atlantic Ocean |
| 1484 | Columbus first proposes his “Enterprise of the Indies” to João II |
| 1486 | Rebuffed in Portugal, Columbus travels to Castile to persuade Isabella and Ferdinand |
| 1488 | Bartolomeu Dias rounds the southern tip of Africa for Portugal |
| 1492 | Rodrigo Borgia becomes pope |
| — | Fall of the Kingdom of Granada |
| — | Christopher Columbus sails across the Atlantic Ocean for Isabella and Ferdinand |
| — | Beginning of the expulsion of the Jews from Castile |
| 1493 | Pope Alexander vi issues the bull Inter Caetera and other bulls, dividing the world between Spain and Portugal |
| 1494 | The Treaty of Tordesillas is signed between Portugal and Spain |
| 1497 | English King Henry vii funds the voyage of John Cabot |
| 1504 | Queen Isabella dies |
| 1506 | Columbus dies |
| 1513 | Vasco Nuñez de Balboa crosses the Isthmus of Panama and beholds the Pacific Ocean |
| 1517 | Martin Luther nails his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door in Wittenberg |
| 1519 | Ferdinand Magellan sets off to circumnavigate he world for Charles i of Spain |
| — | Hernán Cortés launches expedition to conquer Mexico |
| 1521 | Martin Luther excommunicated |
| 1523 | Pedro de Alvarado subjugates the Mayans in the Yucatán |
| 1524 | Badajoz Conference to determine the Tordesillas Line in the Pacific |
| 1529 | Treaty of Zaragoza; Spain cedes the Spice Islands to Portugal |
| 1533 | Francisco Pizarro conquers the Inca Empire |
| 1537 | Pope John ii rescinds the papacy's support of slavery |
| 1558 | Elizabeth becomes queen of England |
| 1562 | Sir John Hawkins and the first English privateering voyage to the Caribbean |
| 1565 | Andrés de Urdaneta pioneers the Pacific route from Manila to Acapulco |
| 1568 | Inquisition declares the three million people of the United Provinces, who have strongly embraced Calvinism, to be heretics and condemned to death |
| 1571 | Battle of Lepanto; destruction of Ottoman naval power in the Mediterranean |
| 1570s—1580s | English privateers inspired by the famous voyages of Sir Francis Drake |
| 1581 | Philip II of Spain becomes king of Portugal, uniting the countries and creating a near-monopoly on oceanic trade from Europe |
| 1583 | Hugo Grotius, “the Father of International Law,” born in Delft |
| 1588 | Spanish Armada fails to conquer England |
| 1600 | English East India Company founded |
| 1602 | Dutch East India Company founded; Amsterdam stock exchange founded to deal in the company's stocks and bonds |
| — | The Portuguese ship Santa Catarina captured by a Dutch privateer |
| 1609 | Henry Hudson sails up the Hudson River for the Dutch East India Company |
| — | Hugo Grotius anonymously publishes Mare Liberum, “The Free Sea” |
| 1610 | Vatican places Mare Liberum on its Index of prohibited and banned books |
| 1613 | Scottish challenge to Mare Liberum by William Welwood: Abridgement of All Sea-Lawes |
| 1618 | John Selden writes Mare Clausum |
| 1618—1648 | Thirty Years War devastates central Europe |
| 1620 | Mayflower pilgrims arrive at Cape Cod and Plymouth Rock |
| 1623 | Dutch East India Company employees kill English East India Company employees during the Massacre of Amboyna |
| 1625 | Seraphim de Freitas publishes Imperio Lusitanorum Asiatico to challenge Grotius |
| 1655 | English forces capture Jamaica and turn it into a buccaneer haven |
| 1670 | In the American Treaty, Spain recognizes the legitimacy of the British colonies in North America |
| 1702 | Cornelius Bynkershoek publishes De Domino Maris, establishing the concept of territorial waters and the cannon shot rule |
| 1750 | Treaty of Madrid between Spain and Portugal recognizes Portuguese sovereignty over Brazil and effectively annuls the Treaty of Tordesillas |
| 1757 | The Battle of Plassey; English East India Company rule in India begins |
| 1768—1761 | Lieutenant James Cook leads his first voyage of discovery in the Pacific |
| 1775—1783 | The American War of Independence |
| 1776 | Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations |
| 1994 | United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea |