About 981: The Viking, Eric the Red, discovers Greenland.
About 1000: Leif Ericsson, nephew of Eric the Red, discovers Vinland, later to be known as North America.
1271-95: Journeys of the Venetian, Marco Polo, in China.
1434: Gil Eanes, from Portugal, crosses Cape Bojador (The North West Coast of Africa, just south of the Canary Islands).
1427: The Portuguese discover the Azores.
1489: Bartholomeu Dias, from Portugal, becomes the first European to cross the Cape of Good Hope successfully.
1492: Christopher Columbus, from Spain, discovers America.
1497: Jean Cabot, from Italy, lands on the coast of North America, in a place that will be later called the New Land.
1497: Vasco da Gama, from Portugal, returns to India by sea, passing by the Cape of Good Hope.