This is a chronology of the early European exploration of Asia.[1]
The Fra Mauro map, completed around 1459, is a map of the then-known world. Following the standard practice at that time, south is at the top. The map was said by Giovanni Battista Ramusio to have been partially based on the one brought from Cathay by Marco Polo.
41 – 54 AD: Roman Mediterranean tax collector Annius Plocamus, facilitated direct trade and first contact between Sri Lanka and the Roman Empire. The Romans already knew about Sri Lanka under the name of Taprobane, the Greek name for the island. It is according to Pliny as said in Natural History that the two civilizations met after the landing of Plocamus.
~550: Byzantine traveler and author Cosmas Indicopleustes completes his work Christian Topography describing geographical features gleaned from his own travels to Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, and Sri Lanka.
~552: Two Persian monks (or perhaps emissaries disguised as monks), at the behest of Eastern Roman (Byzantine) emperor Justinian I, travel to China and smuggle silkworms back to the Eastern Roman Empire, thus enabling silk production in Europe and Asia Minor.
13th century: Silk Road trade reaches its height during the height of the Pax Mongolica, the relative peace in Asia during the widespread unification under the Mongol Empire.
1249–1251: Andrew of Longjumeau guides a French ambassador to the great Kuyuk Khan. Andrew's brother Guy and several others — John Goderiche, John of Carcassonne, Herbert "Le Sommelier", Gerbert of Sens, Robert (a clerk), a certain William, and an unnamed clerk of Poissy go with him. They reach Talas in northwestern Kyrgyzstan.
~1254: The Flemish William of Rubruck reaches Mongolia through Central Asia.
1271–1295: Second trip of Niccolò and Maffeo Polo to China. This time with Marco, Niccolo's son, who would pass down a colourful account of their experiences traveling throughout Asia. The details of this account are currently debated.
~1318–1329: Travels of the Franciscan friars, the Italian Odoric of Pordenone and James of Ireland via India, Ceylon and the Malay Peninsula to China where they stayed in Dadu (present day Beijing) for approximately three years before returning to Italy overland through Central Asia.
~1321–1330/1338(?): The French Dominican missionary Jordanus, made bishop over the whole Indian subcontinent in 1329, wrote down his travels through India and the Middle East in his book Mirabilia.
1322: The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. Mandeville was said to be a knight from St. Albans in England. Although the book is real, it is widely believed that "Sir John Mandeville" was not. The book describes the travels of Mandeville going through Turkey (Asia Minor and Cilicia), Persia, Tartary, Syria, Arabia, India and many countries around India (including Sri Lanka).
1583–1591: The English merchant Ralph Fitch, together with John Newberry and John Eldred, a jeweller named William Leedes and a painter, James Story, travelled via the Levant and Mesopotamia to India and Portuguese Malacca (in modern Malaysia). Eldred stayed in Basra, Iraq; Story joined the Jesuits in Goa; Leedes stayed in Agra to work for Akbar and Newberry decided to begin his return journey. Fitch went by himself to Burma and Malacca (today in Malaysia). He returned to London in 1591.
The ships which were used by Vasco da Gama on his first voyage. (Illustration from 1558).The Cantino planisphere (or Cantino World Map) of 1502 is the earliest surviving map showing Portuguese Discoveries in the east and west.
1488: Bartolomeu Dias reaches the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. This was an important milestone because this allowed future sailors like Vasco da Gama to sail to India and Southeast Asia.
1492: Christopher Columbus sets sail from Spain in search of a western route to Asia, eventually landing in the Americas. Though unsuccessful in reaching Asia his successes propelled eventual European expansion, including Asia.
1500–1501: After discovering Brazil, Pedro Álvares Cabral, with the half of an original fleet of 13 ships and 1,500 men, accomplished the second Portuguese trip to India. Boats were commanded by Cabral, Bartolomeu Dias, Nicolau Coelho, Sancho de Tovar, Simão de Miranda, Aires Gomes da Silva, Vasco de Ataíde, Diogo Dias, Simão de Pina, Luís Pires, Pêro de Ataíde and Nuno Leitão da Cunha.[2] It is not known which one between Gaspar de Lemos and André Gonçalves, commanded the ship which returned to Portugal with the news of the discovery. Luís Pires returned to Portugal just after reaching Cape Verde. Vasco de Ataíde, Bartolomeu Dias, Simão de Pina and Aires Gomes' ships were lost near the Cape of Good Hope. The ship commanded by Diogo Dias separated and discovered Madagascar. He was then the first to reach the Red Sea by boat. Nuno Leitão da Cunha, Nicolau Coelho, Sancho de Tovar, Simão de Miranda, Pero de Ataíde did the entire trip to India. Among other passengers were: Pêro Vaz de Caminha and the Franciscan father, Frei Henrique de Coimbra.
1505: Francisco de Almeida is appointed as the first viceroy of Portuguese India (Estado da Índia). He leaves Lisbon at the command of the seventh Portuguese India Armada, with 22 ships, including 14 carracks and 6 caravels carrying a crew of 1,000 and 1,500 soldiers. His son, Lourenço de Almeida, explores the southern coast and reaches the modern island of Sri Lanka.
1507–1513: In 1507, Afonso de Albuquerque captures the kingdom of Ormus in the Persian Gulf. He is then appointed second viceroy of India in 1508. In 1510 he conquers Goa, soon to become the most flourishing of the Portuguese settlements in India.
1511: Albuquerque conquers Malacca discovered by Diogo Lopes de Sequeira in 1509. Malacca becomes a strategic base for Portuguese expansion in the East Indies. In November of that year, after having secured Malacca and learning of the "Spice islands" (Banda Islands) location, in Maluku Albuquerque sent an expedition of three vessels led by António de Abreu to find them. In 1511, Siam receives a diplomatic mission from the Portuguese. In 1516, Siam and Portugal concluded a treaty granting the Portuguese trading rights in the country.
1512: Malay pilots guided the Portuguese via Java, the Lesser Sundas and Ambon to Banda, arriving in early 1512.[3] The first Europeans to reach the Banda Islands, the expedition remained in Banda for about one month, purchasing nutmeg and mace, and cloves in which Banda had a thriving entrepôt trade.[4] D'Abreu sailed through Ambon while his second in command Francisco Serrão went ahead towards Maluku islands, was shipwrecked and ended up in Ternate.[5]Francisco Serrão establishes a fort on Ternate Island.
1513: Albuquerque laid siege to Aden in 1513, but was repulsed. He then led a voyage into the Red Sea, the first ever made by a European fleet.
1519–1522: Leaving Spain with five ships and 270 men in 1519, the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan is the first to reach Asia from the East. In 1520, he discovers what is now known as the Strait of Magellan. In 1521 he reaches the Marianas and then the island of Homonhon in the Philippines. Some time after, Magellan is killed in what is known as the Battle of Mactan. The rest of the crew sails to Palawan (Philippines), and then to Brunei and Borneo. They then reach Tidore in the Maluku Islands avoiding the Portuguese. Only one ship, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano, returns to Spain in 1522 with 18 men remaining, accomplishing the first World circumnavigation in History.
1542: António da Mota is thrown by a storm to the island of Tanegashima, establishing the first European contact with Japan.
1549: Saint Francis Xavier arrives in Japan accompanied by Father Cosme de Torrès, Brother Juan Fernández, the Japanese Anjiro, two baptized Japanese named Antonio and Joane, a Chinese named Manuel, and an Indian named Amador. The captain of the ship is named Avan aka "The Pirate".
1556: The Dominican Gaspar da Cruz is the first modern missionary to go in China. He traveled to Guangzhou in 1556 and wrote the first complete book on China and the Ming Dynasty that was published in Europe; it included information on its geography, provinces, royalty, official class, bureaucracy, shipping, architecture, farming, craftsmanship, merchant affairs, clothing, religious and social customs, music and instruments, writing, education, and justice. (See also Jesuit China missions)
1583–91: The Englishman Ralph Fitch becomes one of the earliest English explorers to visit Mesopotamia, India, and Southeast Asia (Burma, Lan Na, Malacca).
1595: The Dutchman Jan Huyghen van Linschoten published his Reys-gheschrift vande navigatien der Portugaloysers in Orienten ("Travel Accounts of Portuguese Navigation in the Orient") which was translated into English and German in 1598. It gave access to secret Portuguese information, including the nautical maps which had been well guarded for over a century. The book thus broke the Portuguese monopoly on the sea trade with Asia.
1579–1619: Thomas Stephens, a Jesuit, was probably the first Englishman to set foot in India where he died in 1619.
1599–1614: John Mildenhall, with Richard Newman, reach Agra, India, overland in 1614.
~118 BCE: Eudoxus of Cyzicus was a Greek navigator from the Asian-Greek city of Cyzicus who explored the Arabian Sea for Ptolemy VIII, king of the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt.
1154: Although not known for his travels, Muhammad al-Idrisi was significant for the European exploration of Asia when he made the Tabula Rogeriana, a map of the whole known world, in 1154 for the Norman King Roger II of Sicily, based on his knowledge of the Arab trade routes.
1325–1355: Travels of Ibn Battuta, a Muslim traveller from Morocco, across much of the Old World. His Travels would be influential with Europeans starting in the 19th century.
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