English Across the Curriculum
| 1450 | Prince Henry the Navigator builds a school for sailors. |
| 1453 | The Turkish empire cuts off the land route from Asia to Europe. Search for a sea route begins. |
| 1487 | Bartholomeu Dias discovers the southern tip of Africa. |
| 1492 | Christopher Columbus lands on an island of the Bahamas. |
| 1497 | John Cabot discovers Newfoundland while he searches for a north-western passage to India. |
| 1498 | Vasco Da Gama finds a sea route to India by sailing around Africa. |
| 1502 | Amerigo Vespucci returns from his explorations of South America. A German mapmaker names the New World after him. |
| 1513 | Vasco de Balboa discovers the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean. |
| 1519 - 1522 | Magellan sails around the world. |
| 1521 | Hernando Cortes defeats the Aztec empire. |
| 1533 | Francisco Pizarro defeats the Inca empire. |
| 1534 | Jacques Cartier sails down the St. Lawrence River and discovers the Great Lakes. |
| 1577 | Sir Francis Drake is the first Englishman to sail around the world. |
| 1607 | The first settlement is called Jamestown. |
| 1610 | Henry Hudson discovers Hudson Bay. |
| 1620 | Mayflower lands with pilgrims in the New World. |
| 1673 | Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet explore the Mississippi River. |