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This article attempts to list every significant event in the history of the European exploration of Asia. It proposes a chronological inventory of these events including every people involved and the places they helped to demystify (from a European point of view).

Contents 1 First wave of exploration (by land) 1.1 Antiquity 1.2 Middle ages 2 Second wave of exploration (by sea) 3 Notes

330 BCE

Alexander the Great conquers Central Asia and parts of northwestern India

300 BCE

Forays of Seleucus Nicator into India.

250-120 BCE

Greco-Bactrian rule in Central Asia and the Punjab.

180 BCE-10 CE

Rule of the Indo-Greek kingdom in northern India.

30 BCE-640 CE

The Romans start trading with India

100 CE-166 CE

Sino-Roman relations began.

1160-1173

The Spanish Jewish Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela visits Syria, Palestine, Baghdad, Persia, and the Arabian Peninsula.

1180-1186

Pethahiah of Regensburg goes to Baghdad.

1245-1247

The Italian Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, accompagnied by Stephen of Bohemia, and later by Benedykt Polak, reaches Karakorum in present day Mongolia. First European embassy to the Great Khan.

1247-1248

Ascelin, Simon of St Quentin and Andrew of Longjumeau go to Armenia and Persia.

1249-1251

Andrew of Longjumeau guide a French ambassador to the great Kuyuk Khan. His 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 reached Talas in northwestern Kyrgyzstan.

≈1254

The Flemish William of Rubruck reach China and Mongolia through Central Asia.

1254-1255

Hetoum I, king of Armenia, visits the Mongol court in Mongolia.

1264-≈1269

First travel of the Venitian Niccolò and Maffio Polo to China. In 1266, they reach the Mongol capital Khanbaliq, now known as Beijing, China.

1271-1295

Second trip of Niccolò and Maffio Polo to China. This time with Marco, Niccolo's son, who would write a colorful account of their experiences.

1325-1355

Travels of Ibn Battuta, a Muslim from Morocco. His Travels would be influential with Europeans starting in the 19th century.

1403-1404

Travel of Ruy González de Clavijo, ambassador of Henry III of Castile to the Timurid Empire. He passed along the Black Sea coast of Turkey to Trabzon and then overland through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan to Uzbekistan. He also visited Tehran

1420-1436

Travels of Niccolò Da Conti to India and Southeast Asia.

1470

Travels of Afanasy Nikitin, the first Russian to visit India.

≈1580-1585

The Cossack Yermak Timofeyevich reaches the Siberian Tatar city of Qashliq near the right bank of Irtysh.

1497-1499

The Portuguese Vasco de Gama, accompagnied by Nicolau Coelho and Bartolomeu Dias, is the first European to reach India by an all-sea route from Europe.

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.^[1] 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.

1501-?

Joao Da Nova commands the third Portuguese expedition to India. He discovers Ascension Island (1501) and Saint Helena (1502) along the way.

1502-1503

Second trip of Vasco de Gama to India.

1503-1504

Afonso de Albuquerque establishes the first Portuguese fort in Kochi, India.

1505

Francisco de Almeida is appointed as the first viceroy of Portuguese India (Estado da Índiahe armada). He leaves Lisbon with an armada of 22 ships, including 14 carracks and 6 caravels carrying a crew of 1,000 and 1,500 soldiers. His son, Lorenço 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 captures Goa, soon to became the most flourishing of the Portuguese settlements in India.

The year after, he conquers Malacca discovered by Lopez de Sequira in 1509. Malacca becomes a strategic base for Portuguese expansion in the East Indies.

In 1511, Albuquerque sends Francisco Serrão with three vessels from Malacca to explore the Moluccas. In 1512 Serrão establishes a fort on Ternate Island.

De 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.

1513

Jorge Álvares is the first European to land in China at Lintin Island in the Zhujiang (Pearl River) estuary.

1517

The Portuguese merchant Fernão Pires de Andrade establishes the first modern trading contact with the Chinese at the Zhujiang (Pearl River) estuary and then in Canton (Guangzhou).

1519-

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. Few 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.

1524

Third trip of Vasco de Gama to India.

1542

After a journey through Sumatra, Malaysia, Siam (Thailand), China, possibly Korea and Cochinchina (Vietnam), Fernão Mendes Pinto is one of the first Europeans to land in Japan.

1542

Antonio de Mota is thrown by a storm on the island of Nison, called by the Chinese Jepwen (Japan).

1549

On return of his second trip to Japan Fernão Mendes Pinto takes with him a Japanese fugitive known as Anjiro and introduces him to the Jesuit Saint Francis Xavier.

1549

Saint Francis Xavier arrive in Japan accompanied by Father Cosme de Torrès, Brother Juan Fernandez, 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".

1555

The Dominican Gaspar da Cruz is the first modern missionary to go in China. (See also Jesuit China missions)

1. ^ Vera Lucia Bottrel Tostes, Bravos homens de outrora, Camoes - Revista de Latras e Culturas Lusofonas, no. 8, January - March 2000