This article attempts to list every significant event in the history of the European exploration of Asia.[1] 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).
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.
?1318-1329
Travels of the Franciscan monk Odoric of Pordenone via India and the Malay Peninsula to China where he stayed in Khanbaliq (present day Beijing) for approximately three years before returning to Italy overland through Central Asia.
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.
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, 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 captures Goa, soon to became the most flourishing of the Portuguese settlements in India.
The year after, he conquers Malacca discovered by Lopes de Sequeira 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.
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.
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.
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
António de Mota is thrown by a storm on the island of Nison, called by the Chinese Jepwen (Japan).
Saint Francis Xavier arrive 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".
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.
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