The Age of Discovery

The Age of Discovery (1419—1543) was the era in which Europeans first connected the world by sea and launched the first wave of globalisation. It began with Prince Henry the Navigator sending Portuguese caravels down the African coast. In 1488 Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope; in 1492 Columbus crossed the Atlantic; in 1498 da Gama reached Calicut; from 1519 to 1522 Magellan—Elcano circumnavigated the globe. Cortés destroyed the Aztec empire; Pizarro brought down the Inca empire. The era created colonialism and the Atlantic slave trade, and ushered the world into the modern age.