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.
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.
1644:
Vasily Poyarkov, travelling overland from Siberia, reaches the mouth of the
Amur on the Pacific Ocean.
Second wave of exploration (by sea)
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.
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.
1516–1517:
Rafael Perestrello, a cousin of Christopher Columbus, leads a small Portuguese trade mission to
Canton (Guangzhou), then under the
Ming Dynasty.
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.
Other noteworthy Europeans
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.
1631–1668:
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier travels six times to Asia, mostly in Persia, India and Java.
1656–1669:
François Bernier travels to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and then spend eight years at the court of the Mughal emperor
Aurangzeb.
1664–1680:
Jean Chardin travels two times to Persia (as well as its dependencies in the Caucasus such as Georgia) and India.
1675–1678: The Moldavian boyar
Nicolae Milescu travels to China.
Noteworthy others
~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.