page_title: Chronology of European exploration of Asia
section_title: Second wave of exploration (by sea)
hierarchical_section_title: Chronology of European exploration of Asia / Second wave of exploration (by sea)
caption_attribution_description: English: Pictures of the "Sao Gabriel", "Sao Rafael", and "Berrio" are by Visconde de Juromenha done around 1558 after a paiting made on order by D. Jorge Cabral, Governor of India, 1549-50. The picture was copied from a publication by Alvaro Velho: A journal of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama, 1497-1499, published 1898.[1]
context_page_description: This is a chronology of the early European exploration of Asia.
context_section_description: 1492: Christopher Columbus sets sail from Spain in search of a western route to Asia. Though unsuccessful in reaching Asia his successes propelled eventual European expansion, including Asia.
  1497–1499: The Portuguese Vasco da Gama, accompanied 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. 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–?: João 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 da Gama to India.
  1503–1504: Afonso de Albuquerque establishes the first Portuguese fort in Kochi, India, during the fifth Portuguese India Armada.
  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 Ayutthaya Kingdom (Thailand) received a diplomatic mission from the Portuguese. These were probably the first Europeans to visit the country. Five years after that initial contact, Ayutthaya and Portugal concluded a treaty granting the Portuguese permission to trade in the kingdom.
  1512: Malay pilots guided the Portuguese via Java, the Lesser Sundas and Ambon to Banda, arriving in early 1512. 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. D'Abreu sailed through Ambon while his second in command Francisco Serrão went ahead towards Maluku islands, was shipwrecked and ended up in Ternate. 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.
  1513: Jorge Álvares is the first European to land in China at Tamão in the Zhujiang (Pearl River) estuary.
  1516-17: Rafael Perestrello, a cousin of Christopher Columbus, leads a small Portuguese trade mission to Canton (Guangzhou), then under the Ming Dynasty.
  1517: The Portuguese merchant Fernão Pires de Andrade establishes the first European trade post on the Chinese coast at Tamão in the Zhujiang (Pearl River) estuary and 
caption: The ships which were used by Vasco da Gama on his first voyage. (Illustration from 1558).
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