Age of Exploration

When Did the Age of Exploration Begin?

The Age of Exploration is generally considered to have begun in the early 15th century, although the exact starting point depends on what events and processes one considers most significant. The most commonly cited starting point is the early 1400s, when Portuguese sailors, under the patronage of Prince Henry the Navigator, began to explore the African coast systematically. Other significant starting points include the Portuguese capture of Ceuta in Morocco in 1415, the rounding of Cape Bojador by Gil Eanes in 1434, and the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488.

The year 1492, when Christopher Columbus made his first voyage across the Atlantic, is often cited as the symbolic beginning of the Age of Exploration. This voyage opened sustained contact between Europe and the Americas and led to a wave of Spanish exploration and conquest in the New World. For a fuller discussion of the events leading up to this period, see our causes and motivations of the Age of Exploration.

The Portuguese Beginnings

The earliest sustained phase of European overseas exploration began in Portugal in the early 15th century. Prince Henry the Navigator, the third son of King John I of Portugal, is often credited as the driving force behind this effort. Henry sponsored a series of voyages along the African coast, with the goals of finding a sea route to the spice-producing regions of Asia, encountering Christian allies in Africa, and acquiring gold and other valuable commodities.

The capture of Ceuta, a Moorish port city in North Africa, in 1415 launched Portuguese overseas expansion. Ceuta was strategically located at the entrance to the Mediterranean, and its capture gave Portugal a foothold in North Africa. The early Portuguese voyages from Ceuta gradually extended Portuguese knowledge of the African coast, with key milestones including Gil Eanes’s rounding of Cape Bojador in 1434, the exploration of the Senegal River in 1444, and the voyage of Diogo Cão up the Congo River in 1482.

The rounding of the Cape of Good Hope by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488 is sometimes considered the symbolic beginning of the Age of Exploration, as it proved that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were connected and opened the way for direct European access to the Indian Ocean. To learn more about Prince Henry’s role in launching the era, see our page on Prince Henry the Navigator.

Other Proposed Starting Points

Some historians prefer to start the Age of Exploration with the voyages of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Columbus’s first voyage across the Atlantic is often treated as the most important event in the history of European exploration, as it opened contact between Europe and the Americas and led to the European colonization of the New World. The consequences of this contact were so profound that the year 1492 is sometimes used as a dividing line between the medieval and modern worlds.

Other historians have proposed earlier starting points, including the Norse voyages to North America in the 10th and 11th centuries, the travels of Marco Polo to Asia in the 13th century, and the Portuguese voyages to the Canary Islands in the 14th century. These earlier voyages, however, did not lead to sustained European contact with the regions they visited, and they are usually considered part of a longer prelude to the Age of Exploration rather than its beginning.

The Significance of the Date

The choice of starting date for the Age of Exploration is not just a matter of historical detail — it has important implications for how we understand the period. Starting with the Portuguese voyages in the early 1400s emphasizes the gradual development of European overseas exploration and the technological and political factors that made it possible. Starting with Columbus’s voyage in 1492 emphasizes the dramatic and transformative encounter between Europe and the Americas.

In practice, the Age of Exploration was a long and gradual process, and its “beginning” depends on what one is looking for. The Portuguese voyages in the early 15th century established the preconditions for later voyages, including the technological and navigational advances that made long-distance sea travel possible. The Spanish voyages in the late 15th century opened new continents to European contact. And the northern European voyages in the 16th and 17th centuries extended European reach to the farthest corners of the globe. For a chronological overview of these developments, see our timeline of the Age of Exploration.

For a more general introduction to the era, see our comprehensive overview of the Age of Exploration. For the factors that motivated European exploration, see our page on the causes of the Age of Exploration. And for an answer to the related question of when the era ended, see our page on when the Age of Exploration ended.

Further Reading

  • Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration (2006) — the gradualist framing of the era’s start and end.
  • J.H. Parry, The Age of Reconnaissance (1963) — the classic treatment of the Iberian voyages.
  • C.R. Boxer, The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415–1825 (1969) — the institutional Portuguese history.
  • Peter Russell, Prince Henry ‘the Navigator’: A Life (2000) — the demythologized Henry.
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