AD 1520 Portuguese
navigator Ferdinand Magellan enters the Pacific
AD 1606 Dutch explorer
Willem Janszoon discovers Bay of Carpentier
AD 1606 Dutchman Willem
Jansz and his ship Duyfken explore the western coast of Cape York Peninsula
AD 1606 Portuguese
explorer Luis Váez de Torres discovers the existence of Australia
AD 1616 Dutch captain,
Dirck Hartog is first European to record a landing on west Australian
coast; leaves an engraved plate as a monument
AD 1616 Dirk Hartog sails
around the coast of Western Australia
AD 1622 English ship
Trial wrecked off the coast of Western Australia
AD 1623 Jan Carstenszoon
visits northern Australia and names Bay of Carpentie
AD 1627 Nuytsland
discovered, Western Australia
AD 1629 Dutch East India Company ship
Batavia, with 316 people on board, is wrecked off Western Australia
AD 1642 Dutch explorer
Abel Tasman discovers Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)
AD 1642 Tasman maps the
north and west coasts of Australia
AD 1644 Abel Tasman
explores the Gulf of Carpentaria
AD 1688 English explorer
William Dampier lands on Australia's north-west coast
AD 1696 Dutch explorer
Willem de Vlamingh charts south-western coast Australia
AD 1697 Dutch explorer
Willem De Vlamingh, replaced Hartog's plate with one of his own
AD 1699 English
adventurer William Dampier names Shark's Bay, Western Australia
AD 1769 Captain James
Cook in the Endeavour sails up the east coast of Australia
Pacific East Asia
AD 1450 Art and rituals
of the 'birdman' religion on Easter Island begin to develop
AD 1500 Around this time
a village of oval stone houses is built on Easter Island
AD 1511 Portuguese
navigators begin to explore the Pacific
AD 1513 Vasco de Balboa
claims Pacific Ocean, and all islands it touches, for Spain
AD 1521 Portuguese
navigator Ferdinand Magellan sees the atoll of Pukapuka, Tahiti
AD 1525 Spanish mapmaker
Diego Ribeiro makes first scientific charts covering the Pacific
AD 1525 Portuguese
probably visit Caroline Islands, northeast of New Guinea, and nearby Palau
AD 1550 Around this time
Maoris of New Zealand build fortified enclosures
AD 1596 Alvaro de Mendana
is the first European to sight the Cook Islands
AD 1600 Tupa, stone
towers with inner chambers, built on Easter Island
AD 1600 Tu'i Konokupolu
dynasty take power in Tonga
AD 1616 Dutch explorers
are the first Europeans to visit Tonga
AD 1680 Statue building
ends on Easter Island; resources and population decline
AD 1700 Tahitians and
Europeans meet for the first time, on Moorea Island
AD 1722 Dutch navigator
Jacob Roggeveen is the first European to explore Samoa
AD 1767 British Captain
Samuel Wallis is the first European to reach Tahiti
AD 1769 Cook takes formal
possession of New Zealand for Britain
AD 1770 South Cape, New
Zealand, first sighted by James Cook
AD 1770 Spanish sailors
reach Easter Island
AD 1773 Cook discovers
Hervey Islands, later named the Cook Islands
AD 1774 Cook lands on
Easter Island and trades goods for food
AD 1774 Cook arrives at
Southeast Asia By David D
1450 Three major Thai states
exist—Ayudhya, Lan Na, and Lan Xang. Different styles of Buddha image are
associated with each center.
1453–1472 Under the reign of Shin
Sawbu, daughter of two earlier kings, Pegu is promoted as a center of Buddhism in Burma. Trade also flourishes under her rule.
1500–1518 Raden Patah of Demak in
Indonesia also rules Majapahit to the south. He promotes trade and Islam in Indonesia and Sumatra.
ca. 1511 The Portuguese, who
control the Strait of Malacca as well as the town and port of Malacca, send a
mission to Ayudhya in Thailand requesting trading rights in return for Western firearms and ammunition.
1558 Lan Na in Thailand becomes a
Burmese vassal state.
1563 Suma Oriental is
published in Venice. Based on the notes of the Portuguese Tomé Pires, who
traveled in Southeast Asia from 1512 to 1515, it is one of the first European
sources for the history of that region.
1578–1606 Manila in the
Philippines is a center of commerce as well as home to numerous Spanish Catholic missionaries.
ca. 1580–1600 The state of
Mataram, which plays a prominent role in the seventeenth century, arises in
1595–1598 The first Dutch trading
missions arrive in Indonesia.
in pepper and other goods enriches the Lampung region of southern Sumatra,
resulting in a flowering of textile production and other art forms.
ca. 1601 Dominican
monks establish the College of Saint Thomas in Manila.
Dutch East India Company is founded. During the 1600s, the Dutch establish
control over much of the Indonesian archipelago from their headquarters at
Batavia (Jakarta) and continue to be the primary traders in the region until
the early nineteenth century. Spices and then coffee, rubber, and petroleum
are among the most valued exports. Dutch trade goods and imagery become
incorporated into the archipelago's indigenous arts and cultures. Chinese and
are brought to Europe and traded also in Southeast Asia.
war ravages Vietnam.
de Rhodes, a French Jesuit, creates a script known as quoc ngu in
order to use the Roman alphabet in writing the Vietnamese language.
Dutch destroy Palembang on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.
French mission brings letters from Pope Clement IX and King Louis XIV to
Thailand. The Ayudhya court responds in 1684 with a request for political
alliance, but the French are primarily interested in gaining converts to
1700s or earlier Chinese
porcelain and other trade goods make their way into the interior of Borneo
via trade along major rivers. In addition to the importance of porcelain as a
source of wealth and prestige, Chinese imagery, particularly that of dragons,
also influences Borneo's indigenous Dayak artists.
life of Doan Thi Diem, one of the most celebrated Vietnamese poets. Other
renowned women writers include Ho Xuan Hong, who lived at the end of the
century, and another artist who is known only as the "Wife of the Chief
of the Thanh Quan District."
traders open a dock at Thanlyin in Burma.