Age of Discovery

The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration) is an informal and loosely defined term for the early modern period, largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 18th century in European history, in which seafaring Europeans explored regions across the globe, most of which were already inhabited. More recently some scholars call it the Contact Period or Age of European expansion. The extensive overseas exploration, led by the Portuguese, emerged as a powerful factor in European culture, most notably the European encounter and colonization of the Americas. It also marks an increased adoption of colonialism as a government policy in several European states, as such it is sometimes synonymous with the First wave of European colonization.

European exploration outside the Mediterranean started with the maritime expeditions of Portugal to the Canary Islands in 1336. Shortly after, the Portuguese discoveries of the Atlantic archipelagos of Madeira and Azores, claimed for the Portuguese crown in 1419 and 1427 respectively, then the coast of West Africa after 1434 until the establishment of the sea route to India in 1498 by Vasco da Gama.

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