Age of Exploration Timeline for Kids (2024)

Remembering the names, dates, and details of historical events can be a struggle for students. And figuring out how all of that isolated information connects? That is even more difficult. But understanding historical events and their relationships with each other is critical.

I want to help you facilitate deeper understanding and connection in your history lessons. And one of the best ways to achieve this is through timelines! To get you started, I have created this free Age of Exploration timeline.

Why Use an Age of Exploration Timeline?

A timeline is a powerful tool that provides a concrete way for students to connect historical concepts.

Timelines help students:

view events as part of a larger movement
sequence events in order
activate prior knowledge
identify cause and effect
deepen their understanding of a historical period

My Best Tips for Teaching with Timelines

Why Many Students Don’t “Get” Timelines

As teachers, we commonly teach events one at a time, assuming that students are connecting the events in their minds. But when we teach events in “bits and pieces,” students learn most of their history out of context. As a result, they are unable to connect the individual details and grasp larger historical themes.

The solution?

My Favorite Timeline Activities

Timelines don’t have to be boring! There are so many fun and engaging ways to incorporate timelines into your history instruction. Here are a few of my favorite timeline activities.

Illustrated Timeline

Students work together to construct an illustrated timeline of historical events. This can be done in many ways! For example:

First, roll out a long strip of butcher paper for your students. You can do this horizontally or vertically.
Next, use a bold marker to place dates on the paper.
Then, have students cover the timeline in student drawings, index-cards, and/or primary sources which represent historical events.

Table Top Timeline

Students create a timeline across a table in the classroom. First, label sections of the table with dates using index cards. Next, students add objects, artifacts, and framed photographs to the table. They place these items next to the correct year on the timeline.

Digital Timeline

16 Key Events for Your Age of Exploration Timeline

It’s difficult to narrow down events and know which to include and which to leave out. I’ve spent hours analyzing events, so you don’t have to! Here are 16 key events to teach from the Age of Exploration era.

Note: This timeline focuses primarily on the exploration of the western hemisphere.

1400 – Portuguese explorers begin sailing to new parts of the world, including sailing around the Atlantic Coast of Africa in search of new trade routes to Asia.
1492 – Explorer Christopher Columbus is sent by Spain to find a sea route to Asia, but instead enters the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola. This is the first of his four trips across the Atlantic Ocean.
1493 – Indigenous people begin dying of Old World diseases like measles, mumps, smallpox, and influenza. Millions of Indigenous people will die of these diseases over the next hundred years.
1493 – Spanish settlers enslave the Taíno of Hispaniola. These people are the first of millions of Indigenous people enslaved by Europeans.
1494 – Portugal and Spain sign the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided up the unexplored parts of the world between Spain and Portugal.
1497 – England sends explorer John Cabot, who discovers Newfoundland. He is the first European to explore the coast of mainland North America in 500 years.
1497-1499 – Vasco da Gama sails to India and back.
1507 – A German mapmaker names the “New World” America.
1519 – Herman Cortés lands in Mexico and formally claims the land for the Spanish crown.
1522 – Ferdinand Magellan’s ship The Vittoria completes the first circumnavigation of the globe.
1526 – The first slave ship sails from Africa to the Americas and the Atlantic Slave Trade begins.
1531-1533 – Thousands of Mesoamericans succumb to the measles epidemic. Maya, Toltec, Quechua, and many other people in Mesoamerica die from measles.
1533 – Francisco Pizarro executes the last Inca emperor. Spanish colonizers spread throughout Peru, Ecuador, and Chile.
1534 – Jacques Cartier discovers Anticosti Island and Prince Edward Island.
1600 – English merchants found the East India Company, which will fund exploration of the East Indies, East Asia, and trade with the Americas.
1606 – English King James I charters the Virginia Company to colonize the eastern coast of North America.

Get the Free Age of Exploration Timeline

I hope these tips and resources help your students better understand and enjoy timelines in your classroom!

Download the free Age of Exploration Timeline here.

Need more help teaching about the Age of Exploration?

Are you looking for more resources to help you teach the Age of Exploration?

2-Week Age of Exploration Unit: This all-inclusive unit provides interactive lesson plans that will keep your students engaged and help them learn the information in a meaningful way.
Age of Exploration Primary Sources: An outline of 5 primary sources, complete with teaching suggestions. I have also created a compilation of primary sources for several other U.S. History topics as well!
Age of Exploration Picture Books: 4 worthwhile picture books to help bring the Age of Exploration to life in your classroom.
Age of Exploration Videos: An overview of 5 videos teaching all about the history of the Age of Exploration – complete with corresponding student worksheets!

Interactive Age of Exploration Lesson Plans

Age of Exploration Videos for Students