1519

1519	20-Sep	Ferdinand Magellan sailed from San Lucar, Portugal, on his voyage to circumnavigate the world.
1521	24-Jan	Ferdinand Magellan reached his nearest point to Australia in circumnavigating the world.
1521	27-Apr	Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives at Mactan, Ladrone Islands.
1521	4-Sep	Ferdinand Magellan’s ship Victoria returned to St Vincent, Portugal, after circumnavigating the world. The navigator died at Cebu Island.
1528	3-Jun	Admiral Alvaro de Saavedra, Spanish ship Florida, attempted to find a new route from the Philippines to Mexico. His ship was driven south to an unknown land which he named in his journal New Guinea.
1545	20-Jun	Capt Inigo Ortiz de Retes was despatched in the Spanish ship San Juan to find an easterly passage across the Pacific. The vessel sailed down the northern coast of New Guinea as far as present day Wewak. De Retes claimed the coast for Spain but was prevented from continuing his exploration by unrest in his crew.
1595	2-Apr	A Dutch fleet commanded by Cornelius de Houtman sailed from Holland to establish trading settlements in the East Indies and the Pacific region.
1595	7-Aug	A Spanish squadron commanded by Alvaro de Mendana and piloted by Fernandes de Quiros massacred several hundred natives in the Marquesas Islands. De Quiros became separated from the squadron and sailed west almost to the east coast of Australia.