1492            Columbus's first voyage to the Americas, followed by Spanish conquests in Caribbean and the introduction of sugar to Hispaniola

1494            Treaty of Tordesillas

1497-8         John Cabot explores the northeast coast of North America

1498            Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut, India

1500            Pedro Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal

1513            Ponce de Leon discovers Florida

1519-21       Hernan Cortes conquers the Aztec empire and subsequently establishes the Viceroyalty of New Spain

1530s           Portuguese colonization of Brazil; introduction of sugar cultivation

1532            Francisco Pizarro conquers the Inca Empire (Peru); the Spanish subsequently establish the tributary Viceroyalty of Peru

1534            Jacques Chartier's first voyage to Canada

1562-64      Jacques le Moyne de Morgues in Florida

1570s          first African slaves transported to Brazil; by this point 25,000 African slaves had arrived in New Spain

1580s          English colonization of Ireland

1607            English colonization of Virginia

1608            French settlement at Quebec (traders and missionaries)

1612            English colonization of Bermuda

1619            first African slaves in Virginia

1620s&30s  French colonies of St Christopher, Martinique, and Guadeloupe

1625            English colonization of Barbados; establishment of sugar plantations