Middle AgesExploration Portuguese exploration begins 1415Major Portugal takes Ceuta and begins probing down the African coast. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → First fired clay figures → First pottery → Copper smelting → Bronze Age begins → Shang dynasty → Zhou dynasty and the Mandate of Heaven → Spring and Autumn period → Legalism (Shang Yang) → Qin unifies China → Han dynasty → Magnetic compass for navigation → Portuguese exploration begins Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesDocumentbritannica.comHenry the Navigator (Britannica) ↗Editor's pickBookPeter RussellPrince Henry 'the Navigator': A Life ↗Editor's pickBookC. R. BoxerThe Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415-1825 ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeHenry the Navigator Portuguese exploration ↗Editor's pick