Portuguese Age of Discovery and Penang

When the Portuguese in the 15th century set forth to reach the Spice Islands, they indirectly start a chain of events that led to the founding of Penang three centuries later. The following chronology traces the Portuguese Age of Discovery and its relationship with the Malay archipelago.

• 1412: Prince Henry the Navigator ordered the first expedition to the African Coast and Canary Islands.
• 1419-20: The Portuguese discovered the islands in the Madeira Group, in northwest Africa.
• 1427: The Portuguese discovered the Azores.
• 1458: The Portuguese discovered Cape Verde islands.
• 1488: Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian Ocean.
• 1492: Spain sponsored the First Voyage of Christopher Columbus to find a new route to Asia, in the process discovering the New World.
• 1498: Vasco da Gama arrives in Calicut (now Kozhikode in Kerala), India. / Duarte Pacheco Pereira explored the coast of South America.
• 1500: Diogo Dias discovered Madagascar.
• 1509: Diogo Lopes de Sequeira reached Malacca.
• 1510: Portuguese defeated the Bijapur kings, established their settlement in Goa.
• 1511: Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Malacca. / Duarte Fernandes visited the Kingdom of Siam.
• 1512: Antonio de Abreu discovered Timor. Francisco Serrao arrived at the Moluccas.
• 1513: The Portuguese arrived in China.
• 1517: China formally opened relations with Portugal.
• 1557: Macau given to Portugal.
• 1592: Great Britain: James Lancaster left Devon, 1592 arrived in the Malay Peninsula. Earliest mention of Pulau Pinang and Pulau Rimau.

Private Guided Tours of Penang

If you are seeking private guided tours of Penang, message Penang Tour Guides at penangtourguides@gmail.com and enquire with them.

 Buy, rent or sell properties in Penang

Do you have a property for sale or to rent out? Are you looking to buy or rent a property? Get in touch with me. WhatsApp me (Timothy Tye) at 012 429 9844, and I will assign one of my property agents to serve you. I will choose the agent for you, according to your property needs. So when you message me, provide me some details of what you need, whether to sell, to buy, to rent or to rent out, and what type of property, is it condo, apartment, house, shop, office or land.

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.