Timeline of maritime activity

This is a of events in.

Prehistory

 * About 45,000 BC:, presumably by boats and land bridge.

Antiquity

 * About 6,000 BC: Earliest evidence of s.
 * 5th millennium BC: Earliest known depiction of a.
 * About 2,000 BC:
 * dispatches a fleet to the.
 * migrate from to, preceding the colonization of.
 * 1575-1520 BC, oldest known plank vessel, was built.
 * About 1175 BC:, one of the first recorded naval battles, during Ancient Egypt's war against the.
 * 1194-1174 BC: Supposed timespan for the events of 's ' and '.
 * About 1000 BC: people developed  and.
 * Around 600 BC: According to, sends n expedition to circumnavigate.
 * 6th century BC: is built in Egypt.
 * 542 BC: First written record of a.
 * 5th century BC: explores the coast of.
 * 480 BC:, arguably the largest naval battle in ancient times.
 * 247 BC: completed.
 * 214 BC: built.
 * 31 BC: decides the.
 * 100 AD: Large ships called sailed between China and India.
 * About 200 AD: Chuan are developed in China. Chinese people learned junk rig from  people visiting their southern coast.

Middle Ages

 * 793: The raid of, first recorded raid
 * 945: Malay people from attacked coast of  and  with 1000 boats and attempted to take the citadel of Qanbaloh.
 * 984: s used in China; See
 * About 1000: crossed the Labrador Sea to reach North America. And much of East Polynesia settled by Polynesians.
 * 1025:
 * 1088:  by, first description of a magnetic.
 * 1159: is rebuilt, and the  is founded.
 * About 1190: writes the first European description of a magnetic compass.
 * 13th century: s are introduced in the Mediterranean.
 * About 1280: Polynesian settlers arrive at, the last major landmass to be populated.
 * 1274: First.
 * 1325-1354: visits much of Africa and Asia.
 * 1398: invades, with 300  and no less than 200,000 men.
 * 1405: 's begins.

Age of Discovery

 * 1488: reaches the.
 * 1492:, first recorded non-Arctic crossing of the Atlantic
 * 1497: reaches North American mainland, as first European since the Vikings.
 * 1498
 * completes the from Europe to India.
 * Columbus reaches continental South America.
 * 1513: completes the first voyage from Europe to China.
 * 1522: 's last ship arrives in Europe, first recorded, and crossing of the
 * 1571:, last major naval battle fought entirely between galleys.
 * 1580: Francis Drake returns home from, Oregon to become the 1st circumnavigation by an Englishman.
 * 1588: The is destroyed, shifting naval superiority to England.
 * 1602: The is founded.
 * 1606: becomes the first European to reach Australia.
 * 1620: constructs the first.
 * 1628: The  sinks in harbour on its maiden voyage.
 * 1736: tests the first successful.
 * 1757: First constructed
 * 1771: completes the first circumnavigation without casualties to.
 * 1790:, the last major battle with participation of galleys.

Rise of steamboats and motorships

 * 1783: constructs the first recorded.
 * 1790: begins in Great Britain.
 * 1805: The marks the rise of the  to a century of world domination.
 * 1807: , the first commercially successful steamboat, is launched.
 * 1819:  under Capt. Moses Rogers makes first transatlantic crossing using (auxiliary) steam power.
 * 1820: discovers mainland ; the only recorded discovery of an uninhabited continent.
 * 1845:  becomes first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic.
 * 1853: American commodore arrives in, enforcing the  in 1854.
 * 1856: outlaws privateering.
 * 1859: The first, , is launched.
 * 1861:, the first purpose-built , is launched.
 * 1862: The becomes the first battle between ironclads.
 * 1864: , the first submarine powered by an.
 * 1869: The opens.
 * 1871: braves the  on the 
 * 1880: The American passenger steamship  becomes the first outside usage of 's.
 * 1893: The opens.
 * 1894: The , the world's first turbine-powered ship, is launched.
 * 1895: The opens.
 * 1903: The , the world's first ship, is launched.
 * 1906
 * conquers the on the .
 *  launched, commencing the era of s.
 * 1912: . The wreck could not be discovered until 1985.
 * 1914: The opens.
 * 1916:, claimed to be the largest naval battle in history, counting tonnage of engaged ships.
 * 1918:  becomes the first used in warfare.
 * 1937:  becomes the first American vessel to be equipped with.
 * 1941: The starts the.
 * 1942: The marks the demise of battleships and the domination of aircraft carriers.
 * 1944:, the largest amphibious invasion in history.
 * 1951: The first purpose-built s enter operation.
 * 1955: , the world's first, is launched.
 * 1957: Aircraft supplants shipping as the leading mode of passenger travel
 * 1959:
 * The  surfaces at the.
 * The, the first practical , is launched.
 * 1960: The  descends to the.
 * 1962: The ; a major naval confrontation between the United States and the.
 * 1977: Russian icebreaker  makes the first surface voyage to the North Pole.
 * 1982:, one of the largest naval campaigns since World War II.
 * 1985: The , an early, is launched.
 * 1987: The  is lost, claiming 4,375 lives, the worst peacetime maritime disaster in history.
 * 1994:
 * The becomes operational.


 * 2005: becomes an international concern.
 * 2007: becomes the first manned expedition to the North Pole seabed.
 * 2012:
 * disaster.
 * reaches the solo with the.


 * 2013: becomes the first freighter to complete the Northwest Passage.