Exploration of the Pacific  From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The Pacific showing the
voyages of Captain Cook  Polynesians reached nearly all the
Pacific islands by about 1200 AD, followed by Asian navigation
in Southeast Asia and West Pacific. Around the Middle Ages
Muslim traders linked the Middle East and East Africa to the
Asian Pacific coasts (to southern China and much of the Malay
Archipelago). The direct contact of European fleets with the
Pacific began in 1512, with the Portuguese, on its western
edges, followed by the Spanish discovery of the Pacific from the
American coast.  In 1521 a Spanish expedition led by Ferdinand
Magellan was the first known crossing of the Pacific Ocean.
Starting in 1565 with the voyage of Andres de Urdaneta and for
the next 250 years, the Spanish controlled the transpacific
trade with the Manila galleons that crossed from Mexico to the
Philippines and viceversa, until 1815. Other expeditions from
Mexico and Peru discovered various archipelag