Age of Discovery

Christopher Columbus

Oct 27, 1476

Explorer and navigator Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in the Republic of Genoa, Italy. His first voyage into the Atlantic Ocean in 1476 nearly cost him his life. Columbus participated in several other expeditions to Africa. 1492, Columbus left Spain in the Santa Maria, with the Pinta and the Niña along side. He has been credited for opening up the Americas to European colonization.

Bartolomeu Dias

Jul 24, 1487

was an explorer for the Portuguese. He is best known for being the first European to round the southern tip of Africa, thereby establishing a sea trading route between Western Europe and Asia.
Very little is known about Dias’s early life. Unproven tradition holds that he descended from one of Prince Henry the Navigator’s pilots. In the early 1470s, Portugal expanded trade with Guinea and other parts of Africa’s western coast.
In 1481, voyages were ordered to ascertain the southern boundary of

John Cabot

Aug 30, 1497

xplorer and navigator John Cabot was born Giovanni Caboto in Italy around 1450. By 1495, he had moved to Bristol, England, with his family. He made a voyage in 1497 on the ship Matthew and claimed land in Canada—mistaking it for Asia—for King Henry VII of England.

Pedro Alvarez Cabrol

Sep 27, 1500

On March 9, 1500, he left Portugal with a fleet of 13 ships and 1,500 men, funded by Manuel I of Portugal, following the route of Vasco da Gama. On April 22, 1500, having steered further west than usual on the passage to the Cape of Good Hope, his fleet discovered Brazil and arrived at the point which is called "Monte Pascoal". He called the newly discovered land "Island of the True Cross" and claimed it for Portugal. On August 10, the ship commanded by Diego Dias, separated by weather, discover

Ferdinand Magellen

Aug 2, 1519

erdinand Magellan was born in Portugal, circa 1480. As a boy, he studied mapmaking and navigation. By his mid-20s, he was sailing in large fleets and was committed in combat. In 1519, with the support of King Charles V of Spain, Magellan set out to circumnavigate the globe. He assembled a fleet of ships and, despite huge setbacks, his own death included, proved that the world was round.

Hernan Cortes

Nov 29, 1519

Born in 1485, Hernán Cortés, marquis del Valle de Oaxaca, was a Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire (1519-1521) and won Mexico for the crown of Spain. Of honorable lineage, Cortes set sail with at the age of 19 and continued to led expeditions to Cuba, and later Mexico. He strategically aligned some native peoples against others to overthrow them. He died in Spain in 1547

Giovanni da Verrazzano

Nov 24, 1524

Giovanni da Verrazano was born around 1485 near Val di Greve, 30 miles south of Florence, Italy. Around 1506 or 1507, he began pursuing a maritime career, and in the 1520s, he was sent by King Francis I of France to explore the East Coast of North America for a route to the Pacific. He made landfall near what would be Cape Fear, North Carolina, in early March and headed north to explore. Verrazano eventually discovered New York Harbor

Sir Francis Drake

Jun 27, 1577

Francis Drake was chosen by Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1577 to command a voyage around the world. Drake was already a successful privateer (or sea pirate), and his voyage was designed to disrupt the command of the Pacific Ocean and the Americas enjoyed by England's rival Spain. Drake's command ship the Golden Hind (at first named Pelican) circumnavigated the globe, looting Spanish ships in the New World along the way. He made a landing in 1579 somewhere on the Pacific coast of North America

Willem barentsz

Dec 2, 1596

Willem Barents was born in Seventeen Provinces on January 1st 1550. He worked as a navigator. He lived in Friesland. He died in May 1597 at the age of 47 years and 4 months old.

Henry Hudson

Nov 29, 1609

Believed to be born in the late 16th century, English explorer Henry Hudson made two unsuccessful sailing voyages in search of an ice-free passage to Asia. In 1609, he embarked on a third voyage funded by the Dutch East India Company that took him to the New World and the river that would be given his name. On his fourth voyage, he came upon the body of water that would be called the Hudson Bay.