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Bartolomeu Dias reaches the Cape of Good Hope and successfully returns, becoming the first explorer to reach South Africa and discover a sea route between the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. -
In October 1492, Columbus reached The Americas under the impression he had reached Asia, and also "discovered" multiple Caribbean Islands and future South American countries. -
Spain and Portugal created a treaty to avoid overstepping and claiming one another's territories, by splitting through the Atlantic Ocean, allowing Portugal to continue trade and Spain to claim nearly all the land in the territories. -
John Cabot explored the coastline of the Americas on behalf of England in 1497.
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Landing in South America in 1500, the Portuguese captain claimed the territory that would later become Brazil.
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Ponce, in search of a fountain of youth on an island named Bimini, set out and landed on the coast of the Americas, believing he had found the island. He later discovered he was wrong, and named the area Florida due to its abundance of flora and vegetation. -
Cortes, fails in his initial attempt to claim the Aztec empire, being pushed out by restless locals, but promptly gains victory when multiple soldiers and citizens fall to smallpox, which the Aztecs had no cure for. Cortes gains control of Tenochtitlan on August 13, 1513.
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Hernan Cortes in 1519 lands in Veracruz with 550 soldier and 16 horses, marching to Tenochtitlan, showing off comparably advanced weaponry of firearms and cannons, later used to defeat the Aztecs in a hostile takeover for gold. -
Magellan is acclaimed as being the first person to completely sail around the world, beginning his expedition in September of 1519, and being killed in late 1520 or early 1521 after reaching the Philippines. -
Verrazano charts the Atlantic coast of North America, in between the Carolinas and Newfoundland. His charting contained details unknown to mapmakers at the time, allow for more precise maps.
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In 1531, Pizarro, much like Cortes, lands on the Pacific Coast of South America with a group of ~180 men, carrying weaponry. These weapons, alongside smallpox brought by the Spanish, decimated the Inca eventually leading to Pizarro claim the land for the Spanish Empire. -
Cartier explored in an attempt to find a Northwest Passage to Asia, in order to collect resources like gold and spices. He Explored the Canadian coastline and the St. Lawrence River, allowing the French to claim the territory of New France. -
Cabrillo, a Spanish explorer, discovered California in 1542. He claimed the shoreline for the Spanish.
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Sir Francis Drake was a renowned English seaman, who raided Spain's harbor in 1587 alongside disrupting the Spanish Armada in the English Channel. He traveled to the West Indies as a slave trader, later serving Queen Elizabeth I as a naval officer. -
The East India Company, founded in 1600, and disbarring in 1873, was a trading body for English merchants traveling to regions of Asia and India/ -
The Dutch East India Company, founded in 1602 and lasting until 1799, was a company who's purpose was to protect trade in the Indian Ocean, and aid the Dutch in their fight for independence. -
Pedro Fernandez de Quiros and Luis de Torres set out on behalf of Portugal to find the southern continent. Quiros founded Espiritu Santo, while Torres sailed to Manila, mapping out the coast of New Guinea.
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Champlain leads an expedition up the St. Lawrence river, and sets up a fort in modern day Quebec City in June 1608, becoming the center of the French Fur Trade. -
Hudson sets out to find a northeast passage nearing the North Pole, leading to Japan and China. He set out on a 3rd voyage led by the Dutch East India Company, and later a 4th, finding the Hudson Bay. -
Pilgrims escape England to avoid religious persecution, sailing to Plymouth and started the basis for the 13 colonies, and what would later become The United States.