Age of exploration

  • 1500

    The first Portugal trading post

    After Vasco da Gama voyage over to India, Portugal decided to send Pedro Alvarez Cabral to secure a trading post in Calicut, but a conflict broke out between the Muslims and Cabral's men. So he moved to Cochin and established the trading post there.
  • 1513

    Florida

    Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish explorer, heard rumors of a fountain of youth on an island named Bimini. So he went on an expedition to look for it and he thought he found it when he reached land. Later he realized that where he landed was the coast of the Americas. He named the area Florida because of its abundance of florid vegetation and because it was Easter.
  • 1513

    Nunez de Balboa

    Spanish conquistador and explorer who was the first European to see the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Isthmus of Panama overland.
  • 1520

    The Pacific

    Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer, believed that there was an easier route to Asia in the west. During his long journey, he came across a strait leading westward and decided to take it. After he finally got past the strait he found himself in an open ocean which he named the Pacific since it seemed so calm.
  • 1521

    The Aztec Empire falls

    Hernan Cortez, a Spanish conquistador, defied orders and went on an expedition to Mexico to conquer the Aztec Empire. He fails at first, but then defeats the Aztec in the Battle of Otumba on July 7, 1520 and finally regains control of Tenochtitlan on August 13, 1521.
  • 1522

    Francisco Pizarro

    Spanish conquistador who traveled through much of the Pacific coast of America along Peru. Conquered Incan Empire, stealing massive amounts of gold, silver, and other treasures. Explored South America.
  • 1524

    Giovanni de Verrazano

    Verrazano, an Italian explorer, charted the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and Newfoundland. His discoveries of details unknown to European mapmakers helped shape the construction of maps. The Verrazano-Narrows bridge connects Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York and was once known as the longest suspension bridge in the world.
  • 1534

    Jacques cartier

    Jacques Cartier, a French mariner, went on an exploration in search to find a northwest passage to Asia and to collect resources such as gold and spices. His explorations of the Canadian coast and St. Lawrence River laid the foundation for the French to claim North America or New France. Cartier was also credited for named 'Canada'
  • 1539

    Hernando de Soto

    A spanish explorer who sailed the Atlantic Ocean and was the first European to explore Florida and the southeastern US
  • 1542

    Joao Rodriguez Cabrillo

    Joao Cabrillo, a Spanish soldier and explorer, discovered California. I have claimed the shores of North America for the Spanish.
  • 1550

    Mexico

    Spanish explorers conquered northern Mexico while Francisco Pizzaro conquered South America. He transferred power to the Spanish making them rulers.
  • 1570

    Indians dying from diseases

    European settlers carried diseases that natives were not immune to. They killed over twenty million natives, wiping out the whole nation.
  • Sir francis drake

    Sir Francis Drake, an English admiral, was known as the most renowned seaman of the Elizabethan Age. He raided Spain's harbor at Cadiz in 1587 and disrupted the Spanish Armada in the English Channel with fire ships. Drake made voyages to the west Indies as a slave trader and later served Queen Elizabeth I as a privateer and naval officer.
  • east india company

    The East India Company, established in 1600 to 1873, acted as a trading body for English merchants with the East, Southeast Asia, and India.
  • The Dutch East India Company

    The Dutch East India Company, established in 1602 to 1799, was founded to protect state's trade in the Indian Ocean and to aid the Dutch in their independence war from Spain.
  • finding new guinew

    Pedro Fernandez de Quiros and Luis de Torres, Portuguese explorers, set out on an expedition with the goal of finding the great southern continent. Explorer Quiros founded Espíritu Santo (Vanuatu) and from their explorer Torres sailed to Manila mapping out the coast of New Guinea.
  • Quebec

    Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer, led an another expedition up the St. Lawrence river and constructed a fort in what is now Quebec city on June 1608. Which becomes the center of the French fur trade.
  • henry hudson

    Henry Hudson, English navigator and explorer, set to find a northeast passage near the "North Pole to Japan and China". In 1609, he went on a third voyage helped by the Dutch East India Company while traveling on the soon to be Hudson River and on his fourth voyage, he found the Hudson Bay.
  • Samuel de Champlain

    French explorer and navigator who mapped much of northeastern North America and started a settlement in Quebec. DIscovered Lake Champlain in 1609. Important in establishing and administering the French colonies in the New World.
  • the start of the U.S

    In 1620, Pilgrims escaped England, sailed to Plymouth, and started their own town, now known as the 13 colonies or America.