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Henry was the son of the King of Portugal. Europe was running out of material to make coins with, so Henry headed to Africa, because he heard there was an abundance of gold. He was also looking for a new route to the far East. Henry also put together a group of the best mathematicians, chart makers, astronomers, and captains. They taught new people what they knew, and they improved navigational instruments and created more detailed astronomical tables. He made faster ship that explored Africa
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Bartolomeu was a Portuguese explorer, who led the first voyage with enough supplies for an extended time at sea. He explored the west coast of Africa, but encountered a storm that blew him far south. Unknowingly, he was on the east coast, but his exploration led to the discovery that Europeans could sail around Africa to reach eastern Asia.
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Columbus, like most educated people of his time thought the world was round not flat. He spent 8 years to convince rulers from different nations to finance an expedition. In 1492 Queen Isabella agreed to support his plan. He set sail from Spain with three small ships. The crew wanted to turn around and Columbus agreed that if land was not found in three days they would turn around. At night on the second day they spotted land by the morning they reached and outer island of the Bahamas.
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The Spanish monrchs were worried that Porttugal would try to take the riches that Columbus had discovered so they asked the Pope for help. The pope drew a imaginary line from the North Pole to the South Pole. The Portuguese didnt like how the land was divided they protested and in 1494 the Treaty of Tordesilla was made. The line was moved 500 miles farther west. That is how Portugel was able to claim Brazil.
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Amergio explored the Atlantic coast of South America. He was one of the first to believe that he found a new world. There is also a story that the Americas got their name from a map maker thinking that Amergio found the new world, and named them after him on his maps.
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English merchants got their king to send Cabot, an Italian, to explore the Far East by a North West route. He only took a few men, and explored the coast of Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia. He made claims for England in Americas.
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In 1497 Vasco de Gama led a convoy of four ships down the Taggus River from LIsbon Portugal. He had orders from the king to proclaim the Christian faith and to wrest kingdoms and new states from the hands of the barbarians. They stopped at the island of Mozambique and where forced to leave from the mulims because they were Chrstian. When he arrived in Calicut there was an attempt to kill him because the Arab and Persian merchants thought he would try to stop trade between Africa and India.
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He was a Portuguese explorer that discovered Brazil, which he claimed for Portugual. He also sailed east to India.
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The first Euopean to sail the Great South Sea, and the first European to see the east shore of the Pacific Ocean.
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Ponce de Leon was a French explorer who discovered Florida accidentally. when looking for an island north of Puerto Rico that held great riches.
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Hernan invaded Mexico, and he destroyed the Aztec empire. The Spainish had superior weapons, like swords and guns, and the aztecs used only clubs. Also, the aztec got diseases from the Europeans, like small pox, which helped Cortez kill Montezuma, the aztec king. He then looted the empire, and sent large amounts of gold back to Spain.
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Magellan set sail in 1519 for Spain, though he was Portuguese. He controlled 5 ships and a crew of 256. He offered to find Spain a western route to the Indies. He sailed through a strait in south Africa, and into the Pacific Ocean. Magellan had lost two of his ships, and he and his crew were living in terrible conditions. He rested and restocked at the Mariana islands. He then sailed to the Phillppine islands, where he was killed in a local war. Only one ship and 18 crew members survived.
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Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spainish explorer who explored Florida and the Gulf region from Texas to Mexico.
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The French hired Giovanni, an Italian navigator, to find a north west passage. He sailed the coast of North Carolina to New York.
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In 1532 Francisco invaded Peru. He conquered the Inca empire within five years. He took took great tresures of gold and silver from the Native Americans. Then he went to the coast with his men and built Lima or the City of Kings.
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Cartier was a French navigator, who sailed up the Lawrence River.
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Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo explored Pacific coast to Drake's Bay near San Francisco.
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Sir Francis Drake was famous for is overseas voyages and his capture of Spanish merchant ships. He was also the first European to sail around the world.
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John Davis explored the west coast of Greenland in search of a northwest passage to Asia.
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The Dutch sent Henry Hudson an English navigator to locate a passage. He sailed into into what is today Albany, New York. In 1610 he set out an another voyage and became lost in a storm and was never seen again.
