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Marco Polo went to China to buy spices, jewls, and silk. He also went for goods such as riches. Finaly he wrote a book about exploration.
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Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450.When he invented that it allowed people to get daily news.
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Columbus led a voyage paid for by spain. He took this trip so he couldfind a back door route to China and India.He travled west and when he saw land he thaught he was in the west indies.He actully landed on the bahama island caled San Salvador. He called the natives there "indians".That's why we call them "American Indians".
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John Cabot reached Canada in 1497. He also was the first known explorer to reach North America on behalf of England.He failed to make his second trip.
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Balboa landed on the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Panama.In 1513 he led a group of Native Americans and Spaniards across the isthmus and saw the pacific ocean. He was the first to do so.
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Ponce de Leon explored for the Spanish. He had heard stories of an American spring that had great powers. Anyone who drank from it would become young again. He went in search for the fountian of youth. He never found it. He did discover Florida in 1513.
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Jacque Cartier was one of the earliest French explorers.He made several voyages to what is now Canada.Cartier and the French made a lot of money with the fur trade.He explored the St. Lawrence River.
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Henry Hudson explored for the English and the Dutch. In 1609 he discovered the Hudson River in present day New York.He thaught he found a water route to the pacific ocean. He turned back when he realized he was wrong. He tried to go back to Asia through the northwest passage [there is not one] and his fellow explorers dropped him off in mutiny.
