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Leif Erikson sailed to Greenland to investigate reports of a land farther west. They explored the region and spent the winter in a place they named Vinland.
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Christopher Columbus sailed west with 90 men and 3 ships named Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria. They averaged around 170 miles per day.
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In 1492 after his first voyage to what he thought was Asia, he returned to Spain. He reported that there were huge amounts of gold in the land he referred to as the West Indies. the grateful monarchs made him governor of all the land he claimed for Spain.
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In 1493, Columbus sailed west to the West Indies for the second time. This time he had seventeen ships and fifteen hundred soldiers, settlers, and priests.
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During this year, Columbus took a third voyage to continue his search for the Asia mainland. He reached the northern coast of South America and believed it was the Asia mainland.
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In 1502, Spain permitted him to try and prove his claims that he had reached Asia. He returned two years later with his beliefs unchanged. He later died in 1506, still convinced he had reached Asia.
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Balboa, a spanish colonist, explored the Carribean coast of what is now Panama. He was also the first European to set eyes on the Pacific Ocean.
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In 1513, de Leon sailed north from Peurto Rico to investigate reports of a large island. He found beautiful flowers there, so he named the place La Florida. He became the first Spaniard to set foot in what is now the United States.
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In 1517, Spain brought about 4,000 Africans to the Caribbean islands and forced them to work there. By the middle of the 1500's the Spaniards were shipping about 2,000 enslaved Agricans each year to Hispaniola alone.
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Ferdinand Magellan set out to find an Atlantic - Pacific passage. For more than a year, his small fleet moved slowly down the South American Coast looking for a strait. Finally, he spotted one near the southern tip of present day Argentina. This strait is now known as the Strait of Magellan.
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In 1519, Hernando Cortes sailed from Cuba to Mexico. On his ships were more then 500 soldiers. The first Native Americans they met presented them with riches and gold. On November 8th, they marched into the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan, as they moved closer the Native Americans joined them. Cortes took the Aztec leader hostage and claimed all of Mexico for Spain.
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Magellan finally reached the Phillipine Islands. There, he and several others were killed in a battle with the Filipinos. The survivors fled in two of the ships. One ship finally reached Spain, in Saptember 1522. Three years after they had begun, the eighteen men aboard bacame the first to circumnavigatethe entire Earth.
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Verrazano, an Italian explorer searched for a passage for King Francis I of France. He explored the Atlantic coatsal region from North Carolina to Newfoundland. In doing so he discovered the mouth of the Hudson River and New York Bay.
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By 1530, the rulers of Sweden, Denmark, and several European states had split with the Roman Catholic Church and set up Protestant churches in their countries.
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Pizarro landed on the coast of Peru to search for the Inca's, who were said to have much gold. He led about 170 soldiers through the jungle into the heart of the Inca Empire. He then took the Inca rular prisoner. Although the Inca people paid a huge ransom to free their ruler, Pizarro executed him anyway. The Spanish then defeated the leaderless Inca's and captured their capital city of Cuzco.
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In 1603, Champlain made the first of 11 voyages to explore and map the lands along the St. Lawrence River. In 1608, he established a settlement on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, which he named Quebec.
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In 1607, a group of wealthy people made a new attempt to establish an English colony in North America. The first colonists arrived in Virginia in the spring of 1607.
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In the fall of 1608, john Smith was sent out from London to lead the colony. He lost no time taking command. He drew up many new rules for the colony.
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After two failed attempts in search of a northwest passage, the Dutch grew interested in Henry Hudson's activities so they financed a third voyage for him. He reached what is now New York and explored up the river that today bears his name.
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farmers in Jamestown and nearby settlements in Virginia, began planting tobacco in 1612. By the early 1620's Virginia farmers were selling tobacco.
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In 1619, Virginia's lawmaking body, The House of Burgesses, was elected and met for the first time. They could pass laws and taxes, however it shared power with Virginia's appointed governor.
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in 1620, one group of Sepratists decided to leave Holland and settle in Virginia. They are the people we know today as Pilgrims. About 100 Pilgrims sailed for Virginia aboard a ship called the Mayflower.After a long voyage they arrived in North America safely.
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In the Spring of 1621, conditions began to improve. As had happened at Jamestown, help from local Native Americans sustained the Pilgrims. A local chief gave the Pilgrims some food. Squanto brought the Pilgrims seeds of native plants--corn, beans, and pumpkins-- and showed them how to plant them. He also taught the settlers how to catch eels from nearby rivers.
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In 1630, about 900 Puritans set off in 11 ships. They had formed the Massachusetts Bay Company, which recieved a charter to establish settlements in what are now Massachusetts and new Hampshire.
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In 1638, Anne was expelled from Massachusetts because she questioned some of the Puritan teachings. She established a settlement on an island that is now a part of Rhode Island.
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in 1664, England's King Charles II granted the right to all Dutch lands in North America to his brother James. All that James had to do was conquer the territory. James sent a few war ships to do the job, and the Dutch surrendered immediately.
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In 1670, Marquette had founded two missions along the Great Lakes, in present day Michigan. Meanwhile, French traders explored the Great Lakes area looking for new sources of furs.
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In 1673, father Marquette and Joliet, a Frech Canadian trader, paddled their canoes along the shores of Lake Michigan to what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin. They made their way until they reached the Mississippi River. They followed it downstream for a month thinking that it might be the long-sought northwest passage. Convinced the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of Mexico and not into the Pacific Ocean, they returned home.
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In 1675, he organized a force og 1,000 westerners and began attacking and killing Native Americans. The governor declared that Bacon and his men were rebels. They reacted by attacking Jamestown, burning it to the ground and forcing the governor to run away. The revolt, known as Bacon's Rebellion, collapsed when Bacon became sick and died.
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In 1682, Penn arrived in his colony. Later that year, Penn wrote his Frame of Govermnent for Pennsylvania. It granted the colony an elected assembly. It also provided for freedom of religion.
