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Jan 1, 1000
Leif Eriksson (Sailing for Norway)
Leif Eriksson was a Viking sailor. He sailed from Scandinavia to Iceland and Greenland, though the Vikings' voyages were not well known in Europe. He is believed to be the first European to reach North America, four centuries before Columbus. -
Jan 1, 1420
Prince Henry the Navigator (Sailing for Portugal)
Prince Henry set up a center for exploration at Sagres (on the tip of Portugal), never intending to be an explorer himself. He planned and analyzed the crews voyages. He also set up a school of navigation where astronomers, geographers, and mathematicians could come and share knowledge with the Portuguese sailors, shipbuilders, and mapmakers. Prince Henry also helped find a water route to Asia and helped navigate Portugal to be the first to sail around the southern tip of Africa -
Jan 1, 1487
Bartolomeu Dias (Sailing for Portugal)
King John sent Dias to explore the southernmost part of Africa. He set sail from Lisbon with small caravels and a supply ship. After they had been sailing for a few days, their ship was carried off course by a storm. Once Dias found land again, he came across a cape. They had already sailed farther past the southernmost part of Africa when they came across this. When they returned to Portugal, King John renamed the cape from Dias' way of saying the "Cape of Storms" to the "Cape of Good Hopes". -
Aug 3, 1492
Christopher Columbus (Sailing for Spain)
Columbus set sail from Spain with one big ship, the Santa Maria, and two smaller ships, the Nina and the Pinta. After sailing for a few weeks, on October 12, 1492, came ashore to the Bahamas and reached the Americas although he didn't know it yet. He also sailed three other times for Spain in 1493, 1498, and 1502. -
May 1, 1497
John Cabot (Sailing for England)
Cabot (an Italian) was sent to find a northern sea route through Asia. He traveled in his ship the Matthew with a crew of 18. He believed this route from Northern Europe would be shorter than Columbus's route. Exactly where he landed is unknown, but he could've landed on present-day Newfoundland. He most likely went shore with a small crew and claimed the land for the King Henry VII. -
Jul 1, 1497
Vasco da Gama (Sailing for Portugal)
Vasco da Gama set sail from Portugal with four ships with the desire to head towards Africa. They sailed in a wide arc southwest of Africa and were out at sea for over 3 months. On November 22nd, da Gama was on Africa's east coast. When he stopped in Kenya, he met a pilot from India that helped guide him to India. He reached Calicut, India on May 1498. -
May 1, 1499
Amerigo Vespucci (Sailing for Spain)
Italian, Vespucci led a voyage to explore the coast of South America. He discovered that South America was a separate continent from Asia and European geographers named the continent "America" after him. -
Jan 1, 1513
Vasco Nunez de Balboa (Sailing for Spain)
In Panama, South America, was exploring the forests and mountains when he came across large body of water. He claimed it and the adjoining land. He was the first European to the Pacific Ocean from the Americas. -
Apr 1, 1513
Juan Ponce de Leon (Sailing for Spain)
In 1513, Ponce de Leon was the first Spanish soldier to reach present- day Florida. He was searching not only for gold, but also a fountain of youth that would make people “young again”. In 1656, the first Spanish settlement was created in the United States in St Augustine Florida because of his exploration. -
Feb 18, 1519
Hernan Cortes (Sailing for Spain)
In 1915, Cortes set sail from Cuba and traveled to Mexico with 11 ships, 550 soldiers and 16 horses. In the span of two years, he conquered the Aztec Empire. The Aztec gold gave both him and Spain much wealth. -
Jan 1, 1520
Ferdinand Magellan (Sailing for Spain)
Magellan and his crew reached the southernmost tip of South America in 1520 and sailed through a strait that led him to a calm ocean that Balboa had also seen. He named the ocean The Pacific Ocean because pacifico in Spanish means peaceful. Magellan died while they were sailing in the Philippine Islands. His crew kept sailing and came back to Spain in 1522. They were the first crew to circumnavigate the world. -
Jan 1, 1528
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (Sailing for Spain)
In 1528, he was a part of a Spanish expedition to Florida where they met the Native Americans. In November, they sailed south to Mexico and three of their five boats got lost in a storm. The two other boats landed on a beach in present-day Texas. Eventually in 1533, when they came back to Spain, he told people about the stories of the “Seven Cities of Cibola”. -
Nov 16, 1532
Francisco Pizarro (Sailing for Spain)
In 1927, Pizzaro led an army into Cuzco, the Inca capital. They arrested and executed their leader which caused the Inca to not be able to fight effectively. Pizzaro now conquered and controlled the Inca. -
Apr 20, 1534
Jacques Cartier (Sailing for France)
Cartier was sent by King Francis I to the New World hoping to find riches and a route to Asia. He sailed up the Saint Lawrence River and instead of leading to the Pacific River, he found a mountain peak and named it Mont-Royal in present-day Montreal. This allowed France to lay claims in what is Canada today. -
Jan 1, 1538
Hernando de Sota (Sailing for Spain)
De Sota and his crew traveled for 3 years before coming crossing the Mississippi River in 1541. He led an expedition to explore Florida and find gold that they heard stories about from de Vaca. They were often violent with the native people there. After traveling west to Oklahoma, de Sota died from fever. His men buried him in the Mississippi River. -
Jan 1, 1540
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
Corado searched for the Seven Cities of Cibola. He traveled through northern Mexico and Arizona and New Mexico until he reached a Zuni settlement in 1540. When they were convinced there was no gold, they went west to the Colorado River and east to present-day Kansas. They found no gold still. -
Jun 27, 1542
Juan Cabrillo (Sailing for Spain)
Portugese explorer Cabrillo set sail out of Navidad, Mexico and 4 days later came across an enclosed port which is now the San Diego Bay. They continued sailing along the California coast and visiting many islands such as Santa Cruz. They also recorded names and population count of the coastal villages they saw along the way. -
Samuel de Champlain (Sailing for France)
Champlain was named lieutenant on an expedition up the Saint Lawrence River. When they made it to their location they set up forts in present-day Quebec City. This helped France with future fur trading. During the next summer he fought with the Iroquois that caused for a rocky relationship later on. -
Henry Hudson (Sailed for the Netherlands)
In 1609, Hudson, an English explorer and navigator was sent by the Dutch to find a passage through the Americas. He set sail in his boat the Half Moon and discovered a river that was named after him, the Hudson River. He ended up sailing near present-day Albany, New York and ended up turning back when he realized he didn't find a passage to India. -
Henry Hudson (Sailed for the Netherlands)
England sent Hudson to out to find a route once more the next year. He discovered a huge bay that is now called the Hudson Bay. After sailing for awhile, in 1611 he thought he had reached the Pacific and took a long time trying to find an outlet. This caused his crew to become angry and rebel against him. They marooned him, his son, and several others and they were never seen again. -
Rene-Robert De La Salle (Sailing for France)
King Louis XIV sent La Salle to travel south from Canada. He became the first European to sail the full length of the Mississippi River and claimed lands along the Mississippi River and Valley.
