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Leif Erickson sailed to Norway to convert King Olaf to Christianity
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Prince Henry the navigator sailed the coast of Africa all the way to Asia and also funded schools and programs for sailors.
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Vasco Nunez de Balboa helped establish the first settlement in the South American continent. He also sighted the Pacific Ocean in a search for gold.
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Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to make a sea route to the tip of Africa.
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Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca sailed with a slave named Estevanico while looking for the 7 cities of gold.
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Christopher Columbus tried to find a new trade route to India but ended up finding the Americas.
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Vasco da Gama also tried to find a sea route to India going around Africa.
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John Cabot was an Italian sailor that sailed for the English looking for a passage to the Pacific ocean along the coast of Newfoundland and Canada.
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Amerigo Vaspucci said to the new world a number of ties to bring goods back and forth.
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Francisco Vasquez de Coronado also explored the North American southwest looking for the 7 cities of gold but ended up discovering the Grand Canyon in present day Arizona.
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Juan Ponce de Leon was a Spanish conquistador that explored Florida looking for the fountain of youth.
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Hernándo Cortés was a Spanish conquistador that explored Mexico and conqured the Aztecs.
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Ferdinand Magellan sail for a western sea route for the Indonesian spice islands.
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Francisco Pizarro was a Spanish conquistador who explored the Andes Mountains of South America and also conquered the Inca empire.
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Jacques Cartier sailed the Saint Lawrence river all the way to Montreal claiming it for France.
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Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was an explorer who explored the west coast of North America.
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Samuel de Champlain sailed for France sailed to present-day Maine and founded Quebec.
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Henry Hudson sailed a Dutch exploration to present-day New York
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Rene-Robert De La Salle sails for France claiming the Mississippi river in North America.
