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970
Leif Erickson
Leif Erickson was a Norse explorer from Iceland. He is thought to have been the first known European to have set foot on continental North America (excluding Greenland), approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus. -
1487
Bartolomeu Dias
King John had sent Dias to explore the southernmost part of Africa. They sailed for days , they saw a piece of land , it was named "Cape of Storms". King John renamed it to the "Cape of Good Hope". -
1492
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Coukumbus , led 90 sailors in three ships. The Pinta made a signal they saw land. Columbus left his ship and went ashore. He believe he was in the Indies , but he was in North America -
1497
Vasco da Gama
They had 4 ships , they sailed in a wide arc south and west of Africa. They were looking for ocean currents that will help them travel safely to "Cape of Good Hope". They ended up finding a sea route to Asia ! -
1497
John Cabot
John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII. -
1499
Amerigo Vespucci
Amerigo Vespucci led a voyage funed my Spain. He realised South America was not a part of Asia. -
1499
Amerigo Vespucci
Sailed for spain around the coast of South America. He took such good notes about the cost that mapmakers were convinced this was not Asia. -
1500
Pedro Alavres sailed for Portugal
Oh his way around Africa he went to wide and ended up in Brazil, South America. -
1513
Juan Ponce de Leon - Sailed for Spain
He went looking for the Fountain of Youth in modern day Florida. -
Period: 1513 to 1513
Vasco Nunez de Balboa sailed for Spain
He travels trough central America and is the 1st European to see the Pacific Ocean. -
1519
Hernando Cortes - Sailed for Spain
Wein into Central America (modern day Mexico) and conquered the Aztec. -
1520
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was sailing for Spain , they reached the southernmost tip of South America. He sailed through stormy days of a narrow sea passage . They were the first people to sail around the world. -
1520
Ferdinand Magellan sailed for Spain
He circumnavigated the globe. It took under 3 years to do. -
1524
Giovanni de Varrazano
Florentine explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France. -
Period: 1528 to 1538
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
There ship crashed and they were caught and they were slaves for the Northern Americans. -
1532
Fransico Pizzaro - Sailed for Spain
He went to South America and conquered the Inca Empire. -
1534
Jacques Cartier
French-Breton explorer who claimed what is now Canada for France. -
1539
Hernando de Soto
He explored Florida and North Carolina . He was the first European to see the mississippi river and crossed it. -
Period: 1540 to 1542
Fransisco Vasquez de Coronado
He found a crack so big you can see it from outer space. It is called the grand canyon. -
1542
Juan Cabrillo Sailed for Spain
He explores up from Mexico and goes into modern day California. -
1565
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English navigator and explorer who set out to find either a northeast passage “by the North Pole to Japan and China” or a similar northwest passage. -
Robert Cavelier de La Salle
He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico. -
Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette
He founded missions in present-day Michigan and later joined explorer Louis Joliet on an expedition to discover and map the Mississippi River.
