European Exploration

Lief Eriksson

Dec 6, 1000

A Viking named Lief Eriksson set sail from Greenland, and headed west. He landed in Vinland which is know Canada.

Marco Polo

Dec 18, 1271

Marco Polo left his home in Venice, Italy, to go to Asia with his father and uncle.Marco Polo was 17 years old when he walked to Cathay. When Marco Polo got to Cathay they brought back spices, gold, and silk. Marco Polo wrote a book about his journey to Cathay that inspired the Europeans to travel to Cathay.

Ottoman Turks

Dec 24, 1453

The Ottoman Turks, a person from a huge land called the Ottoman Empire, captured the city or Constantinople and took control of the Middle East. This closed the trade routes of Europe and Asia. There would be no more spices, gold, or silk unless another way was found to get them.

Bartholomeu Dias

Dec 30, 1488

Dias was the first to set sailed all the way around the southern tip of Africa, today it is called the Cape of Good Hope. Fierce storms battered the ship, and the sailors got hungry and sick. Dias wanted to sail on, but his sailors made him turn back to Portugal.

Martin Behaim

Dec 6, 1492

The Tainos greeted Cristopher Colombus to a group of people in Germany paid Martin Behaim 75 dollors to make a new kind of map. The map was shaped like a ball, and was the first map to be made in Europe. Martin Behaim made it from pieces or leather stitched together, and called it his "Earth Apple."

Vasco Degama

Dec 12, 1498

Vasco Degama found the first water route t Asia. He was the first to get all the riches.

Martin Waldseemuller

Dec 18, 1507

America appeared on the map for the first time.

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

Sep 25, 1513

Balboa found the Pasific Ocean and claimed it for Spain.

Ferdinand Magellan 1519 to 1522

Sep 30, 1519

Magellan named the Pasific Ocean and was the first to travel all around the world!

Hernando Cortes

Mar 6, 1521

Cortes had conquered the Aztecs.

Francisco Pizarro

Dec 12, 1531

The Spanish conquered the Inca Empireand made slaves or its people.