European Exploration and Discoveries in the New World

Leif Eriksson

1000

Viking Leif Eriksson arrives in North America and calls it Vinland. He is the first European to set foot on this land.

European Exploration and Discoveries in the New World

Period: 1000 to 1607

Bartolomeu Dias

1488

Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias becomes the first European sailor to round the southern tip of Africa, creating a sea route from Europe to Asia.

Christopher Columbus

1492

Christopher Columbus arrives in America believing he has reached the Indies. The Natives assume he is a god and he exploits them.

John Cabot

1497

John Cabot was a citizen of Venice and received a letters-patent to explore new land from Henry VII. He crossed the Atlantic and landed in North America.

Vasco da Gama

1498

Gama discovers a sea route to India that allows the Portuguese to establish a long-lasting colonial empire in Asia.

Amerigo Vespucci

1507

This Italian explorer confirmed Brazil and the West Indies did not represent Asia's eastern outskirts. In 1507 America was named after him.

Ponce de Leon

1512

Leon was a Spanish conquistador who discovered Florida. He was the first to explore this land and was in search of the fountain of youth.

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

1513

Balboa was a Spanish governor and conquistador. He is best known for becoming the first European to lead an expedition to have reached the Pacific from the New World.

Ferdinand Magellan

1519

In search of fame and riches this Portuguese explorer set out from Spain with a fleet of ships towards the Spice Islands. He became the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean.

Hernan Cortez

1519

This Spanish conquistador arrived at the Aztec Empire the same year they were expecting their god to arrive. The Natives welcomed him and he took Montezuma captive before killing many others. Hernan then left and his second commander in charge committed various acts of torture to the natives resulting in a rebellion.

Giovanni Verranzano

1524

Verranzano ventured to the new world on behalf of France in 1524, after 50 days of sailing he arrived at what is believed to be Cape Fear, North Carolina. He then went south to Florida and decided to go back north. He ended his voyage at the southern tip of Manhattan until a storm pushed him out and he settled in Newport, Rhode Island.

Jacques Cartier

1534

King Francis I authorized the navigator Jacques Cartier to lead a voyage to the new world in search of gold as well as a new route to Asia. He landed in Canada and claimed the land.

Francisco Pizarro

1535

Pizarro found the Incan civilization in 1534. It was one of the biggest empires at the time next to the Aztecs. This conquistador was one of the most ruthless, slaying tons of natives in savage ways. He held their leader hostage demanding all their gold and after they gave it to him he killed the leader anyway.

Hernando de Soto

1539

De Soto arrived in the West Indies at this time a young man but later made a fortune in the Central American Slave Trade. He arrived in Florida to gain wealth and conquer the land for Spain. He fought natives and treated them poorly. He later died and his body was sunk in a river.

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado

1540

This Spanish conquistador led a major expedition from Mexico to present day Kansas. He found know treasure but came upon national landmarks such as the Grand Canyon and clashed with local natives. He was considered a failure because he found nothing of value to the Spaniards.

Sir Frances Drake

1577

Drake was sent by Queen Elizabeth II to South America in 1577 and came home by the Pacific and became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. For this achievement the queen rewarded him with a knighthood.

Henry Hudson

1607

Hudson was hired to find a shorter route to Asia from Europe through the Arctic Ocean. Although he was turned around twice by ice and fell to mutiny by his crew he laid the foundation for Dutch by the Hudson River.