Exploration and Colonization

Columbus sails for China

Jan 1, 1492

John Cabot was sent on a voyage by King Henry VII

Feb 2, 1497

Cabot went looking for a water route through the Americas that would lead to Asia. He failed to find the Northwestern Passage.
Eventually Europeans gave up on their search for the route.

Columbus reached South America

Jan 1, 1498

He first landed in the Bahamas and then went again on a voyage and found South America later named "America."

Juan Ponce de Leon

Mar 3, 1513

He landed on the east coast of Florida
The ship sailed down the east Florida coast and through the Florida Keys.

Giovanni da Verrazano

Jan 1, 1524

At first he landed at the North Carolina's Outer Banks.
He then went farther up the coast and then retrned to France.

Hernando de Soto

Jun 4, 1539

Hernando sailed with a military expedition from Havana, Cuba, to the west coast of Florida.
From there, de Soto's soldiers marched northward to a site near present-day Tallahassee, Florida.
They then spent the winter of 1539-1540 there.
In spring de Soto crossed Georgia and South Carolina and passed through the western tip of North Carolina.
De Soto and his men were the first to see these regions.
De soto died on the trip, but many of his men returned to Mexico.

Pedro Menendez de Aviles

Sep 3, 1565

Pedro Menendez de Aviles was sent with troops to Florida.
A storm wrecked his fleet.
He captured Fort Caroline and killed most of the French defenders.