Explorers

Lief Ericsson

Jan 1, 1000

Lief Ericson was born around 980 in Iceland. He was a viking and the first European to sail to North America. He is the son of the explorer Eric the Red. In the year 1000 he sailed north from southern Greenland and along Baffin Island, down to Lavrador and landed in Newfoundland with a crew of 35.

Henry the Navigator

Jan 1, 1418

Prince Henry was born in 1394. Henry attended navigation school beginning in 1418. Sometimes he would sail with his father.

Christopher Columbus first voyage

Aug 1, 1492

Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Italy. His first voyage included three ships. They landed on the Caribbean islands. Columbus belived he had reached Asia and called it the Indies.

Christopher Columbus second voyage

Sep 1, 1493

On his second voyage he sailed using 17 ships. He wanted to find gold and capture Indians as slaves. He created a base in Hispaniola and sailed around it and southern Cuba. Columbus also spotted and named the island of Dominica.

Vasco Da Gama

Jan 1, 1497

Vasco Da Gama was born in 1460 in Portugal. His father was an explorer. Vasco sailed from Lisbon, Portugal, in 1497, East. He reached Africa's Cape of Good Hope and then continued to India. Da Gama was sent to India two other times and died on his last voyage to India.

John Cabot first voyage

Jan 1, 1497

John Cabot was born in Italy around 1450. He was an English explorer and navigator. In 1497 he sailed to Canada and landed near Labrador. His son Sebastian accompanied him on this voyage. He claimed this land for England. Cabot was to search for a passage across North America bur was unsuccessful.

Christopher Columbus third voyage

Jan 1, 1498

On his third trip he sailed south to Trinidad and Venezuela.

John Cabot Second Voyage

Jan 1, 1498

On his second trip in 1498 Cabot may have reached America. His expeditions were Britian's first to claim Canada.

Amerigo Vespucci

Jan 1, 1499

Vespucci was born in 1454. He was the first to discover that America was seperate form Asia. America was later named for Vespucci. In 1499 he sailed from Spain. He discovered the mouth of the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers, thinking it was Asia. On his next voyage he realized the Americas were a new world.

Christopher Columbus fourth voyage

Jan 1, 1502

On his last voyage he sailed to Mexico, Honduras, Panama, and Santiago.

Vasco Nunez De Balboa

Jan 1, 1513

Balboa was born around 1475. He was a Spanish conquistador. In 1510 Balboa stowed away on a boat. When they arrived at their destination and realized it was burned down he convinced the crew to follow them. Balboa founded a colony which was the first European settlement in South America. He found the Pacific Ocean.

Hernan Cortes

Jan 1, 1519

Hernan Cortes was born in 1485. He was a Spanish adventurer and conquistador who claimed Mexico for Spain. Cortes took 11 ships from Cuba to the Yucatan Peninsula. He killed the Aztec emperor and conquered the empire. Treasures were brought to Spain and Cortes was a hero who governed New Spain.

Ferdinand Magellan

Sep 8, 1519

Ferdinand was born in 1480. In his early career he sailed to India and Spain. Magellan sailed from Seville, Spain around the Earth. 18 of his crew members made it back to Spain but Magellan was killed in a battle towards the end of the trip.

Giovanni Da Verrazzano

Jan 17, 1524

Verrazzano was born in 1485. He was an Italian navigator. In 1524 he landed at Cape Fear. He siled south and then later returned north to New York. He then sailed up to Maine and then to New Foundland, Canada, and then back to Europe. He thought that North America was an isthmus seperating the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Estevanico

Jan 1, 1528

Estvanico was born around the year 1500 and was a Muslim slave from nothern Africa. In 1528 he was brought on an expedition to Tampa Bay, Florida. He later ended up at Galveston Island. He was one of the first non-natices to travel in the southwestern North America. He also reached Mexico City and traveled again later in his life.

Francisco Pizarro

Jan 1, 1532

Francisco Pizarro was born in 1478. He was a Spanish conquistador. He traveled along the coast of Peru. In 1532 Pizarro land at the San Mateo Bay. He captured the last emperor of the Incas. Pizarro was later killed in Lima, Peru.

Henry Hudson

Jan 1, 1607

Henry Hudson was born in 1565. He was and English explorer and navigator. He was hired to find a waterwat from Europe to Asia. He made two trips but he didn't find a route. Hudson discovered Jan Mayen Island. He was later hired to find a passage farther south. He found what is now the Hudson River.

Peter Minuit

Jan 1, 1638

Peter Minuit was born in 1580. He was the first director general of New Amsterdam. He bought the island of Manhattan. He was the gead of a Swedish group that had founded New Sweden.