-
Prince Henry started the first school for sailors and ocean navigation. At the school people learned to make maps and navigate the ocean so that they could sail down the west of Africa.
-
European traders made trades with traders from Asia for many years. The Europeans wanted gold, jewels, silk, perfumes, and most importantly spices.
-
Bartholomeu Dias became the first European mariner to travel the tip of Africa, opening the sea route from Europe to Asia.
-
Christopher Columbus was an explorer who made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain. He stumbled across America, and was credited for discovering America although millions of people already lived there. His journeys created the beginning of trans-Atlantic conquest and colonization.
-
John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer who made a British claim to land in Canada, mistaking it for Asia during his voyage on the ship Matthew.
-
Amerigo Vespucci was the first explorer to reach continental land in the Americas when he discovered the Amazon River and sites of Rio. He also explored the coast of Brazil and the coast of modern Guyana.
-
Vasco Nunez de Balboa was an explorer who led the first expedition to the Pacific Ocean.
-
Juan Ponce De Leon was a Spanish soldier and explorer who discovered Florida. He also discovered the Gulf Stream which is a current in the Atlantic Ocean.
-
Francisco Pizarro was a Spanish conquistador who discovered the Incan empire and conquered it. He also took part in the voyage that discovered the Pacific Ocean.
-
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who led the first voyage of discovery to circumnavigate the globe.
-
Hernandez Cortes was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who set sail for Mexico to defeat the Aztec empire and and claim Mexico for Spain.
-
Jacques Cartier was a French explorer who is known for exploring the St. Lawrence River and giving Canada its name.
-
Francisco Coronado was a Spanish explorer who discovered the Grand Canyon and other physical landmarks of what is now the southwestern United States.
-
Hernando de Soto was a a Spanish explorer who discovered the Mississippi River and took part in the conquests of Peru and Central America.
-
Sir Francis Drake was an English sea captain who participated in some of the earliest English slaving voyages to Africa and was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe.
-
Sir Walter Raleigh was an Englishman who established a colony near Roanoke Island, in what is today North Carolina.
-
Jacques Marquette is a French explorer who known for being the first European to see and map the northern part of the Mississippi River.
-
Louis Jolliet was a Canadian explorer who explored the Mississippi River on the voyage with Jacques Marquette.
-
René-Robert de La Salle was an explorer who is best known for leading an expedition down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. He claimed the region and its rivers for France, and named it Louisiana after King Louis.
