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First to launch exploratory expeditions (Portugal) -
Searching for the East Indies, he embarked on a voyage.(Spain) -
Christopher Columbus discovered the Caribbean. (Spain) -
First to sail from Europe to India by rounding Africa's Cape of Good Hope. (Portugal) -
British sought a Western route to Asia for trade. (Silk Road) -
John Cabot found present-day Canada and New England. Eventually established colonies in eastern North America -
Portuguese nobleman and military commander Pedro Álvares Cabral explores Brazil and claims it for Portugal. -
Juan Ponce de Leon: explored and claimed Puerto Rico and “La Florida” for Spain. (Spain) -
Díaz de Solís becomes the first European to land in Uruguay, but most of his expedition is killed and perhaps eaten by local people. -
Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés defeats the Aztecs and conquers Mexico. -
France joined the race. Would explore North America at great length (Ohio, Mississippi River, Rocky Mountains, etc.) -
French explorer Jacques Cartier explores and maps the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. -
French Franciscan friar Fray Marcos de Niza sent by the Spanish governor of Mexico (New Spain), explores Arizona and New Mexico searching for the Seven Cities of Gold and foments rumor-mongering in Mexico City that he has seen the cities when he returns. -
Three-legged economic model and trade route that was predicated on the transatlantic trade of enslaved people. -
In 1607, 104 English men and boys arrived in North America to start a settlement. On May 13 they picked Jamestown, Virginia for their settlement, which was named after their King, James I. The settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America. -
Virginia is the first of the 13 colonies to be established.