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May 17, 1450
Prince Henry the Navigator
Prince Henry was born in Portugal in 1394. He was best known for the voyages of discovery that he organized and financed. These include the rounding of Africa and the development if the sea routes to the Indies. Henrys first discovery was of the Atlantic Islands in 1420. After this Henry, persistent as ever, managed to sail around the African Cape that had for so long been a stopping point for sailers due to the trecherous reefs. -
May 18, 1500
Bartolomeu Dias
Born in 1457 in Portugal to a family of nobles. He was well educated like the rest of his family and he was a navigator and explorer. He was famHus for travelling to Cape of Good Hope and Africa's Gold Coast. He was also a member of the royal court. He then died in 1500. -
May 18, 1500
Pedro Cabral
Perdo Cabral was born wealthy in Portugal in 1467. He was a friend of Vasco da Gama and when da Gama came back from Africa the king wanted him to sail another expodition. Da Gama declined and said to send Cabral in his place. This might have been his first expodition. He was ment to go to India but went off course and landed in South America in what is common day Brazil. He laid claim on this land and became famous for it. -
May 18, 1505
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand was born on 1480 in Portugal. He was interested in Columbuses way of sailing and studied his routes. He believed that it would be faster to sail from Europe to the Far East by sailing Westward. He was trying to sail across the Pacific Ocean but none of them knew how large the ocean was. Once they got to the Phillipines Ferdinand died in a battle to help the Phillipienes. The remainder of the crew sailed on to the Spice Islands but only one ship returned to Europe from the islands. -
May 18, 1506
Christopher Columbus
Born in1451 in Spain, He was best known for his unintentional discovery of the americas w hile on a journey from Spain to find a more direct route to He was actually Italian but had to go to Spain to get the needed money and supplies for his journey. Columbus called the natives in the americas "Indians" because he believed he had arrived in India. He then died in 1506. -
May 19, 1513
Ponce de Leon
Ponce de Leon was the first Spanish explorer to land in Florida and was born in 1460 in Spain. He sailed withColumbus on his second expidition and settled on the Island of Hispanola. He found the close island of Borinquen where he also found a large deposit of gold. He settled there and became governor but was replaced by Columbus' son. After being kicked out of his post he sailed north though the Bahamas to Florida in search of new treasures and the Fountain of Youth. He landed in Florida. -
May 17, 1524
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama was a Portugal navigator that was born around 1460. At the end of the 15th century he led an expidition to open the sea routes to India. He was in charge of the expidition that got to the East African Coast to trade with the natives there. He made the trip in 23 days there with the help of an Indian guide but it took them 3 months to get back. Because of this one of the ships that made the trip had to be burned for lack of crew. Vasco however made it back alive. -
May 21, 1524
Giovanni Verrazano
Giovanni was an Italian explorer born in 1485. He is best kown for discovering the New York Harbor, Block Island, and Narragansett Bay. His goal was to explore the coast of the New Land and find a passage to the Orient. He thought that this passage might be between North and South America. His main route was to find North and Middle America. he traded with the natives and even took one of their children back with him. He was killed at age 43 by cannibalistic indians. -
May 21, 1530
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was a Spanish explorer that was part of the army of Hernan Cortes that fought against the Aztecs. He was the leading citizen of Santiago but it got destroyed by an earthquake. He was then chosen to oversee the construction of ships for the Governor of Gutemala. He was later asked to lead an expedition and found the east coast of what is now the United States. These were our first glimses of the east coast and California. -
May 20, 1532
Francisco Pizarro
Francisco Pizarro was a Spanish conquistador who traveled the Pacific Coast along Peru. He "discovered" the Incan Empirer and brutally conqured it stealing large amounts of gold, silver, and other treasures. Pizarro landed at San Mateo Bay in 1532. After crossing deserts and snow-capped mountains he found the native Incas and took their emperor captive. Pizarro took the ransom offered for the safe reurn of their emperor and then strangled him. This was the end of the Incan empirer. -
May 19, 1547
Hernan Cortes
Born in 1457, he was first Marquis of the valley of Oaxaca. He was born to family of lesser nobles. He went on an expedition in 1511 to conquer Cuba. He died in 1547. -
May 20, 1577
Sir Francis Drake
He was an English man that wanted to find the Western outlet of the Northeast Passage. He became a captain and made several voyages from England to the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean Sea. The queen chose him to lead a secret expidition to the Pacific coast of North America in 1577. He got caught in a violent storm. The remaining ships sailed through the Strait of Magellen. He got caught in another storm and had to sail around the world to get home. -
John Davis
John Davis was an English explorer born around 1550. He sailed north until he reached Greenland. He sailed around Cape Farewell and was aiming to get to China. Before he reached it however he encountered the Baffin Islands. At a later time he sailed the Strait of Magellen and found the Falkland Islands. When he got home he wrote a few books about his travels. -
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English explorer whose main goal was to find a shortcut from Europe to the Far East by the way of the Artic Ocean. He thought that the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans were seperated by a small strip of land. He traveled through the river that was later named the Hudson River that led to the Hudson Bay. He thought that this was the Pacific Ocean. He tried to find another way to the Far East and mutiny broke out in his crew. He was put into a small boat and never heard of again -
Amerigo Vespucci
