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Jan 1, 1450
Prince Henry The Navigator
Portugal
He was the son of the king of Portugal. Europe's supply of bullion which was gold and silver was running out and Henry hoped they would find a new route to the far east. He also set up the first European school for navigators in Sagres. -
Jan 1, 1473
Bartolomeu Dias
Portugal
In 1487 Bartolomeu readied ships for a voyage to several points on Africa's west coast. After a huge storm he reached Africa's east coast without knowing his ships were blown around. He also named the southern tip of Africa the Cape of Storms. -
Aug 1, 1492
Christopher Columbus
Geoa, Italy
He thoguht that the world was not flat, but round. He tried for 8 years to convince the monarchs, but they all turned him down. He set sail from spain with 3 ships Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria and crew with 90 people. They threatend Mutiny or an overthrow of officers. His shipped crashed sadly and had to ride Nina to get back to spain. -
Jan 1, 1494
The Treaty of Tordesillas
The pope drew a papal line of demarcation or an imaginary line from the North to South pole. Portugal protested for how the land was divided. The Treaty of Tordesillas moved the line about 500 miles farther west. Portugal was then able to claim Brazil. Other countries paid no attention to the Pope's rulings and explored and claimed land where they wished. -
Jan 1, 1497
Amerigo Vespucci
Florence, Italy
He was one of the early explorers of the New World, and also because the continents of North and South America were named in his honor. He was there when Christopher Columbus returned from his first journey to the New World. As a trader, he was very interested in finding a quicker way to sail to Asia. He went on at least two, and possibly four, voyages to Central South America, Spain, and Portugal. -
Jun 23, 1497
Vasco da Gama
Portugal
He was a Portuguese noble that led a convoy or group of four ships down the Tagus River from Lisbon. Fours months later they past around the Cape of Good Hope and many members were sick. On may 1498 da Gama's ships landed at Calicut and they alarmed Arab and Persian merchants. They thought he was going to take over, but really he was there to get spices. -
Jun 24, 1497
John Cabot
Genoa,Italy
He was a great Italian navigator and explorer.Like Columbus and others of his time, Cabot believed that Asia could be reached by sailing westward. Up until then, the only known way to get to Asia was by going east. Some wealthy Englishmen liked his ideas and paid for him to lead a westward expedition to Asia. -
Apr 22, 1500
Pedro Cabral
Portugal
He was the first European to see Brazil. Cabral's patron was King Manuel I of Portugal, sent Pedro on an expedition to India. 13 of Cabral's ships left on May 9 ,1500. He sighted in Brazil on April 22, 1500. -
Jan 1, 1513
Ponce de Leon
Santervas, Spain
He was the first European to set foot in Florida. He also established the oldest European settlement in Puerto Rico and discovered the Gulf Stream. was the first European to set foot in Florida. Ponce de Leon was searching for the legendary fountain of youth and other riches. -
May 17, 1513
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
Spain
He crossed the Isthmus of Panama and became the first European to see The Great South Sea. He was the first European to see the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean. In 1500, Balboa sailed with Rodrigo de Bastidas from Spain to Colombia, South America. They searched for treasures (pearls and gold) along the northern coast of South America and in the Gulf of Uraba -
Jan 1, 1519
Hernan Cortez
Spain
He invaded Mexico. With the help of guns and spread of smallpox, he destroyed the native American empire. He and his troops took large amounts of gold from the Native Americans to send back Spain. -
Jan 1, 1520
Ferdinand Magellan
Northern Portugal
Early in his career, Magellan sailed to India and to the Far East many times via Africa's Cape of Good Hope. He sailed for Portugal, but a dispute with the Portuguese King Manoel II turned him against the Portuguese. Therefore he sailed backf to Spain. -
Jan 1, 1524
Giovanni Verrazano
Italy
He was an Italian navigator who, in 1524, explored the northeast coast of North America from Cape Fear, North Carolina to Maine while searching for a Northwest passage to Asia. Verrazzano sailed for King François-premier (Francis I) of France. Verrazzano's brother, Girolamo da Verrazzano, was a mapmaker who accompanyed Giovanni on his voyage, and mapped the voyage. -
Jan 1, 1529
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
Spain
He explored Florida and the Gulf region from Texas to Mexico. A series of hurricanes and fights with Native Americans killed many of the crew, and the pilot of the ship sailed to Mexico without the 250 to 300 men. They were the first non-natives to travel in this area of the southwestern North America. -
Jan 1, 1532
Fransico Pizarro
Spain
He invaded Peru. Within 5 years, he conquered the Inca Empire. Pizzarro took great treasures of gold and silver from the Native Americans. They headed for the Coast and built the Lima the "City of King". -
Jan 1, 1534
Jacques Cartier
France
Jacques Cartier, the French navigator, established his country’s claim to present-day Canada through his explorations of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River. His early activities remain somewhat murky, but some historians have advanced the idea that he accompanied fishermen to Newfoundland in the 1520s. He later studied navigation in Dieppe. -
Jan 1, 1542
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo
Santiago,Guatemala
Cabrillo led the first European expedition to explore what is now the west coast of the United States. Cabrillo was commissioned by Pedro de Alvarado, Governor of Guatemala, for a voyage up the California coast under the flag of Spain. Cabrillo hoped to find the fabulously wealthy cities known as Cibola, believed to be somewhere on the Pacific coast beyond New Spain, and a route connecting the North Pacific to the North Atlantic "Straits of Anian". -
Jan 1, 1567
Sir Francis Drake
Spain
Drake was an Englishman who hoped to explore possibilities of trade and colonial settlement in the Pacific Ocean and to find the western outlet of the Northwest Passage. He wanted to find an undiscovered continent that was thought to lie in the Pacific. Drake became a ship's captain in 1567, and he lead several trading voyages from England to the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. -
John Davis
England
He explored the west coast of Greenland in search of northwest passage to Asia. Davis's main achievements and legacy were the detailed maps and descriptions of Arctic coasts (Greenland, Baffin Island, Labrador) and his recorded observations of ice, temperature, vegetation, and animal life obtained during his three voyages in search of a Northwest Passage. Davis's first expedition to discover the Northwest Passage departed from Dartmouth, England,in two barks: the Sunshine and moonshine. -
Henry Hudson
England
He was an English explorer and navigator who explored parts of the Arctic Ocean and northeastern North America. The Hudson River, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay are named for Hudson. He found what is now called the Hudson River.
