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Jan 1, 1450
Prince Herny the Navigator (Portugal)
Henry set up the first European school for navigators in Sagres, Portugal. Even though he never sailed on a single ocean voyage, he organized a way for others to learn the most skilled way to sail. He gathered together Portuguese, Spainish, Jewish, Arab, and Italian mathmaticians, chartmakers, astronomers, and sea captains to help teach him and the Portugese sailors. At the same time, he worked with others and helped create the Portuguese caravel. -
Jan 1, 1487
Bartolomeu Dias (Potugal)
In 1487, Bartolomeu Dias prepared his ships for a long voyage. He would soon be travelling on a trip that took him around Africa and bck home to Portugal. He named the southern tip of Afria the Cape of Storms. He discovered he could reach the Far East by sailing around Africa. -
Aug 9, 1492
Christopher Columbus (Spain)
Christopher Columbus was a man that believed the world was round, not flat. He believed he could reach Asia by sailing west. It took him 8 years of convincing until Queen Isabella of Spain agreed to support his plan. Then he sent sail from Spain. He spent several months sailing around the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola or Haiti, and the Dominican republic. On Christmas Eve, they were the first Europeans to step foot in the Americas. In January 1493, Columbus headed back to Spain. -
Jan 1, 1494
Treaty of Tordesillas (Spain)
The Spainish monacrchs didn't want Portugal to take the riches Columbus discovered, so they asked the Pope for help. The Pope drew a papal line of demarcation so that Spain was to have the non-Christian lands west of the line and Portugal was to have th non-Christian lands eat of the line. The Portuguese did not agree so they protested and called a meeting. Soon, the Treaty of Tordesillas was drawn up, which moved the line farther west so they could claim Brazil. -
Jun 3, 1497
John Cabot (Italy)
English merchants persuades there king to send an Italian navigator, John Cabot, to the Far East by a northwest route. In 1497, Cabot set sail with many men. He explored the coasts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. He also established claims for England in the Americas. -
Jul 15, 1497
Vasco Da Gama (Portugal)
In the summer of 1497, a Portugal noble named Vasco da Gama led a convoy of four ships down the Tagus River from Lisbon. After four months at sea, many crew members were sick, water and food were both spoiled. Da Gama's ship landed at Calicut on May 20, 1498. There, the Arabs and Persians made and attempt to kill da Gama. In August, he left. The trip back took 11 months for one ship and 13 months for the ship that da Gama was on. Lisbon later became one of the major trading centers of Eruope. -
Jul 21, 1497
Amerigo Vespucci (Spain, Portugal)
Amerigo Vespucci was from Spain and also Portugal. In the years of 1497-1504, he explored the Atlantic coast of South America. He was one of the first to believe he had reached a new world. The continents of North and South America were named in his honor. -
Nov 18, 1500
Pedro Cabral (Portugal)
Pedro Cabral was a Portuguese exlorer. In 1500, Pedro discovered Brazil. He then claimed it for Portugal. After that he sailed east to India. -
May 17, 1513
Ponce de Leon (Spain)
While governing Puerto Rico, Ponce de Leon heard stories of an island to the north that held great things. He decided he wanted to find this islane. Instead, he found Florida in 1513. Ponce de Leon first named the land "Pascua de Florida" because they first spotted land on April 2, 1513 which is Palm Sunday. He then claimed the land for Spain. -
Nov 21, 1513
Vasco Nunez de Balboa (Spain)
Vasco Nunez de Balboa as a Spainish conquistadore. In 1513 Vasco accomplished a major achievment. He crossed the isthmus of Panama. By doing this, he became the first European to sight the Great South Sea. -
Apr 21, 1519
Hernan Cortez (Spain)
Between 1519 and 1512, Hernan Cortez invaded Mexico. He destroyed the Native American empire that is ruled by Montezuma, the Aaztec king. They did this with the help of guns and the spread of smallpox. Cortez and his tropps took very large amounts of gold from the Natives back to Spain. -
Sep 24, 1519
Ferdinand Magellan (Portugal)
In 1519, Magellan set sail for Spain. He commanded a fleet of 5 ships and 256 crew members. The trip took one month. When Ferdinand sailed through the Great South Sea, he renamed it the Pacific Ocean from the Spanish word pacifico meaning peaceful.The conditions were terrible.The crew was suffering from scurvy and had no food. Mallegan and his crew set course for the Pilippines and ended up in Seville, Spain. The voyage was a great accomplishment that proved Columbus landed in America, not Asia. -
May 18, 1524
Giovanni Verrazano (Italy)
In 1524, Giovanni Verrazano explored the northeast coast of North America while searching for the Northwest Passage to Asia. Verrazano's brother, Girolamo da Verrazano, was a mapmaker who joined Giovanni on his voyage, and mapped the voyage. He sailed up to Maine and then New Foundland, Canada, and back to Europe. Giovanni Verranzano was killed and eaten by Carib Indians in 1528. -
May 18, 1527
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (Spain)
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spainish explorer who sailed to North America from Spain in 1527. After surviving a hurricane near Cuba, the expedition landed on the west coast of Florida in April 1528. 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 men. Four men finally reached the Spanish settlement of Culiacan in 1536.After serving as a Mexican territorial governor, Cabeza de Vaca returned to Spain. -
Mar 26, 1532
Fransico Pizzaro
In 1532nFransico invaded Peru. Within five years, he conquered the Inca Empire. Pizzaro took great treasures of gold and silver from the Native Americans. Pizarro and his men the headed for the coast where the built Lima, the "City of Kings". -
Feb 25, 1534
Jacques Cartier (France)
Jacques Cartier, a french navigator, was in search for the Northwest Passage. He sailed up the St. Lawrence River as far as what is today Montreal. This gave the French a claim to eastern Canada. Jacques Cartier’s first voyage helped to chance the French perspective of North Americs. -
Jun 27, 1542
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (Spain)
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo led the first European expedition to explore what is today the west coast of the United States. He left from Navidad, Mexico on June 27, 1542. 3 months later, he arrived at what is now known as the Sandiego Bay. Historians believe he anchored his flagship, the San Salvador, on Point Loma's east shore near Cabrillo National Monument. Cabrillo later died during the expedition, but his crew pushed on before thrashing winter storms forced them back to Mexico. -
Dec 13, 1577
Sir Francis Drake (England)
Sir Francis Drake led the second expedition to sail around the world in a voyage lasting for 3 years. Queen Elizabeth I told Drake to command the expedition with John Winter and Thomas Doughty. They sailed to Brazil, and through the Strait of Magellan. They sailed by Panama, where he pirated Spanish ships and settlements for food and treasures. He landed on the island of Cano, off the coast of southern Mexico. Upon his return, the queen rewarded him with a lot of money. -
John Davis (England)
In 1585, John Davis made his first exploration voyage in search of the Northwest Passage to the Orient. He then explored two more times after that. The end of the third voyage wha when John Davis came back to London on Sep. 15, 1587, he had demostrated that it was unlikely that anyone would push through the Pacific Ocean in a single voyage. This ended John Davis's career as an explorer. -
Henry Hudson (England)
Henry Hudson was hired by the Muscovy Company in 1607, to find a waterway from Europe to Asia. Henry made two trips, but failed to find a route to China. In 1607, Henry sailed to Spitzbergen and discovered Jan Mayen Island. In 1608, he sailed to Novaya Zemlya. Henry was then hired by another company in 1609 to try and find the Northwest Passage farther south. He instead found what is now called the Hudson River which was named after him. He then sailed into New York Harbor on Sep. 3, 1609.
