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Jan 1, 1450
Prince Henry the Navigator
He found out that gold was being found in Africa. He wanted to set a new route there increasing Portugal's trade and power. He set up the first European navigation school. He sent explorers to Africa discovering the Gold Coast of Verde, Azores, Maderia, and the Canary Islands. These islands were used to set up trading stations for further exploration. This trade brought wealth and power to Portugal. -
Jan 1, 1487
Bartolomeu Dias
He took over after Prince Henry died. In 1473 his explores crossed the equator realizing that the sea didn't boil there and there wasn't monsters, like many people believed. Portuguese explorers continued to explore south along the African coast. In 1487 he readied ships for a long voyage, supplying one of the ships with enough food and water for the long voyage. He reached parts of Africa's west coast, just before wind blew him down south. He then explored Africa's east coast. -
Jan 1, 1492
Christopher Columbus
He believed the world was round. He thought he could reach Asia by sailing West. He tried to convince rulers to pay for it but turned him down. In 1492 Queen Isabella of Spain offered to pay for it. in 1492 using the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, and a crew of 90 sailors, he set sail for Spain. His crew got scared while at sea and wanted to turn back, but Columbus said no. They threatened mutiny. On the second day they reached the Bahamas. He made 4 voyages in all. He explored Venezuela. -
Jan 1, 1494
Treaty of Tordesillas
Monarchs from Spain were worried Portugal would take the riches that Columbus found. Since this happened they asked Pope Alexander VI to solve the problem. The Pope drew a papal line of demarcation otherwise known as an imaginary line conecting the North and the South Poles. Spain got the non-Christian land that was west of the Azores Islands where the line went just west of. Portugal recieved the non-Christian
land east of the Islands. Portugal created the treaty, so the line was moved west. -
Jan 1, 1497
Vasco da Gama
He was a Portuguese noble who led a convoy down the Tagus River from Lisbon, Portugal. Da Gama's ships landed in Calicut on May 20th, 1498. On his trip back to his homeland it took 11-13 months to get back there. Even while his crew got scurvy. When they finally arrived at Lisbon in 1499, da Gama had a great rejoicing with his people. -
Jan 1, 1497
John Cabot
English merchants wanted their king to send John to the Far East on a northwestern route. In 1497 he left. Him and the other sailors explored the coast of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. He also claimed America for England. -
Jan 1, 1497
Amerigo Vespucci
He explored Atlantic coast of South Amreica. Amerigo was one of the first people that he had reached a new world. North and south America were named in his honor. He made two to four voyages to central and south America. -
Jan 1, 1500
Pedro Cabral
The country he had lived in for his life was Portugal. He discovered the country Brazil and then sailed east to India. From 1500-1501. -
Jan 1, 1513
Ponce de Leon
He wanted to search for the Fountain of Youth on March of 1513. He accidentally landed on an island and visioned a lot of flowers and called it Florida. After that they went to Cuba, but didn't find anything so they headed back to Spain. -
Sep 13, 1513
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
He was the first European to sight the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean. He claimed the ocean all for Spain. This opened Spanish exploration and conquest along the western coast of South America. Then Magellan called it Pacifica Ocean, meaning peaceful because the water were so calm. -
Jan 1, 1517
Ferdinand Magellan
He set sail from Spain in 1519. He sailed into a strait and got caught in a massive storm. Then he went off to the Great South Sea. He also named this the Pacific Ocean from the Spanish word pacifico. First they landed in the Mariana Islands, then the Philippine Islands and lastly to Seville, Spain. -
Jan 1, 1519
Hernan Cortez
Between 1519 and 1521 he invaded Mexico. He used guns and smallpox, he ended the Native American empire. Him and his army took gold from them and sent it back to Spain. He founded Vera Cruz and then burned his ships when he got there so that his troops couldn't leave him. -
Jan 1, 1524
Giovanni Verrazano
He explored the northeast coast of North America. His brother Girolamo aided him by creating maps of the route he was taking. In 1528 he was caught by indians and eaten. -
Jan 1, 1527
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
He was a Spanish navigator. In 1527 he set sail for Spain trying to occupy North American. He founded what is today the Gulf Region. This consists of modern day Texas all the way to Mexico. -
Jan 1, 1533
Francisco Pizzaro
He captured Atahuallpa in 1533 right after he won a civil war against his half-brother, Huascar. Pizarro took all of his money and then had Atahuallpa strangled. The end of the Incan empire was just after the death of Atahuallpa. -
Jan 1, 1533
Jacques Cartier
Eleven years after Magellan's voyage he said up to the St. Lawrence River. He stoped all the way at where Montreal is today. He claimed eastern Canada for the French. -
Jun 24, 1542
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo
He explored the pacific coast to Drake's Bay in 1542. In 1532 he sailed back to his homeland, Spain to marry his love, Beatriz Sanchez de Ortega. After their marriage, the two of them went back to Guatemala and eventually had two sons. -
Sep 26, 1580
Sir Francis Drake
Queen Elizabeth wanted him to go onto a secret expedition to the Pacific Coast of North America. Along the way he took down a lot of other ships and took over them and took their treasure. He finally reached Plymouth in a matter of three years. -
John Davis
He was an English Navigator. His main search was for the northwest passage to Asia, but to get there he had to sail on the west coast of Greenland. -
Henry Hudson
He explored and named the Hudson Bay after his name. His main quest was to search for a shortcut to the Pacific Ocean. He did not find it so he just sailed back to Holland. On his final journey, he decided he was going to sail northwest to Canada. He got caught in a big ocean which he thought was the Pacific Ocean, but he was actually in a large bay so he then named it the Hudson Bay.
