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Period: Jan 1, 1400 to
Colonial Times
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Oct 12, 1492
Columbus lands in the West Indies
About 90 men, most of them spaniards, prepared to make the voyage. Columbus's ships--The Nina, The Pinta, and The Santa Maria--were tiny, between 55 and 90 feet long, sailing with the wind they covered up to 170 miles per day. -
May 1, 1497
John Cabot
Neither Spain nor Portugal had any intrests in Cabots Ideas. However, the English were interested enough to finance a voyage of exploration. Cabot left England with one ship. He crossed the North Atlantic and explored the region around Newfoundland. -
Nov 8, 1499
Amerigo Vespucci
He was an Italian explorer who made two trips to the new lands. A German mapmaker labeled the region "the land of Amerigo" on his maps. The name was soon shortened to America. -
Jan 1, 1500
The Columbian Exchange
These early Spanish voyages set the stage for a great exchange between the Western and Eastern hemispheres. The next century began what is now known as the Columbian Exchange, a transfer of people, products, and ideas between the hemispheres. -
Jan 1, 1510
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
He was a spanish colonist who explored the carribean coast of what is today Panama. Hacking his way through the jungle, he became the first european to set eyes on th Pacific Ocean. -
Jan 1, 1513
Juan Ponce de Leon
He sailed North from Puerto Rico to investigate reports of a large island. He found beautiful flowers there, so he named the place La Florida. Ponce de Leon became the first Spaniard toset foot in what is now the United States. -
Sep 1, 1519
Ferdinand Magellan
He was a portuguese explorer who set out to find an Atlantic Pacific passage. For more than a year, the small fleet slowly moved down the South American Coastlooking for a strait. As it pushed farther south than earlier expiditions it encountered penguins and other animals that no european had ever seen before. Finally near the southern tip of presant-day Argentina. Magellan found a narrow passage. His ships exited what is today the strait of Magellan. -
Nov 8, 1519
Cortez strikes aztects capital city of Tenochtitlan
As Spaniards moved closer to Tenochtitlan, many native Americans joined them. The Aztec Leader Montezuma met with Cortez and tried to get him to leave by offering him gold. The gold had the opposite affect. Cortez took Montezuma hostage and claimed all of Mexico for spain. However the aztecs soon rebelled and forced the Spaniards to flee. -
Jan 1, 1528
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
When about 400 Spaniards landed near the present-day city of St. Petersburg. Finding none of the gold they hoped for, they marched into northern Florida. There, under attack by the Native Americans, they built 5 crude boats and set out to sea. About 80 survivors led by Alvar eventually landed at present-day Galveston Island on the Texas coast. -
Jan 1, 1530
John Calvin
A swiss thinker who had a great influence on the development of Protestant churches in France, Switzerland, Scotland, and the Netherlands. -
Sep 1, 1531
Francisco Pizarro lands on the coast of Peru
He led about 170 soldiers through the jungle into the heart of the Inca Empire. Pizarro then took the Inca ruler Atahualpa prisoner. Although the Inca people paid a huge ransom to free their ruler, Pizarro executed him anyway. By November 1533, the Spanish had defeated the leaderless Incas and captured their capital city of Cuzco. -
Jan 1, 1535
King Henry VIII
Henry was married to Catherine of Aragon, the Daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabellaof Spain. When Catherine did not produce a male heir to the throne, henry sought to divorce and remarry. -
Jan 1, 1539
Hernando de Soto
He was searching for riches in todays southeastern United States. De Soto traveled as far North as the Carolinas and as far west as Oklahoma. He died in what is now known as Luoisiana, in 1542, having found the Mississippi River but no cities of Gold. -
Jan 1, 1540
Francisco Coronado
He set out with about 1100 spaniards and Native Americans to find the Golden city. Althoughhe never found the city, he did explore much of what is now New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Kansas. -
Nov 17, 1550
Bartolome de las Casas
He was the priest who traveled through New Spain working for reform.