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European Exploration

By jnlwwms
  • Oct 12, 1492

    Christopher Columbus(Italian)

    Christopher Columbus(Italian)
    Columbus sailed West and tried and failed to find the Indies. He was the first European to go to America since the Vikings settled in the 10th century.
  • Jan 1, 1497

    Vasco de Gama(Portuguese)

    Vasco de Gama(Portuguese)
    Found a trade route by sailing around Africa to India.
  • Jan 1, 1497

    John Cabot(Italian)

    John Cabot(Italian)
    Tried to find Northwest Passage, but found Newfoundland instead
  • Jan 1, 1497

    Amerigo Vespucci(Italian)

    Amerigo Vespucci(Italian)
    Explored the Gulf of Mexico and Ameican mainland.
  • Jan 1, 1508

    Juan Ponce de Leon(Spanish)

    Juan Ponce de Leon(Spanish)
    Juan Ponce de Leon discovered and settled Puerto Rico.
  • Jan 1, 1513

    Vasco Balboa(Spanish)

    Vasco Balboa(Spanish)
    He sighted the Pacific Ocean and claimed the ocean and all of its shores for Spain, opening the way for later Spanish exploration and conquest along the western coast of South America.
  • Jan 1, 1519

    Ferdinand Magellan(Portugeuse)

    Ferdinand Magellan(Portugeuse)
    Magellan sailed around the world.
  • Jan 1, 1519

    Hernan Cortes(Spanish)

    Hernan Cortes(Spanish)
    He overthrew the Aztec empire and won Mexico for the crown of Spain.
  • Jan 1, 1520

    Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon(Spanish)

    Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon(Spanish)
    Spread Christianity and mediated the dispute between Hernán Cortés and Diego Velázquez in Mexico. (Became a judge in Hispaniola (Santo Domingo) in 1502). He was the first European colonizer of what is now South Carolina.
  • Jan 1, 1524

    Giovanni de Verranzo(French)

    Landed on the banks of NC and found the Pamlico and Albemorte Sounds.
  • Sep 1, 1538

    Hernando de Soto(Spanish)

    Sailed to conquer Florida for the Spanish crown. In 1541, de Soto and his men became the first Europeans to encounter the great Mississippi River and cross it
  • Jul 1, 1565

    Pedro Menendex de Aviles(Spanish)

    Sailed in July 1565. On August 28 he entered and named the bay of St. Augustine and built a fort there. On September 20 he took the nearby French colony of Fort Caroline and massacred the entire population. He then explored the Atlantic coast and established a string of forts as far north as the island of St. Helena (off present-day South Carolina)
  • Jan 1, 1566

    Hernando Boyano(Spanish)

    Explored through the Carolinas and Georgia.
  • Jan 1, 1577

    Sir Francis Drake (English)

    He claimed to have traveled as far north as 48° N (on parallel with Vancouver, Canada) before extreme cold conditions turned him back and anchored near today’s San Francisco and claimed the surrounding land, which he called New Albion, for Queen Elizabeth.