Exploration and Colonization

By sadiemcneil
  • Jan 1, 1400

    Europeans Branch Out

    Europeans Branch Out
    In the early 1400s, people in Europe began to look to the seas and beyond. Some longed for adventure. Others wanted to spread Christianity far and wide. Most of all though, people wanted to find riches. The age of explorstion and discovery had begun.
  • Period: Jan 1, 1400 to

    Exploration and Colonization

  • Jan 1, 1450

    Henry the Navigator

    Henry the Navigator
    In Portugal, a prince named Henry the Navigator urged sea captains to explore southward along the coast of Africa. He wanted someone to find a route around that continent to the Spice Islands, near India.
  • Jan 1, 1478

    Ferdinand and Isabella

    Ferdinand and Isabella
    Colombus persuaded the king and queen of spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, to support and expedition, or trip of exploration. Colombus himself gave the king and queen credit for his idea.
  • Jan 1, 1492

    Christopher Colombus

    Christopher Colombus thought Asia could be reached by sailing West from Europe.
  • Jan 1, 1497

    Vasco da Gama

    In 1497-1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama found such a route and sailed all the way to India.
  • Jan 1, 1497

    John Cabot

    John Cabot
    In 1497, King Henry VII sent Cabot on a voyage to the West. The English thought that there might be a water route through the Americas that would lead north and west to Asia. Cabotl landed on the far northern Atlantic Coast of North America- probably the island of Newfoundland.
  • Jan 1, 1508

    Juan Ponce de Leon

    Juan Ponce de Leon
    Juan Ponce de Leon was a Spanish official in the New World. In 1508-1509, he explored and settled the island of Puerto Rico. Taking notice back in Spain, King Ferdinand authorized Ponce de Leon to explore lands north of Cuba.
  • Jan 1, 1520

    Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon

    Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon
    One Spanish official who had his eyes on the mainland north of Florida was Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon. He had seen some of the Atlantic coastline of this region on an expedition in 1520.
  • Jan 1, 1524

    Giovanni da Verrazzano

    Giovanni da Verrazzano
    In 1524, King Francis I of France sent Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano westward. Verrazzano first reached land at North Carolina's Outer Banks.
  • Jan 1, 1539

    Hernando de Soto

    Hernando de Soto
    In 1539, Hernando de Soto sailed with a military expedition from Havana, Cuba, to the west coast of Florida.
  • Jan 1, 1562

    Jean Ribault

    Jean Ribault
    In 1562 France sent a colony under the command of Jean Ribault to North America.
  • Jan 1, 1562

    Huguenots

    Huguenots
    The colonists were Huguenots, or French Protestants. Protestants were sometimes persecuted in Catholic France. As a result, some Huguenots sought religious freedom in the New World. Despite the reportadly favorable conditions at Port Royal, the colonists gave up in 1564 and returned to France.
  • Jan 1, 1564

    Rene de Laudonniere

    Rene de Laudonniere
    In 1564, another band of Huguenots,led by Rene de Laudonniere, settled at Fort Caroline, on the north Florida coast.
  • Jan 1, 1565

    Pedro Menendez de Aviles

    Pedro Menendez de Aviles
    In 1565, Spain sent troops under Pedro Menendez de Aviles to Florida. Just south of Fort Caroline, Mendez built a fort at St. Augustine.