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Bartolomeu Dias sails under the cape of good hope and thinks he is in India. During his journey he sails under the southern tip of Southern America and explores the coast.
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Amerigo Vespucci writes two letters while on an expedition and refers to America as "the new world of North and South America" thus giving America its still standing name.
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Ferdinand was hired to find a route to Asia through or around South America.
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Hernan Cortes leads his troops into Tenochtitlan and caputres the Aztec leader Moctezuma II and holds him for ransom, and later executes him, leading to the downfall of the Aztec Empire
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Francisco Pizarro captures the Incan leader Atahualpa and starts the downfall of the Incan Empire
