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1000
Leif Eriksson
Born: Iceland
Financed by: Norwegian King Olaf Tryggvason
Motivation: Spread religion
Explored: Vinland (Newfoundland)
Accomplishments: First to find North America. Helped spread Christianity across Nordic countries
Fun fact time!
Most of the information we know about him came from Icelandic sagas. -
Period: 1405 to 1492
Zheng He
Born: China
Financed By: Zhu DI
Motivation: Political Power for Zhu Di
Explored: Indonesia, Malaysia, Siam, India, Yemen, Somalia, Keyna and Saudia Arabia
Accomplishments: Diplomats in China
Fun Fact Time!
Zheng He is pronounced Jung-Hee -
1487
Vasco de Gama
Born: Portugal
Financed By: King John II, King Manuel I
Motivation: Trade
Explored: Route from Lisbon to India
Accomplishments: Trading rout to India for spices
Fun Fact Time!
He died of malaria. -
1492
Christopher Columbus
Born: Genoa (now Italy)
Financed By: Spanish monarchs
Motivation: Faster trade route
Explored: Carribean Islands
Accomplishments: Discovered new land
Fun Fact Time!
He never actually landed in America, only in islands around the Americas -
1497
Amerigo Vespucci
Born: Florence (now in Italy)
Financed By: Spain & Portugal
Motivation: Exploring and Mapping
Explored: Northern South America, Amazon River
Accomplishments: Mapped and proved that America was not Asia
Fun Fact Time!
He actually contracted Christopher Columbus's Voyage -
1497
John Cabot
Born: Venice (Now part of Italy)
Financed By: Kin Henry VII
Motivation: Columbus
Explored: Somewhere near North America
Accomplishments: First European to explore North America, first to search for the Northwest Passage
Fun Fact Time!
He is known as Giovanni Caboto in his homeland -
1504
Hernán Cortés
Born: Spain
Financed By: Selling property
Motivation: Fame and riches
Explored: Santo Domingo, Cuba, Hispaniola, Mexico
Accomplishments: Conquered Aztec Empire
Fun Fact Time!
He legally had to give all of his claimed land to Spain -
1513
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
Born: Spain
Financed By: Himself
Motivation: Adventure
Explored: Coast of Pearls to Santo Domingo, Hispaniola
Accomplishments: First European settlement actually in South America
Fun Fact Time!
He got beheaded. -
1513
Juan Ponce de Leon
Born: Spain
Financed By: King Ferdinand
Motivation: Gold
Explored: Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Florida
Accomplishments: Was governor of Puerto Rico, discovered and named Florida
Fun Fact Time!
He was killed in a fight with the Calusa tribe by a poisonous arrow -
1519
Ferdinand Magellan
Born: Sabrosa, Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
Financed By: King Charles V
Motivation: Route to spice islands (Malaku Islands)
Explored: East Africa/Moluccas
Accomplishments: Navigating around the world (mostly)
Fun Fact Time!
He never got to finish the trip around the world because he died in battle at Homhon (Phillipean Island) -
1520
Giovani de Verrazano
Born: Italy
Financed By: French merchants and italian bankers
Motivation: Enjoyed sailing
Explored: From North Carolina to the New York harbor area
Accomplishments: Helped mapmakers
Fun Fact Time!
he was eaten by cannibalistic natives. -
1527
Panfilo de Narvaez
Born: Spain
Financed By: Investors, Friends
Motivation: Claiming the gulf coast
Explored: West Florida, Cuba
Accomplishments: Helped conquer Cuba
Fun Fact Time!
He died in a hurricane by drowning. -
1527
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
Born: Spain
Financed By: Investors, Friends
Motivation: Was Panfilo de Narvaez's treasurer
Explored: West Florida, Cuba, Mexico
Accomplishments: Helped conquer Cuba
Fun Fact Time!
His last name "Cabeza de Vaca" means "cow head" (head of cow) -
1529
Francisco Pizarro
Born: Spain
Financed By: King Charles V
Motivation: Adventure, he didn't like his current life and family
Explored: Peru's Pacific coast
Accomplishments: Conquered Incan empire
Fun Fact Time!
He actually went with many other explorers and never commanded a ship by himself, even on his own expedition! -
1534
Jacquez Cartier
Born: France
Financed By: King Francis I
Motivation: Finding northwest passage
Explored: East Canada
Accomplishments: Claimed Canada for France
Fun Fact Time!
His settlements collapsed due to disease and bad weather conditions. -
1538
Herando de Soto
Born: Spain
Financed By: Pedro Arias Dávila
Motivation: Glory and riches, Adventure
Explored: Cuba, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tenessee, Mississippi, Peru, Arkansas
Accomplishments: Documented Mississippi River
Fun Fact Time!
He brought 13 pigs on his trip that became 700 pigs by the time he died. -
1540
Francisco Vazquez de Coronado
Born: Spain
Financed By: Antonio de Mendoza
Motivation: Money
Explored: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Mexico
Accomplishments: Discovered the Grand Canyon
Fun Fact Time!
The local natives tricked him into thinking there were riches hidden eastward so that he would hopefully get lost and die of starvation. Those natives were executed. -
1562
Jean Ribaut
Born: France
Financed By: Gaspar
Motivation: Sent by France
Explored: By St. Augustine and the "River of May" (st. Johns River)
Accomplishments: Started some French settlements in Florida
Fun Fact Time!
His name is said like jawn re BOW -
Henry Hudson
Born: England
Financed By: Muscovy Company, Dutch East India Company, and Private sponsors
Motivation: Passage to Asia
Explored: Canada, Hudson Bay/River (named after him)
Accomplishments:
Fun Fact Time!
His crew mutinied and abandoned him. -
Robert Cavelier de la Selle
Born: France
Financed By: King Louis XIV
Motivation: Riches
Explored: Great Lakes region, Illinois and Mississippi Rivers
Accomplishments:
Fun Fact Time!
His name means "
Robert Cavelier from the saddle" -
Jaquez Marquette
Born: France
Financed By: Governor of new France
Motivation: Mapping Mississippi
Explored: Mississippi River, Illinois River
Accomplishments: Mapped the Mississippi, and discovered hostile spanish locations
Fun Fact Time!
He founded a mission
