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1524
Giovanni da Verrazzano
He sailed to North America in search of a sea route to the Pacific. He did discover what is now New York. -
Jamestown
The English reached the coast of Virginia and they claimed the land as their own. They named it Jamestown in honor of their king. -
Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet
They explored the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Along their travels they came upon Native Americans. -
Sieur de La Salle
Around ten years after Marquette and Joliet, he explored the lower Mississippi and claimed the entire river valley for France. -
USA and Canada
By the early 1700s New France covered what is now the Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada.