Exploration Of The New World

Section1 The Story Continues

Apr 16, 1300

People in Europe read about Marco Polo traveling to Cathy (China) and other places. The stories led many of them to think about riches of Asia.

Europeans Branch Out

May 18, 1400

Europeans began to look out to the seas and beyond. Some longed for adventures. While others wanted to sread Christianity far and wide. Most of all. people wanted to find riches. The age of exploration and discovery had begun.

Henry The Navigator

May 23, 1400

Prince Henry urged the sea captains to explore southward along the the coast of Africa. He wanted to find a route around that continent to the Spice Islands, near India.

New Routes

Nov 29, 1400

Europenas developed a tast for spices. Most of the spices came from the islands in Asia. Spices were expensive because they had to be shipped halfway across the world on risky voyages. For years, the Italian port city of Venice controlled this trade.

Christopher Columbus

Sep 16, 1492

Christopher Columbus thought Aisa could be reached by sailing west form Europe. He persuaded the king, Ferdinand, and the queen, Isabella to support a trip of exploration. In 1492 he led his first exploration westward. He ended up in the Bahamas, islands that he thought was to be near Asia. He had another voyage in 1498 which Columbus went to South America. A mapmaker labeled the new continent "America" for another explorer, Amerigo Vespucci.

Vasco da Gama

Jan 17, 1497

Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese explorer. He found a route and sailed all the wat to India

The Northwest Passage/John Cabot

Nov 17, 1497

John Cabot is an Italian living in England. In 1947 King Henry VII sent John on a voysge to the West. THe English thought that there was a water route through the Americas that would lead North and West to Asia. They called it the Northwest Passage. John landed on the far northern Atlantic coast of North America--most likely the island of Newfoundland. He failed like many others to find the Northwest Passage. Europeans gave up on the search for the route.

The Columbian Exchange

Sep 19, 1500

Plant, animals, and diseases moved between the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. Europeans enjoyed new American foods such as potatoes, tomatoes, beans, and corn. Native Americans made use of horses and cattle, which was introduced into the Americans by the Spanish. Disease from the Europeans almost destroyed the Native Americans populations. Millions of enslaved Africans to the New World to work plantations.

Spanish Exploration

Sep 25, 1500

Spain claimed many of the New World lands. Spain was taking control of a lot of South and Central America and many Caribbean islands like Cuba and Hispaniola. Spanish governors and explorers began looking northward.

Juan Ponce de León

Sep 25, 1508

Juan was a Spanish official in the New World. He explored the island of Puerto Rico. King Ferdinand let León explore lands north of Cuba. León took a voyage and landed on the east coast of Florida, a name he derived from the Spanish word for "flowers." They sailed down the east Florida coast and through the Florida Keys. Then went northward along the west coast of Florida about 100 miles. León's voyage revealed large tracts of ripe land for exploration lay to the North of the Caribbean islands.

Spaniards Come To North Carolina

Jan 3, 1520

Lucas Vázequez de Ayllón had his eyes on the mainland north of Florida. He had seen some of the Atlantic coastline of this region on a voyage in 1520. Ayllón intended to plant a strong colony for Spain along that coast.

Section 2 The Story Continues

Feb 27, 1520

Spain was the most powerful nation in the World. Spainsh explorers claimed huge tracts of land in the New World. They begun sending gold and siler back to Spain. Their base on Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, Spanish officials eyed the North American coast eagerly. León explored and claimed Florida.

Rio Jordán Colony

Dec 3, 1526

Ayllón led a group over 500 men, women, and children to a rivewr he called :Jordán." Historians today believe that it is actually called North Carolina's Cape Fear River. The Rio Jordán colony failed due to diseases and starvation. Ayllón took the colonists to a site in present-day South Carolina. The colony fared no better there. Diseases and starvation overwhelmed the settlers. Allyón died there too. October 1526, 150 remaining colonists returned to Hispaniola.

De Soto's Expedition

Oct 19, 1539

Hernando de Soto sailed with a military voyage form Havana, Cuba to the west coast of Florida. In spring, de Soto crossed Georgia and South Carolina and passed through the western tip of North Carolina. They were the first Europeans to see these regions. In the mountains lands they met Cherokee Inians, which treated them with generosity. De Soto died on the trip, many of his men went to Mexico.

Varrazano's Expedition

Sep 22, 1542

King Francis I of France sent Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazano westward. He first reached land at North Carolina's Puter Banks. He thought he saw the Pacific Ocean through those narrow islands. He was actually looking at the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds. He then explored farther up the coast. When he returned to France, he submitted a glowing report to the king. The king was now occupied with military challenges at home. He didn't sponsor any more voyages to the Americas.

The Spanish Set Sights Southward

Sep 26, 1560

France And Spain Fight For Land

Feb 25, 1562

European nations were challenging Spain. France sent a colony under the command of Jean Ribault to North America. Colonists were Huguenots, or French Protestants. They were sometimes persecuted in Catholic France. A result was that some Huguenots sought religious freedom in the New World.

Port Royal

Mar 6, 1562

Ribault's Huguenots attempted to settle in the preset-day Port Royal, South Carolina. The colonists gave up in 1564 and returned to France from Port Royal. Another band of Huguenots, led by René de Laudonnière, settled in Fort Caroline on the north Florida coast. Jean Ribault brought supply ships there.

St. Augustine

Sep 26, 1564

Spain sent troops under Pedro MenVndez de Avilés to Florida. South of Fort Caroline, Menédez built a fort at St. Augustine. Jean Ribault prepared to attack, but a storm wrecked his fleet, he lost no time in dealing with the unlucky French. He captured Fort Caroline and killed most of the French defenders. Following years, Menéndez built forts throughout Florida to strengthen Spain's grip. St. Augustine is the oldest permanent Europran settlement in the present-day United States.

Continue More Spanish Expedition

May 15, 1566

They ende up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountians, they built a fort. Boyano and Pardo looked around the surronding territory. In the next few years the Spanish abandoned their forts. They traded with the Nirth Carolina Indians, and tried to convert the Insians to Catholism. Boyano and Pardo returned to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. They explored more new lands along the way.

More Spanish Expedition

May 15, 1566

West Indies set up a Catholic mission to Chesapeake Bay. Winds kept them from reaching their destination, so they entered an inlet in North Carolina's Outer Banks and sailed into Albemarle Sound, they ended up at the tip of the Currituck Inlet. Pedro de Coronas marked their landing by placing a wooden cross on the shore. Spanish officials oranized a voyage to explore the interior country north of Florida. Juan Pardo and HernandoBoyano led a small group of men to South Carolina coast. They ended