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1000
Leif Erikson (c.970 - c. 1020 )
He was a Norse explorer from Iceland. He was thought to be the first European to set foot in North America.Died in Greenland -
1488
Bartolomeu Dias (c. 1450 - 1500)
He sailed to the tip of Africa, he was the first European to do so. He was a nobleman of the Portuguese royal household. Setting up the route from Europe to Asia later on. -
1492
Christopher Columbus ( 1451 - 1506
Sailed voyage with three ships Santa Maria, Nina, Pinta. He later set three more voyages sailing the Lesser Antilles. -
1493
Juan Ponce de Leon (1474 - 1521 )
The former governor of Puerto Rico. He lead the first ever European expedition to Florida. He went to the Americas with Christopher Columbus on his second voyage. -
1497
Vasco da gama (1460's -1524 )
The first European to reach India by sea.His initial voyage to India was the first to link Europe and Asia by an ocean route. -
1497
Amerigo Vespucci ( 1454 - 1512 )
An Italian merchant, explorer and navigator from the Republic of Florence. Between 1497 and 1504, Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the Age of Discovery. -
1513
Vasco Nunez de Balbo ( 1475- 1519)
He is best known for having crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in 1513, becoming the first European to lead an expedition to have seen or reached the Pacific from the New World. -
1519
Ferdinand Magellan ( 1480 - 1521 )
Ferdinand organised the expedition to the East Indies. Resulting in the first circumnavigation of the Earth. He was a skilled sailor and navar. -
1519
Hernan Cortes ( 1485 - 1547 )
He was elected captain in the third expedition to the main land.His enmity with the Governor of Cuba resulted in the recall of the expedition at the last moment. But he did not listen. -
1520
Hernando de Soto (1500- 1542)
De Soto sailed to the New World with Pedrarias Dávila. Appointed as the first Governor of Panama.In 1520 he participated in Gaspar de Espinosa's expedition to Veragua. -
1527
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca ( 1490 - 1559 )
He was a spanish explorer of the new world. One of the four survivors of the 1527 Narvaez expedition. During eight years of traveling across what is now the US Southwest, he became a trader. -
1529
Francisco Pizarro ( 1478- 1541)
He is best known for expeditions that led to the conquer of Peru.Pizarro chose to pursue fortune and adventure in the new world. He was granted permission to conquer Peru from the royal crown. -
1539
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (1510-1554)
Vázquez de Coronado was the Governor of the Kingdom of Nueva Galicia. a province of New Spain located northwest of Mexico and comprising the contemporary Mexican states of Jalisco, Sinaloa and Nayarit. In 1539, he dispatched Friar Marcos de Niza and Estevanico. -
1539
Juan Cabrillo (1499- 1543)
In 1539, Francisco de Ulloa, who had been commissioned by Cortés, discovered the Gulf of California and reached nearly as far north as the 30th parallel. Cabrillo was then commissioned by the new Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza, to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities
