European Exploreres

The name for Spanish explorers who claimed land in the Caribbean and Central and South America for Spain?

• Northwest Passage

• Conquistadors

• Contagious Diseases

• People

Sicknesses brought by European explorers that spread quickly and infected many Native Americans

• Northwest Passage

• Contagious Diseases

• Conquistadors

Name of the shortcut from Europe to Asia through North America that many explorers searched for but never found

• Conquistadors

• Contagious Diseases

• Northwest Passage

French nobleman financed his own expedition up and down the Mississippi River Valley

• Christopher Columbus

• Hernan Cortes

• Robert de La Salle

• John Cabot

This explorer convinced the rulers of Spain that Asia could be reached by sailing west from Europe. Though he thought he had reached Asia, he actually made the first European land claims in the New World.

• Henry Hudson

• Christopher Columbus

• John Cabot

• Juan Ponce de Leon

This explorer was a merchant who convinced sponsors in England to support him as he looked for a new trade route to Asia. He never found the trade route, but he did make England's land claims in North America.

• John Cabot

• Hernan Cortes

• Juan Ponce de Leon

• Robert de La Salle

This Spanish explorer led an expedition in search of the mythical "fountain of youth". He never found the magical waters. He did find what is now Florida and claimed it for Spain.

• Hernan Cortes

• Christopher Columbus

• Juan Ponce de Leon

• Henry Hudson

This sailor was sent by the king of France to find the Northwest Passage. He never found the passage, but he made France's first land claim in North America.

• Jacques Cartier

• Henry Hudson

• John Cabot

• Robert de La Salle

This Spanish nobleman led an expedition into what is now the southwestern United States in search of a city of gold.

• Christopher Columbus

• Henry Hudson

• Francisco Vasquez de Coronado

• John Cabot

This Spanish nobleman led an expedition to conquer the Aztec empire in what is now central Mexico.

• Henry Hudson

• John Cabot

• Hernan Cortes

• Christopher Columbus