Explorers

1535 - sailed up St. Lawrence River to Lake Ontario hoping it would lead to Pacific; Found a mountain peak- named Mont-Royal

(Montreal)

• Bartolomeu Dias (Portugal)

• Juan Ponce de Leon (Spain)

• Amerigo Vespucci (Spain)

• Jacques Cartier (French)

1502 sailed along coast of South America; discovered south America was a continent; named America after him.

• Jacques Cartier (French)

• Hernando De Soto (Spain)

• Amerigo Vespucci (Spain)

• Bartolomeu Dias (Portugal)

Canoed down Mississippi (MI) River; Looking for Northwest Passage ; Realized it flowed into Gulf not Pacific

• Pedro Alvares Cabral (Portugal)

• Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (Spain)

• Louis Joliet (fur trader) & Jacques Marquette (Priest)

• Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (Spain)

1541 - searched for the "seven cities of gold"; Crossed the Mississippi River; went as far west as Oklahoma.

• Juan Ponce de Leon (Spain)

• Ferdinand Magellan (Spain)

• Hernando De Soto (Spain)

• Amerigo Vespucci (Spain)

1682 - followed MI River to Gulf; Claimed land for France; Named it Louisiana in honor of Louis XIV

• Henry Hudson (Dutch hired, English)

• Bartolomeu Dias (Portugal)

• Robert Cavelier de La Salle (France)

• Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (Spain)

1519 - conquistador landed on east coast of Mexico; 1521 - conquered the Aztec empire

• Juan de Oñate (Spain)

• Vasco da Gama (Portugal)

• Hernan Cortes (Spain)

• Francisco Pizarro (Spain)

1487 - sailed around southern most point of Africa; King John called point Cape of good hope.

• Bartolomeu Dias (Portugal)

• Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (Spain)

• Juan Ponce de Leon (Spain)

• Jacques Cartier (French)

1524 - looked for northern route; Explored Nova Scotia & the Carolina;

• Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (Spain)

• Vasco Nunez de Balboa (Spain)

• Giovanni de Verrazano (France)

• John Cabot (England)

Six months after de Gama; left Portugal W/13 ships to India; Went way off course reaching land now called Brazil; claimed land for

Portugal; Went on to India & returned W/spices & other goods.

• Louis Joliet (fur trader) & Jacques Marquette (Priest)

• Ferdinand Magellan (Spain)

• Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (Spain)

• Pedro Alvares Cabral (Portugal)

1000 A.D.1st sail to the Americas; explored a land west of Greenland

• Giovanni de Verrazano (France)

• John Cabot (England)

• Leif Erickson (Viking)

• Vasco Nunez de Balboa (Spain)