Explorers of the New World

Searched Florida for the fountain of youth in 1513.

• Ferdinand Magellan
• Christopher Columbus
• Juan Ponce de León
• Hernán Cortés

Claimed land for Spain in the American Southwest while searching for a rich kingdom of gold, silver, and jewels.

• Juan Ponce de León
• Bartolomé de las Casas
• Hernán Cortés
• Francisco Vázquez de Coronado

Destroyed Aztec Empire in 1521.

• Hernán Cortés
• Cortés de León
• Moctezuma II
• Francisco Pizarro

First explorer to circumnavigate the earth in 1519.

• Hernán Cortés
• Vasco da Gama
• Christopher Columbus
• Ferdinand Magellan

Sailed American Southeast and discovered the Mississippi River in 1542.

• Jacques Cartier
• Christopher Columbus
• Hernando de Soto
• Ferdinand Magellan

Wanted to sail west to go east. Given credit for discovering North America in 1492.

• Christopher Columbus
• Ferdinand Magellan
• Vasco da Gama
• Hernán Cortés

Sailed around Africa and made it to India in 1499.

• Christopher Columbus
• Hernán Cortés
• Vasco da Gama
• Ferdinand Magellan

Traveled around the tip of Africa in 1488.

• Vasco da Gama
• Bartolomeu Dias
• Christopher Columbus
• Ferdinand Magellan

Found and settled land in present-day Canada in 1001.

• Leif Erikson
• Ferdinand Magellan
• Christopher Columbus
• Jacques Cartier

Started a school of navigation in 1419.

• Prince Henry the Navigator
• Vasco da Gama
• Christopher Columbus
• Ferdinand Magellan