Unit 4 - 16 Main European Explorers

First European to reach India by sea, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope (1497-1499).

Vasco da Gama

Credited with the first recorded European expedition to Florida, which he named, while searching for the Fountain of Youth.

Ponce de Leon

His expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe (though he died in the Philippines during the voyage).

Ferdinand Magellan

Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire (1519-1521).

Hernan Cortes

Spanish conquistador who led the conquest of the Inca Empire in modern-day Peru (1530s).

Francisco Pizarro

English sea captain who completed the second circumnavigation of the globe and raided Spanish ships and settlements.

Francis Drake

English explorer who helped establish Jamestown, Virginia; his leadership is credited with saving the colony.

John Smith

English explorer who searched for the Northwest Passage; explored the river and bay that now bear his name for the Dutch.

Henry Hudson

French explorer who claimed what is now Canada for France and was the first to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

Jacques Cartier

First European to sail around the southern tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope), opening the sea route to Asia (1488).

Bartolomeu Dias

His 1492 voyage initiated the permanent European colonization of the Americas while searching for a western route to Asia.

Christopher Columbus

First European to navigate the entire length of the Amazon River (1541-1542), which he named.

Francisco de Orellana

Led a major Spanish expedition through the American Southwest searching for the mythical Seven Cities of Gold (Cíbola).

Francisco Coronado

Led the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States (Southeast), discovering the Mississippi River.

Hernando de Soto

Italian explorer who sailed for England; his 1497 voyage to North America is the earliest known European exploration of the mainland since the Norse.

John Cabot

Italian explorer for whom the Americas are named; his published letters argued that the new lands were a separate continent, not Asia.

Amerigo Vespucci