The Age of Exploration: Notable Explorers

Flashcards featuring key explorers from the Age of Exploration, including their nationalities and notable facts about their voyages.

Christopher Columbus

An explorer from Spain (Italian from birth) who led four voyages across the Atlantic beginning in 1492, reaching the Americas. He led four voyages that ultimately connected Europe to the New World in search of a Western sea route to the Indies, but reached the Americas instead, opening up a new era of exploration and colonization.

John Cabot

An explorer from England who made landfall in 1497, claiming Newfoundland (present day Canada) for England. He became the first European to explore the coast of N. America since the Vikings, paving the way for future British colonization.

Amerigo Vespucci

An Italian explorer who sailed along South America's coast from 1499 to 1502 and recognized it as a separate continent on behalf of Spain/Portugal and contributed to the naming of America.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

A Spanish explorer who crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513, the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas.

Ferdinand Magellan

A Spanish explorer who led the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe, beginning in 1519 and became the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean, reaching the Philippines before his death in 1521.

Juan Sebastián Elcano

A Spanish explorer who took command of Magellan's expedition after his death and completed the first circumnavigation of the globe in 1522.

Panfilo de Narvaez

A Spanish explorer whose expedition in 1528 led to his being lost at sea after a disastrous journey.

Francisco Vásquez de Coronado

A Spanish explorer who led an expedition in search of the Seven Cities of Gold from 1540 to 1542. The expedition traveled through the American SW and resulted in the first European sightings of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River.

Giovanni da Verrazzano

An Italian explorer who explored the eastern coast of North America and entered New York Harbor in 1524 on behalf of France, becoming the first European to enter New York harbor therefore known for mapping parts of North America's coastline.

Jacques Cartier

A French explorer who claimed parts of Canada for France and explored the St. Lawrence River from 1534 to 1542 which connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.

Henry Hudson

A Netherlands/English explorer who searched for a northwest passage to Asia and explored the Hudson River and Hudson Bay.

Samuel de Champlain

A French explorer and founder of Quebec, known as the 'Father of New France', who explored northeastern North America from 1603 to 1636.

Hernando de Soto

A Spanish explorer who led the first European expedition deep into the United States, traveling through the southeastern region, including Florida, and is known for discovering the Mississippi River.

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

A Spanish explorer and one of the four survivors of the Narváez failed expedition of 1528, he is known for his journey through the southern United States, particularly Texas, and for his accounts of the Native American cultures he encountered before returning to Mexico City in 1536.

Juan Ponce de Leon

A Spanish explorer known for leading the first European expedition to Florida in 1513, he is often associated with the search for the Fountain of Youth.

Francisco Pizarro

A Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that conquered the Incan Empire in Peru, known for his brutality and the wealth he extracted from the region.

Hernan Cortes

A Spanish conquistador best known for leading the expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire in present-day Mexico in 1521, paving the way for Spanish colonization.