Explorers

Marco Polo

(1254-1324) Italian explorer and author. He made numerous trips to China and returned to Europe to write of his journeys. He is responsible for much of the knowledge exchanged between Europe and China during this time period.

Christopher Columbus

An Italian navigator who was funded by the Spanish Government to find a passage to the Far East. He is given credit for discovering the "New World," even though at his death he believed he had made it to India. He made four voyages to the "New World." The first sighting of land was on October 12, 1492, and three other journeys until the time of his death in 1503.

John Cabot

Italian explorer who led the English expedition in 1497 that discovered the mainland of North America and explored the coast from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland (ca. 1450-1498)

Jacques Cartier

French explorer who explored the St. Lawrence river and laid claim to the region for France (1491-1557)

Samuel de Champlain

French explorer in Nova Scotia who established a settlement on the site of modern Quebec (1567-1635)

Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese explorer who found a sea route to the Spice Island by sailing around the American continent. His crew was the first to circumnavigate the world.

Hernan Cortés

(1485 - 1547) Led expedition of 600 Spanish soldiers to coast of Mexico in 1519; conquistador responsible for defeat of Aztec Empire; captured Tenochtitlan.

Francisco Pizarro

After receiving a commission from Emperor Charles V, this explorer went with his partner Diego de Almagro, the priest Hernando de Luque, and a small force to Peru (1530). The invaders marched to the city Cajamarca, where they seized the emperor Atahualpa and held him for ransom. Even though the Incas brought the Spanish a ransom of precious metal, this explorer killed Atahualpa and captured the Incan capital, Cuzco. In 1535 he founded Lima, where he was murdered six years later.

Sir Francis Drake

Elizabeth I of England sent this explorer to find the unknown southern continent. His ship was the Pelican, which he renamed the Golden Hind. After sailing through the Strait of Magellan, he sailed up the western coast of South, Central, and North America as far as California, capturing Spanish ships and treasure along the way. After circumnavigating the globe and returning to England (1580), this explorer fought against the Spanish Armada (1588).

Henry Hudson

An English explorer who explored for the Dutch. He claimed the Hudson River around present day New York and called it New Netherland. He also had the Hudson Bay named for him

James Cook

English navigator who claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain and discovered several Pacific islands (1728-1779).

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

Their expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, departed from Camp Wood (near St. Louis) in 1804, sailing up the Missouri River. The group wintered at Fort Mandan in what is now North Dakota, where they met Sacajawea, the Shoshone wife of the fur trader Toussaint Charbonneau. The group's last winter was spent at Fort Clatsop, along the Columbia River in Oregon near the Pacific.