European Explorers

1394-1460) Prince of Portugal who established an observatory and school of navigation at Sagres and directed voyages that spurred the growth of Portugal's colonial empire.

Prince Henry the Navigator

Portuguese explorer who in 1488 led the first expedition to sail around the southern tip of Africa from the Atlantic and sight the Indian Ocean.

Bartolomeu Dias

Portuguese explorer. In 1497-1498 he led the first naval expedition from Europe to sail to India, opening an important commercial sea route.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese navigator who led the Spanish expedition of 1519-1522 that was the first to sail around the world

Ferdinand Magellan

Spanish explorer who conquered the Incas in what is now Peru and founded the city of Lima (1475-1541).

Francisco Pizarro

English explorer who claimed Newfoundland for England while looking for Northwest Passage.

John Cabot

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

Jacques Cartier

Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China (1451-1506).

Christopher Columbus

An English explorer who explored for the English and 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.

Henry Hudson

A mapmaker and explorer who said that America was a new continent, so America was named after him.

Amerigo Vespucci

Spanish explorer who became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean in 1510 while exploring Panama.

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico (1485-1547).

Hernando Cortes-

The last Aztec emperor in Mexico who was overthrown and killed by Hernando Cortes (1466-1520).

Montezuma II

Leader of the Incan nation in Peru. Was conquered by Francisco Pizzaro in 1533, was killed also.

Atalhualpa

Claimed Brazil for Portugal n 1500. He had intended to follow Da Gama but was blown off course.

Pedro Cabral