European explorers

unit 1 us history

Christopher columbus

Spain, accidentally discovered new world and believed he was in the indes

John Cabot

England, discovered newfoundland in canada

Juan Ponce de Leon

Spain, claimed Florida for Spain and became governor of puerto rico searched for fountain of youth

Hernan Cortes

Spain, took present-day mexico city from the aztecs

Jacques Cartier

France, discovered beaver fur

Francisco Pizarro

Spain, took over the incan empire in Peru

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado

Spain, searched for legendary golden cities called the seven cities of cibola

Samuel de Champlain

France, sailed up the st. lawrence river and built a trading post called quebec

Henry Hudson

Netherland, discovered hudson river

Robert Cavelier de la Salle

France, explored mississippi river and claimed the lousiana territory for France

Walter Raleigh

English explorer, soldier, and writer who sponsored the Roanoke Colony in the late 1500s, aiming to establish England's first permanent settlement in the New World, though the colony ultimately mysteriously vanished.

Ralph Lane

governor of the first English Roanoke Colony in 1585, overseeing the settlement's struggles with food shortages, conflicts with Native Americans, and the failed search for gold before the colonists returned to England.

John White

governor of the 1587 Roanoke Colony, leading English settlers—including women and children—and famously returning to England for supplies, only to find the colony mysteriously vanished, leaving the word "CROATOAN" as a clue.

John Smith

English soldier and leader of the Jamestown Colony, taking control in 1608, enforcing "no work, no food," maintaining peace with the Powhatan through Pocahontas, and helping the struggling settlement survive its early hardships.

John Rolfe

English settler in Jamestown who is credited with introducing tobacco cultivation as a cash crop, helping the colony achieve economic stability, and marrying Pocahontas, which helped establish temporary peace with the Powhatan tribe.

Squanto

Helped the Pilgrims in Plymouth survive by teaching them how to plant crops, fish, and hunt, and attended the first thanksgiving.

Pocahontas

Native American woman of the Powhatan tribe who helped maintain peace between the Jamestown colonists and her people, famously assisted John Smith, and later married John Rolfe, creating a temporary alliance between the English settlers and the Powhatan.

Peter Minuit

Dutch colonial leader who is best known for purchasing Manhattan Island from Native Americans in 1626 and serving as the director of the New Netherland colony, helping establish New Amsterdam (later New York City).

Peter Stuyvesant

nicknamed "Old Silver Nails" or "Peg Leg Pete" for his wooden leg, was the last Dutch director-general of New Netherland (1647-1664), known for strengthening the colony before it was surrendered to the English and became New York.