Explorers and Conquistadors

Prince Henry the Navigator- Sponsored by Portugal

  • Was NOT an explorer himself

  • Funded explorers and established navigation school

  • Son of Portugal’s King

Christopher Columbus- Sponsored by Spain

  • Sailed west and laned in the Bahamas, thought he was in Asia

  • Established permeant contact between Eastern and Western Hemisphere

  • Columbus rediscovered the Americas causing multiple nations to travel and set up colonies in the Americas

Vasco da Gama- Sponsored by Portugal

  • Paved the way for the entrance of European Joint stock company in the Indiana Ocean

  • Opened a major trade route to Asia

  • Established trading posts along the West Coast of Africa

  • Frist to sail the Indiana Ocean

Bartolomeu Dias- Sponsored by Portugal

  • Expeditions down the west coast of Africa, desired riches and spread of Christianity

  • First to sail around Cape of Good Hope

  • Helped build Ships

Ferdinand Magellan- Sponsored by Spain

  • First to cross the Pacific

  • First person to circumnavigate the globe

  • Magellan died because he was trying to convert tribes to Christianity: with force

    • Lapu Lapu killed Magellan, and his men did not help him

Sir Frances Drake- Sponsored by England

  • Pirate meant to steal from the Spanish

  • Had a role in the defeat of the Spanish Armada

  • First English person to circumnavigate the globe

  • Became a knight

Jacques Cartier- Sponsored by France

  • Named Canda

  • Explored St. Lawrence River, that became French

  • Named Montreal

Hernando Cortes- Sponsored by Spain

  • Conquered Aztec Empire

  • Built New Mexico establishes Spain in New World

Francisco Pizarro- Sponsored by Spain

  • Spanish conquistador

  • Conquered the Inca Empire after capturing Atahualpa, the Inca emperor