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1000
Leif Eriksson
Leif Eriksson explored lands west of Greenland in about the year 1000. -
1487
Bartholomeu Dias
Bartholomeu Dias set out from Lisbon with 2 small caravels and a supply ship. -
Aug 3, 1493
Christopher Columbus
Columbus set sails from Palos, he had 2 small ships, the Nina and the Pinta, and a larger one, the Santa Maria. -
1497
John Cabot
Italian sailor John Cabot, sailing for the English, searched for a passage to the Pacific Ocean along the coast of Canada and Newfoundland. This became the basis of England's claim to North America. -
1497
Vasco Da Gama
Vasco Da Gama set sail from Portugal with four ships, headed for Africa. -
1499
Amerigo Vespucci
Amerigo Vespucci led a voyage funded by Spain. -
1500
Pedro Alvares Cabral
Pedro Alvares Cabral, Portuguese navigator who is generally credited as the first European to reach Brazil. -
1513
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
Vasco Nunez de Balboa was a Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador. He is best known for having crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean. -
1519
Hernan Cortes
Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire that has ruled the region. -
1520
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who was sailing for Spain, reached the southernmost tip of South America. -
1521
Francisco Pizarro
Francisco Pizarro controlled most of the vast and wealthy Inca Empire while Cortes went to jail. -
1524
Giovanni de Varrazano
Giovanni de Varrazano explored the coast of North America from present-day Nova Scotia down to the Carolina's. -
1528
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was part of a Spanish expedition to Florida. -
1534
Jacques Cartier
Frenchman Jacques Cartier sailed down the Saint Lawrence river all the way to present-day Montreal, claiming lands for France. -
1538
Hernando de Soto
Hernando de Soto led an expedition to explore Florida and what is today the southern of United States. -
1540
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado travels took him through northern Mexico and present-day Arizona and New Mexico, until his expedition reached a Zuni settlement in 1540. -
1542
Juan Cabrillo
The Spanish explorer Juan Cabrillo was first to sight what we know call California in 1542. -
1565
Juan Ponce de Leon
Juan Ponce de Leon exploration led to the first Spanish settlement in what is now United States- a fort the Spanish built at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565. -
Henry Hudson
The English captain Henry Hudson led Dutch expedition to present-day New York. -
Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette
Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette traveled the Mississippi River by canoe. -
Robert Cavelier de La Salle
Robert Cavelier de La Salle followed the Mississippi all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. He claimed the region for France, calling it Louisiana in honor of Louis XIV.
