1. European Exploration
“New World, Here We Come!”

2. Ferdinand Magellan
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78F/magellan.htm

3. Amerigo Vespucci
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http://library.thinkquest.org/J002678F
/vespucci.htm

4. Juan Ponce de Leon
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5. Henry Hudson
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4/hudson.html

6. Vasco Nunez de Balboa
• Spanish Conquistador
• First European to see the
Eastern part of the Pacific
Ocean in 1513.
• He was searching for
treasures (pearls and gold)
• He traveled the ocean, with
Francisco Pizarro, claiming all
the land that touched it for
Spain.
• Balboa was charged with
treason against Spain
(although he was innocent and
had been framed by a friend)
• Franciso arrested Balboa. He
was found guilty and publicly
beheaded in January, 1519

7. John Cabot (about 1450-1499)
• He was an Italian born English
explorer and navigator.
• Cabot sailed to Canada in 1497
commanding the small ship called
“Matthew.”
• He landed near Newfoundland on
June 24, 1497,
• Cabot claimed the land for England.
• He explored the Canadian coastline
and named many of its islands and
capes.
• The mission’s purpose was to
search for a Northwest passage
across North America to Asia (a
seaway to Asia).
• Cabot was unsuccessful, although
he thought that he had reached
northeastern Asia.

8. Sebastian Cabot (1474-1557?)
• He was an explorer, mapmaker, and
navigator.
• He was employed by the English.
• His father was John Cabot.
• For Spain, he began a trip around the
world (1526-1529)
• Hostile natives and lack of food forced
him to return to Spain.
• His trip was deemed unsuccessful,
and he was banished from Spain to
Africa for two years (this punishment
was later changed to one year)
• He began to work for the English,
searching for a water passage across
the north of Asia.
• On this voyage he sailed as far as
northwestern Russia.
• This expedition resulted in a
successful trade agreement between
England and Russia.

9. Jacques Cartier (1491-1557)
• French explorer who led three
expeditions to Canada in 1534,
1535, and 1541.
• He was looking for a route to the
Pacific through North America (a
Northwest Passage) but did not
find one.
• Cartier paved the way for French
exploration of North America
• Cartier sailed along the St.
Lawrence River.
• He tried to start a settlement in
Quebec (in 1541) but it was
abandoned after a terribly cold
winter.
• He named the entire region
Canada.

10. Samuel de Champlain (1567?-1635)
• French explorer and navigator who
mapped much of northeastern North
America who started a settlement in
Quebec.
• Champlain also discovered the lake
named for him (Lake Champlain) and
was important in establishing and
administering the French colonies in the
New World.
• He set up a fur trading center in
Quebec.
• Champlain befriended the Huron Indians
and even helped them fight the Iroquois.
• Champlain became governor of
Quebec.
• He died of a stroke on December 25,
1635.
Champlain befriending the Huron
Indians

11. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)
• Italian explorer who sailed across the Atlantic
Ocean in 1492 hoping to find an all water
route to India (in order to trade for spices).
• He made a total of four trips to the Caribbean
and South America during the years 1492-
1505.
• Columbus sailed for the King and Queen of
Spain.
• On his first trip he landed on an island called
Guanahani, but Columbus later renamed it
San Salvador. He and his men were met by
the local Taino Indians, many of whom were
captured by Columbus’ men and later sold
into slavery. Columbus meets the
• Columbus thought he had made it to Asia, Taino Indians
and called the area the Indies, and called its
inhabitants Indians.

12. Christopher Columbus:
second and third voyage
• On a second, larger expedition (Sept. 25, 1493–June 11,
1496), sailed with 17 ships and 1,200 to 1,500 men to
find gold and capture Indians as slaves in the Indies.
Columbus sailed around Hispaniola and along the length
of southern Cuba. He spotted and named the island
Dominica on November 3, 1493.
• On a third expedition (May 30, 1498-October 1500),
Columbus sailed further south, to Trinidad and Venezula
(including the mouth of the Orinoco River). Columbus
was the first European since the Viking Leif Ericsson to
set foot on the mainland of America.

13. The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria

14. Christopher Columbus: 4th voyage
• On his fourth and last
expedition (May 9, 1502-
Nov.7, 1504), Columbus
sailed to Mexico,
Honduras and Panama
(in Central America) and
Santiago (Jamaica).
• Columbus is buried in
eastern Hispaniola (now
called the Dominican
Republic).