Early European Explorers

Explorers  |  Country Represented  |  Year of Exploration  |  Journey

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Leif Ericson |  Vikings (Norway)  |  about 1000  |  Newfoundland
Bartolomeu Dias |  Portugal |  1487-1488  |  First European to round Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa
Christopher Columbus |  Spain |  1492  |  San Salvador and West Indies
John Cabot |  England |  1497  |  Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland
Vasco da Gama |  Portugal |  1497-1498  |  First to reach India from Europe by sea
Amerigo Vespucci |  Spain |  1497-1502  |  South America and West Indies
Pedro Cabral |  Portugal |  1500  |  Sailed around Africa to India; discovered Brazil
Vasco de Balboa |  Spain |  1513  |  First to sight Pacific Ocean
Ferdinand Magellan |  Spain |  1509-1522  |  Led first expedition to sail around the globe, but died mid way
Juan Ponce de Leon |  Spain |  1513  |  Florida
Hernando Cortes |  Spain |  1519-1521  |  Aztec kingdom of Mexico
Giovanni da Verrazano |  France |  1524  |  Eastern coast of North America
Panfilo de Narvaez |  Spain |  1528  |  Florida and Mexico
Francisco Pizarro |  Spain |  1531  |  Inca empire of Peru
Jacques Cartier |  France |  1535  |  St. Lawrence River
Esteban and Father Marcos |  Spain |  1539  |  Canada and Quebec; Zuni pueblos of New Mexico
Hernando DeSoto |  Spain |  1539-1542  |  Mississippi River, American Southeast
Francisco de Coronado |  Spain |  1540-1542  |  American Southwest
Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo |  Spain |  1542  |  California
Sir Francis Drake |  England |  1577-1580  |  Around the world
Samuel de Champlain |  France |  1603-1609  |  The Great Lakes and Quebec
Henry Hudson |  England |  1609  |  Hudson River and Hudson Bay