| Explorers |
Country Represented |
Year of Exploration |
Journey
|
| 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
|