Christopher Columbus
• SPAIN
• West Indies
• 1492
• Enslaved natives
• “Discovered”
America
Amerigo Vespucci
• SPAIN
• South America
• 1499/1501
• German mapmaker
named the Americas
after him. (Amerigo
Vespucci)
Vasco Nunez Balboa
•SPAIN
•Panama
•1513
•First European to
see the Pacific
Ocean
Ferdinand Magellan
SPAIN
Circumnavigated: To go all the
way around the world
1519-1522
Died on expedition, but his crew
kept sailing.
Juan Ponce De Leon
SPAIN
Puerto Rico and Florida
1508-1513
Searched for Fountain of Youth
in Florida
Hernando De
Soto
SPAIN
Tampa Bay, Florida and
the Southeast United States
1539-1542
Discovered the Mississippi
River
Died on his journey
John Cabot
ENGLAND
Newfoundland, Canada
1497-1498
Searched for Northwest Passage – water
route through North America from the
Atlantic to the Pacific (It did not exist!)
Jacques Cartier
FRANCE
St. Lawrence River, Canada
1534
Claimed areas for France
Henry Hudson
The Netherlands (DUTCH)
New York, Hudson River, Canada
1609
Hudson River and Hudson Bay
named for him