The Explorers

1. The Explorers

2. John Cabot (about 1450-1499) • Italian (but moved to England in 149) • At the request of King Henry VII of England, • Sailed to Canada in 1497 • Landed near Labrador, Newfoundland, or Cape Breton & claimed the land for England. • 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's expeditions were the first of Britain's claims to Canada. • John Cabot died in England in 1499.

3. HERNAN CORTES • Spanish adventurer and conquistador (he was also a failed law student) who overthrew the Aztec empire and claimed Mexico for Spain (1519-21). • Cortes sailed with 11 ships from Cuba to the Yucatan Peninsula to look for gold, silver, and other treasures. • "discovered" Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire. • He then brutally killed the Aztec emperor Montezuma and conquered his Aztec Empire of Mexico, claiming all of Mexico for Spain in 1521. • Cortés was a hero in his homeland. Cortés was appointed governor of the colony of New Spain

4. Samuel de Champlain (1567?-1635) • French explorer and navigator who mapped much of northeastern North America and started a settlement in Quebec. • Champlain also discovered the lake named for him (Lake Champlain, on the border of northern New York state andVermont, named in 1609 • Sailed up the St. Lawrence River and the Saguenay River; they also explored the Gaspe Peninsula. He returned to France in 1603, and decided to search for a Northwest Passage and to settle the Gaspe Peninsula. • Charted most of the coast of Nova Scotia (to the Bay of Fundy) and down the coast to Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard (MA), and later to Rhode Island  .

5. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) • Italian explorer who sailed for Spain across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, hoping to find a 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 1492-1504. • The First Trip:Columbus sailed for King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain. three ships, the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria • 1492They landed on an island they called Guanahani, but Columbus later renamed it San Salvador. • They were met by the local Taino Indians, many of whom were captured by Columbus' men and later sold into slavery. Columbus thought he had made it to Asia, and called this area the Indies, and called its inhabitants Indians. • While exploring the islands in the area and looking for gold to loot, Columbus' men traveled to the islands of Hispaniola (now divided into Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Cuba, and many other smaller islands. • The Second Trip: 17 ships and 1,200 to 1,500 men to find gold and capture Indians as slaves He spotted and named the island of Dominica on November 3, 1493.

6. The Third Trip (1498-1500): • Trinidad and Venezuela (including the mouth of the Orinoco River). • Columbus was the first European since the Viking Leif Erickson to set foot on the mainland of America. • The Fourth Trip (1502-1504): • Columbus sailed to Mexico, Honduras and Panama (in Central America) and Santiago (Jamaica). • Columbus is buried in eastern Hispaniola (now called the Dominican Republic).

7. James Cook (1728 - 1779) • British explorer and astronomer who went on many expeditions to the Pacific Ocean, the Antarctic, the Arctic, and around the world. • Tahiti on the Endeavor in order to observe Venus(calculate a more accurate distance between the Earth and the Sun). • Sailed from Plymouth, England, to Brazil, around Cape Horn (the southern tip of South America), and to Tahiti • Cook sailed to New Zealand in 1769, where he and his crew fought with the Maori (the earliest inhabitants of New Zealand) • He then sailed to and mapped eastern Australia • Cook's second expedition(1772-1775) took him to Antarctica and to Easter Island

8. Cook's last expedition (1776-1779) was a search for a Northwest Passage • Capetown, South Africa, • Christmas Islands (arriving on December 25, 1777, hence the name). • He then sailed to and named the Sandwich Islands (named for the Earl of Sandwich, one of Cook's patrons). • Cook was killed by a mob on Feb. 14, 1779, on the Sandwich Islands (now called Hawaii). At the time, he was trying to take the local chief hostage to get the natives to return a stolen sailboat. The ship returned to England without Cook on October 4, 1780. • Cook was the first ship's captain to stop the disease scurvy (now known to be caused by a lack of vitamin C) among sailors by providing them with fresh fruits. Before this, scurvy had killed or incapacitated many sailors on long trips.

9. Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) • Portuguese explorer who discovered an ocean route from Portugal to the East. • DaGama rounded Africa's Cape of Good Hope in 1497, and continued on to India. After many stops in Africa, and problems with Muslim traders who did not want interference in their profitable trade routes, da Gama reached Calicut, India May 1498. • At first, da Gama and his trading were well-received, but this did not last for long. Da Gama left India on August 29, 1498, after he was told to pay a large tax and leave all of his trading goods. When he left, da Gama took his goods with him, together with some Indian hostages. • King Manuel I of Portugal then sent da Gama, now an Admiral, on another expedition to India (1502-1503). On this second trip, da Gama took 20 armed ships (anticipating problems from Muslim traders). On this voyage, da Gama killed hundreds of Muslims, often brutally, in order to demonstrate his power.

10. Juan Ponce de Leon (1460?-1521) • Spanish explorer and soldier who was the first European to set foot in Florida • He also established the oldest European settlement in Puerto Rico and discovered the Gulf Stream (a current in the Atlantic Ocean). • Ponce de Leon was searching for the legendary fountain of youth and other riches. • Ponce de Leon was then given the right to find and take the island ofBimini(in the Bahamas); he was searching for riches and the fountain of youth (a legendary spring that gave people eternal life and health). • He reached the east coast of Florida (St. Augustine) in April 1513. • Ponce de Leon named the land "Pascua de Florida" (feast of flowers) because they first spotted land on April 2, 1513, Palm Sunday. He then claimed the land for Spain.

11. Bartolomeu Dias (1457-1500) • Portuguese navigator • Explored Africa's coast. • In 1488, Dias led the first European expedition to sail around Africa's Cape of Good Hope • This breakthrough of circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope opened up lucrative trading routes from Europe to Asia.

12. Hernando De Soto (1500?-1542) • Spanish explorer who sailed the Atlantic Ocean • First European to explore Florida and the southeastern US. • De Soto lived for a while in Nicaragua, prospering by engaging in the slave trade. • Pizarro enlisted de Soto for an expedition to Peru (1531-1532). During this expedition they met and killed Atahualpa, the ruler of the Incas, and conquered the Inca empire. • De Soto returned to Spain in 1536, and was granted the rights to conquer Florida and was named governor of Cuba in 1537.

13. Henry Hudson (1565-1611) • English explorer and navigator who explored parts of the Arctic Ocean and northeastern North America. • The Hudson River, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay are named for Hudson. • Hudson was then hired by the Dutch East India Company in 1609, to try to find the Northwest Passage farther south. His reports resulted in many Dutch settlements in the area. • A 1610-1611 trip through the Hudson Strait and into Hudson Bay ended in a mutiny. Hudson died in 1611 after his crew mutinied and left Hudson, his son, and seven crew members adrift in a small, open boat in Hudson Bay.

14. Zheng He • Born: c. 1371 Birthplace: China Religion: Muslim • An admiral in the Imperial Chinese navy • Zheng He made seven voyages to Southeast Asia, India, and Africa to explore and trade. • Also traveled to Vietnam and India with a fleet of Chinese boats known as junks. • He carried a cargo of silk, porcelain, and lacquer ware that the Chinese wanted to trade for pearls, spices, ivory, and timber. • On his return trip, he built a warehouse complex near the Strait of Malacca for storing and cataloging the products he acquired. • On another expedition, Zheng acquired a giraffe in the kingdom of Bengal, which had been a gift from an East African ruler. The giraffe was sent to the Chinese court, where it was welcomed as a unicorn. • Zheng meanwhile sailed to the East African nation of Somalia , where he obtained lions, leopards, ostriches, zebras, and other animals, which were viewed with amazement in China. • Zheng probably died during his seventh voyage and was buried at sea.

15. Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) • Portuguese explorer who led the first expedition that sailed around the Earth (1519-1522). • Magellan also named the Pacific Ocean (the name means that it is a calm, peaceful ocean). • Early in his career, Magellan sailed to India and to the Far East many times via Africa's Cape of Good Hope. He sailed for his native Portugal, but a dispute with the Portuguese King Manoel II turned him against the Portuguese. Thereafter, he sailed for Spain. • Magellan was killed towards the end of the voyage, on the Island of Mactan in the Philippines, during a battle with the natives. • The Basque navigator Juan Sebastián de Elcano (del Cano) completed the trip.

16. Francisco Pizarro (1478-1541) • Spanish conquistador who traveled through much of the Pacific coast of America along Peru. • He "discovered" the Incan empire and conquered it brutally and quickly, stealing immense hoards of gold, silver, and other treasures. • Pizarro captured Atahuallpa, the 13th and last emperor of the Incas. • Atahuallpahad just won a civil war against his half-brother (Huáscar), and had executed Huáscar and his family. Atahuallpa had invited Pizarro to a celebratory feast, thinking that the Spanish were not much of a threat. Pizarro ambushed Atahuallpa and killed thousands of his men. • Atahuallpaoffered a huge ransom for his own release, but Pizarro took the treasure and had Atahuallpa strangled on Aug. 29, 1533; this was the end of the Incan empire. • Pizarro founded Lima (which he called Ciudad de los Reyes, which means "City of the Kings"). • Pizarro was assassinated in Lima, Peru, in 1541, by followers of Pedro de Almagro (Cortes' captain) who wanted to seize Lima for its riches.

17. Giovanni daVerrazzano (1485-1528) • Italian navigator who, in 1524, explored the northeast coast of North America from Cape Fear, North Carolina to Maine while searching for a Northwest passage to Asia. • Verrazzanosailed for King François-premier (Francis I) of France. • Verrazzano'sbrother, GirolamodaVerrazzano, was a mapmaker who accompanied Giovanni on his voyage, and mapped the voyage. • Verrazzanowas killed and eaten by Carib Indians in 1528. • The Verrazzano Narrows Bridge, a suspension bridge that spans New York Harbor, connecting Brooklyn and Staten Island (New York, USA), was named for Verrazzano.