Download The Explorers John Cabot

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.
HERNAN CORTES
 Spanish adventurer and conquistador (he was also a failed
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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
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  .
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.
 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).
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
 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.
Vasco da Gama (1460-1524)
 Portuguese explorer who discovered an ocean route from
Portugal to the East.
 Da Gama 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.
Juan Ponce de Leon (1460?-1521)
 Spanish explorer and soldier who was the first European to set
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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 of Bimini (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.
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.
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 (15311532). 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.
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.
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.
Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)
 Portuguese explorer who led the first expedition that
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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.
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.
 Atahuallpa had 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.
 Atahuallpa offered 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.
Giovanni da Verrazzano (1485-1528)
 Italian navigator who, in 1524, explored the northeast coast
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of North America from Cape Fear, North Carolina to Maine
while searching for a Northwest passage to Asia.
Verrazzano sailed for King François-premier (Francis I) of
France.
Verrazzano's brother, Girolamo da Verrazzano, was a
mapmaker who accompanied Giovanni on his voyage, and
mapped the voyage.
Verrazzano was 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.