Famous Explorers
This Italian navigator sailed for Spain in 1492, hoping to reach Asia but landed in the Carribean.
Who is Christopher Columbus?
This Spanish explorer landed in Florida in 1513 while searching for gold and a legendary Fountain of Youth.
Who is Juan Ponce de León?
This Portuguese prince (1394-1460) supported mapmakers and sailors and helped start European sea exploration?
Who is Prince Henry the Navigator?
People once thought if you sailed far enough you might fall off the planet. Sailors who proved otherwise helped start this age.
What is the Age of Exploration?
He claimed land for England and searched for the Northwest Passage in 1497.
Who is John Cabot?
In 1497 this Italian explorer sailed for England, explored parts of Canada, and looked for a Northwest Passage.
Who is John Cabot?
In 1519 this Spanish conquistador conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico and claimed riches for Spain.
Who is Hernán Cortés?
In 1434 this Portuguese navigator successfully rounded a feared African cape (Cape Bojador), proving sailors could go further.
Whi is Gil Eanes?
Many early Native American ancestors likely arrived across a frozen land bridge called this.
What is the Bering Land Bridge?
This French explorer's voyages led to France's claim in Canada and eventual settlement at Quebec.
Who is Samuel de Champlain?
He explored the St. Lawrence River for France between 1534 and 1542 and helped France claim lands in Canada.
Who is Jacques Cartier?
Between 1540 and 1542 this Spanish explorer searched the American Southwest for the "Seven Cities of Gold."
Who is Francisco Coronado?
This faster, more maneuverable ship design was promoted by Portuguese explorers and helped long ocean voyages.
What is the caravel?
Scientists found a 10,000-year-old skeleton in a Caribbean sinkhole that may suggest another migration route to this region.
What is Indonesia (or Southeast Asia)?
The Hudson River is named after this explorer who worked for England and the Netherlands.
Who is Henry Hudson?
This explorer's name is on a river and bay in present-day New York and Canada; he searched for a Northwest Passage around 1609-1611.
Who is Henry Hudson?
This Spanish-sponsored voyage across the Atlantic in the late 1400s opened the door for widespread European colonization of the Americas.
What is Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage? or Who is Christopher Columbus?
This Portuguese explorer (1480-1521) is often given credit for a trip that circled the globe, though he died before it finished.
Who is Ferdinand Magellan?
Sailors used this tool (invented around the 13th century) to know direction at sea.
What is the compass?
This explorer's search for the Fountain of Youth made him famous in stories about Florida.
Who is Juan Ponce de Leon?
He helped found Quebec and explored eastern Canada in the early 1600s, building relationships with some indigenous peoples.
Who is Samuel de Champlain?
Name one harmful effect of the arrival of Spanish explorers on Indigenous cultures.
What is colonization, disease spread, loss of land/culture, or forced labor?
This Portuguese sailor opened a sea route to India in the late 1400s, linking Europe with Asian trade by sea.
Who is Vasco da Gama?
Besides flavor, Europeans highly valued this reason for spices making them important in trade.
What is preserving food?
Name the explorer who led an expedition across the American Southwest and looked for the legendary "Seven Cities of Gold."
Who is Francisco Coronado?