European Explorers

He landed on south America's west coast and killed the Inca ruler, Atahualpa, for gold and silver.

• Francisco Pizarro

• Henry Hudson

• Christopher Columbus

• Jean Nicolet

English Sea Captain who explored the Hudson Bay and was the first to map out the Hudson River and the North Atlantic.

• Francisco Pizarro

• Henry Hudson

• Samuel de Champlain

• Hernan cortes

He was a Spanish missionary who wrote about how Native Americans had sophisticated cities. He also spoke up against the unfair treatment of Native Americans by the Spanish.

• Francisco de Toledo
• Juan de Pineda
• Bartolomé de las Casas
• Hernán Cortés

First European to reach Florida looking for the fountain of youth and founded a colony.

• Hernán Cortés
• Christopher Columbus
• Juan Ponce de León
• Ferdinand Magellan

He sailed west to find the West Indies and claimed land for Spain in the Bahamas, Central and North America.

• Hernán Cortés
• Ferdinand Magellan
• Vasco da Gama
• Christopher Columbus

He traveled north of Mexico towards Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado looking for the seven cities of gold.

• Christopher Columbus
• Juan Ponce de León
• Francisco Vázquez de Coronado
• Hernán Cortés

He was the first French explorer to see Lakes Huron, Ontario, Erie and Superior.

• Etienne Brule

• Jacques Cartier
• Jean Nicolet

• Christopher Columbus

French explorer who established a fur trading post at Quebec.

• Samuel de Champlain
• Jean Nicolet

• Henry Hudson
• Jacques Cartier

Followed route of Brule, first to see Lake Michigan

• Jean Nicolet

• Francisco Pizarro

• Christopher Columbus

• Ferdinand Magellan

Italian Explorer who traveled from North Carolina to the most important river in North America- the Hudson River.

• Ferdinand Magellan
• Giovanni da Verrazzano
• Christopher Columbus
• Marco Polo