Explorers Notes

Circa 1000 C.E. – Leif Eiriksson lands in Newfoundland (Canada) • Norse or Viking explorer probably born in Iceland - Scandinavia • Searching for new land and treasures (Vikings were famous explorers) • Landed in what they called Vinland • Abandoned settlement for unknown reasons

• Scandinavian Folklore old Norse sagas or songs for the last 1,000 C • Scandinavian Folklore old Norse sagas or songs for the last 1,000 C.E. about Lief Eiriksson discovering Vinland • proof was found in 1960 when two Norwegian Explorers discovered the remains of a Viking site in Newfoundland, Canada

1492 C.E. – Columbus lands in the West Indies • Italian explorer working for Queen Isabella of Spain • Searching for quicker route to East Indies in Asia to get spices, silk and other desired goods • landed in Hispaniola, This area became known as West Indies, today the Caribbean

• his voyages to the Caribbean resulted in gold, enslaved natives, and the spread of Christianity. • The Spanish quickly established colonies in the Caribbean and in South America

Spain brought the first African enslaved peoples to the Americas in the Caribbean to work on the plantations - Triangle Trade. brought diseases which American Indians had no immunity to. millions died, Europeans could colonize easily, said God was on their side.

1524 C.E. – Giovanni de Verrazano • lands in Carolina. Italian explorer working for French • Landed near Cape Fear • Thought the Pamlico Sound was the Pacific Ocean • Traveled north, stopping near the future New York and Rhode Island where he met the Wampanoag.

1539 C.E. – Hernando de Soto lands near Florida • By 1520s, Spain had conquered people from Cuba to Mexico and found Pacific Ocean • Also searching for quicker route to the East Indies in Asia, richest market in the world • Landed in Carolina by 1540 and met Catawba and Cherokee in Appalachian Mountains

• De Soto stole, cheated them, and treated them badly - he died of fever • Spain gave up colonizing Carolina but became rich from colonies in- Florida, South America, and Caribbean

1580s – English under Queen Elizabeth I • English and Spanish were the two most powerful countries at the end of the 16th Century • Spain brought tons of gold from Americas • English wanted to stop Spain, Queen Elizabeth allowed privateers (legal Pirates) to plunder (steal) from Spanish ships

• Queen Elizabeth I gave Sir Walter Raleigh a charter to establish permanent colonies in the Americas • Roanoke seemed perfect for English privateer ships to spend winter because it was near the Spanish colony of Florida and hidden behind barrier islands.