1. EUROPEAN EXPLORERS

3. SIR FRANCES DRAKE Country of birth: England (1540)
Country sponsored: England
Explored for: gold
Doesn’t get any initial credit – Queen Elizabeth doesn’t want a war with Spain
Area explored/achievements:
1570s: began voyages to the New World
Would attack Spanish settlements and destroy ships
1572: crossed Isthmus of Panama
Saw the Pacific Ocean
1577: Queen Elizabeth of England secretly gives him money to continue voyages
Expeditions around South America, capturing Spanish ships
Circumnavigated the world to avoid Spanish revenge, first Englishman to circumnavigate
Queen knighted him
Known as a pirate to the Spanish “El Drake”
Known as the greatest navigator and privateer and “Mistress of the Seas” to the English

4. FERDINAND MAGELLAN Country of birth: Portugal (1480)
Country sponsored: Spain
Explored for: gold & glory
Area explored/achievements:
Was interested in finding western water route to Spice Islands
1520: landed in Philippine Islands
Waters around the tip of South America “Straits of Magellan”
Convinced the Spanish king Spice Islands would be in “Spanish” half of the world
Treaty of Tordesillas
Magellan’s crew was the first to circumnavigate the world

5. HENRY HUDSON Country of birth: England (1565)
Country sponsored: England & Holland
Explored for: gold & glory
Area explored/achievements:
Discovered the Hudson Strait, Hudson Bay and Hudson River
Explored Arctic Ocean, Greenland and northeastern North America
His crew mutinied him and set him on a small boat

6. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS Country of birth: Italy (1451)
Country sponsored: Spain
Explored for: gold, glory & God
Area explored/achievements:
Wanted to find a short cut to the Spice Islands by sailing west
Landed in San Salvador, present day Bahamas (thought he was in the Spice Islands naming the people “Indians”) / Hispaniola
Visited Puerto Rico, Martinique and Trinidad
BRUTAL towards natives, forcing them to look for gold and precious stones, enslaved hundreds
He always believed he had found a western water route to the Spice Islands
Created the Columbian Exchange

7. FRANCISCO PIZARRO Country of birth: Spain (1470)
Country sponsored: Spain
Explored for: gold & glory
Area explored/achievements:
Joined Balboa’s expedition across Isthmus of Panama to Pacific Ocean
Expeditions into Central America - looking for Incas
Reached Canzmarca where the Inca leader lived
Captured leader (Atahualpa) kept him captive, received thousand pounds of gold and silver as ransom then killed Atahualpa and his men
Founded city of Lima, Peru
Called it Ciudad de los Reyes – Spanish for City of Kings
Very greedy and ruthless conquistador - conquered Incas which helped make Spain the most rich and powerful nation at this time

8. EUROPEAN EXPEDITIONS IN TEXAS

9. ALONZO ALVAREZ DE PINEDA
Country of birth: Spain (1494)
Sponsored by Spain
Explored for: gold & glory
Area explored/achievements:
King sent him to chart (map) and explore the Gulf Coast from Florida to Mexico
His exploration was the first in Texas
Mapped and explored Corpus Christi Bay

10. ROBERT DE LASALLE Country of birth: France (1643)
Country sponsored: France
Explored for: gold & glory
Area explored/achievements:
Explored parts of Canada
The Great Lakes
Claims Mississippi River Basin area for France
Last expedition came back to North America tried to colonize along the Gulf Coast of Mexico
It was full of pirate attacks, hostile natives and bad navigation
Expedition ended up off target creating Fort St. Louis
LaSalle was murdered by one of his men in present-day Navasota, TX
Claimed Louisiana after King Louis XIV

11. ALVAR NUNEZ CABEZA DE VACA
Country of birth: Spain
Country sponsored: Spain
Explored for: gold & glory
Area explored/achievements:
Explores Gulf of Mexico into present day Mexico
Published accounts of his travels including the terrible treatment of natives by the Spanish