Discovery of America Fact File |
Facts | Name of Explorer | Sponsor Country | Date | Facts about the Explorers and the Discovery of America | |
Discovery of America Fact 1 | Leif Ericson | Norway | ca1000 | Leif Ericson was a Northman, the son of Eric the Red who had founded a colony in Greenland. Leif Ericson was the first European to visit the New World. He found many grape-vines and called it Vinland or Wineland
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Discovery of America Fact 2 | Christopher Columbus | Spain | 1492 | Christopher Columbus was searching for a new trade route to China (Cathay). Columbus took possession of the new land for Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Aragon and Castile
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Discovery of America Fact 3 | John Cabot | England | 1497 | John Cabot sailed from Bristol, England, he crossed the North Atlantic and reached the coast of America north of Nova Scotia. Like Columbus Cabot thought North America was China. John Cabot claimed the land for England
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Discovery of America Fact 4 | Amerigo Vespucci | Spain | 1499 | Amerigo Vespucci demonstrated that the New World was not Asia but a previously-unknown fourth continent.
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Discovery of America Fact 5 | Vasco de Balboa | Spain | 1513 | Vasco de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean to become the first European to lead an expedition to reach the Pacific from the New World
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Discovery of America Fact 6 | Ponce de Leon | Spain | 1513
| Juan Ponce de Leon sailed around the southern end of Florida and back to the West Indies in 1513. In 1521 Ponce de Leon visited Florida again and was wounded by an Indian arrow, and returned home to die.
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Discovery of America Fact 7 | Ferdinand Magellan | Portugal | 1519 | Ferdinand Magellan led the first expedition around the world, sailing through the Straits of Magellan and entered the Pacific Ocean
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Discovery of America Fact 8 | Hernando Cortes | Spain | 1519 | Hernando Cortes began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas and conquered the Aztec empire.
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Discovery of America Fact 9 | Giovanni da Verrazzano | France | 1524 | Giovanni da Verrazzano was Italian born and led the first French expedition to America. He explored the coast of North America between the Carolinas and Newfoundland, including New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay
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Discovery of America Fact 10 | Jacques Cartier | France | 1534 | Jacques Cartier explored the coast from the Cape Fear River to Nova Scotia. He visited the Gulf of St. Lawrence and sailed up the St. Lawrence River to Montreal
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Discovery of America Fact File |
Discovery of America Fact File
The facts file is a chart containing fast, interesting information and list of the names of the explorers who played important roles in the discovery of America.
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Amerigo Vespucci arrives in the New World
Discovery of America Fact File |
Facts | Name of Explorer | Sponsor Country | Date | Facts about the Explorers and the Discovery of America | |
Discovery of America Fact 11 | Hernando de Soto | Spain | 1539 | Hernando de Soto explored the southeastern United States from Tampa Bay to to South Carolina and was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River
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Discovery of America Fact 12 | Francisco Vasquez de Coronado | Spain | 1540 | Francisco Vasquez de Coronado visited New Mexico and other parts of what are now the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542. He discovered the Great Plains of Kansas. Coronado had hoped to conquer the mythical Seven Cities of Gold
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Discovery of America Fact 13 | Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo
| Spain | 1542 | Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo led the first European expedition to explore the upper California coast | |
Discovery of America Fact 14 | Jean Ribault | France | 1562 | Jean Ribault explored the Carolina coasts and Florida. Jean Ribault became a colonizer of what would become the southeastern United States
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Discovery of America Fact 15 | Sir John Hawkins | England | 1562 | John Hawkins carried cargoes of negro slaves from Africa to the West Indies and sold them to the Spanish planters
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Discovery of America Fact 16 | Sir Francis Drake | England | 1577 | John Hawkins's cousin, Francis Drake made his famous voyage round the world in his ship the Pelican which was later re-named as the Golden Hind. Francis Drake repaired his ship, off the coast of California, and returned home by the way of the Cape of Good Hope
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Discovery of America Fact 17 | Sir Walter Raleigh | England | 1578 | In 1578, Raleigh sailed to America with explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert, his half brother. In 1584 Sir Walter provided the backing that led to the establishment of the Virginia colony of Roanoke Island and the introduction of tobacco and potatoes in England.
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Discovery of America Fact 18 | Henry Hudson | England | 1609 | Sir Henry Hudson was famous for the discovery of the Hudson River, the Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay | |
Discovery of America Fact 19 | Samuel de Champlain | France | 1603 | Samuel de Champlain was the Founder of Quebec City and discovered Lake Champlain on the border between present day northern New York and Vermont.
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Discovery of America Fact File |
Discovery of America - The Naming and Origin of the Name
An important part in the history and Discovery of America was the facts behind the name. What was the origin of the name? The name 'America' derives from the Latin version of the first name of the early explorer, Amerigo Vespucci. But who was responsible for the naming of the New World?
The man responsible for naming the land, and the origin of the name, was a German called Martin Waldseemuller. Martin Waldseemuller was working on a world map, based on the work of Ptolemy. Martin Waldseemuller had read of the voyages of discovery made by Amerigo Vespucci and realised that the New World was two continents. Martin Waldseemuller named the new continent after Amerigo Vespucci. Martin Waldseemuller printed a wood block map, called "Carta Mariana", with the name "America" spread across the southern continent of the New World.
Martin Waldseemuller printed and sold 1000 copies of the map across Europe. The name stuck, and when the second huge land mass of North America was discovered the names North and South America were applied to the two continents. In 1538 a world map was produced by Gerardus Mercator which was the first to include the names of North America and South America on the two continents.
The Discovery of America - The Geradus Mercator World Map
The Discovery of America - Close-up view of Mercator's Map showing the names given
The Discovery of America
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Discovery and exploration of the New World
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