Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. His career in exploration started when he was very young. As a teenager he traveled the seas and eventually made Portugal his base.
Columbus came to believe that the East Indies (present-day Indonesia and surrounding islands) could be reached by sailing west through the Atlantic Ocean. He appealed to the kings of Portugal, France, and England to finance a westward trip to the Indies, but all denied his request. After ten years of monumental efforts but fruitless results, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain agreed to finance Columbus in the hopes of acquiring great wealth. On August 3, 1492, Columbus, crew, and three ships, the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, left Palos, Spain, and headed westward.
After stopping in the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, Columbus’s ships hit the open seas.
Covering about 150 miles a day, the trip was long and arduous. The crew was afraid of sea monsters and grew more restless every day that land was not sighted. Columbus offered a reward for the first person to sight land. On October 12, a crew member aboard the Pinta sighted one of the Bahama Islands. Columbus set foot on what he believed was one of the Spice Islands, a group of islands in Asia (now known as Indonesia), where valuable spices and riches came from. He named the land San Salvador. Columbus failed to find the riches he expected and continued to search for China. He next visited Cuba and Hispaniola (Dominican Republic). He encountered native peoples who he named “Indians” because he believed they were
inhabitants of the Indies.
Columbus returned to Spain a hero. He was named Viceroy of the Indies. He soon returned to the New World but never found the riches he expected. Some began to believe that Columbus had found “a new world” rather than a shortcut to the Indies.
Although he wasn’t the first explorer to see the continent, Christopher Columbus is credited with discovering the continent of North America, and he believed until his death that the islands he encountered were in the Asian continent. [6] Under the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents. Columbus's voyages led to the first lasting European contact with the Americas, inaugurating a period of European exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted for several centuries. They had, therefore, an enormous impact in the historical development of the modern Western world.
Juan Ponce de León
Juan Ponce de León was born in 1460 in Santervás, Spain. He was an explorer and fighter from an early age and helped fight the Muslims in southern Spain in the early 1490s. He was on board Christopher Columbus’s second expedition to the Americas in 1493. Rather than
returning to Spain, the adventurer remained at an island called Santo Domingo (now called the Dominican Republic).
De León was soon appointed as the governor of the Higüey region of Santo Domingo. Like many Spanish explorers, he was bloodthirsty for gold. When he heard rumors that a nearby island called Borinquen (now Puerto Rico) was full of gold, he invaded the island and brutally
conquered the natives. He was soon appointed governor of the island but lost his title in 1511 because of his extreme brutality toward the natives.
De León’s misfortunes as governor did not stop him from sailing the seas looking for gold and the Fountain of Youth. After returning to Puerto Rico, de León took three ships and 200 men on a mission to explore lands to the north. De León hoped to find the Fountain of Youth, a mythical spring that was said to make anyone who drank its water young forever. After making several stops at Caribbean islands and conquering the island of Bimini, de León and his men reached the east coast of Florida (St. Augustine) on April 2, 1513. He named the land “Pascua de Florida,” or Feast of Flowers, because he discovered it on Palm Sunday. He claimed all of the land for Spain.
On April 8, 1513, de León and his men left northern Florida and sailed south along the Gulf Stream. After a fight between his men and natives in southern Florida, he sailed to Cuba. He tried to sail back to Bimini but could not find it. De León soon returned to Puerto Rico where he sacked a rebellion of natives against Spanish rule. After returning to Spain, he was named captain general by the king on September 27, 1514.
De León did not return to the New World until 1521 when he once again tried to find the island of Bimini. Instead, de León and his men landed on the Gulf coast of Florida, where they were met by hostile Indians who shot his men with arrows. De León himself was wounded and died a short time after sailing to Havana, Cuba, in July of 1521.
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was born in Sabrosa, Portugal, in 1480 into a noble family. After serving as a court page, his adventurous spirit led him to a career as an explorer. In 1506, Magellan went to the Spice Islands (Indonesia) to participate in several military and exploratory expeditions. In 1512, he made preliminary plans to find a western shortcut to the Spice Islands. Unfortunately, Portugal’s king, Emmanuel, refused to finance his journey, and in 1517, Magellan renounced his Portuguese citizenship. He promptly offered his services to King Charles I of Spain. Charles I agreed to finance Magellan’s trip in the hopes of becoming the king of the richest nation in the world.
On September 20, 1519, Magellan and 237 crew members set sail on five ships from Sanlucar de Barrameda in the hopes of finding a shortcut to the Spice Islands. After three long months of sailing the Atlantic, Magellan and his crew anchored near Rio de Janeiro in the present-day South American nation of Brazil to trade with the locals. As the expedition continued, the weather got worse, and several crew members were executed for trying to take over the ship. Others were starving or suffering from frostbite. As the ships neared the southern tip of South America, one ship smashed into the beach and lost all supplies. Nevertheless, in October of 1520, Magellan and his crew crossed the treacherous straits at the tip of South America, which became known as the Straits of Magellan.
As the expedition passed through the straits, they entered the vast Pacific Ocean, which Magellan himself named for its peacefulness. But then things got worse. The crew suffered from extreme hunger and was forced to survive by eating rats, sawdust, leather, and even maggots. At least 20 men died from disease and starvation. On March 6, the ships finally reached land—the Pacific island of Guam where they were able to collect food and water. Soon, the crew sailed to the Philippine Islands, where they converted natives to Christianity. During an attempt to convert the native chief, Mactan, the chief became upset who had with Magellan’s insistence that he convert, and ordered his warriors to attack. They killed Magellan on April 27, 1521. Most of Magellan’s crew escaped and set sail.
With the loss of their leader, Juan Sebastian del Cano took control of the ship and sailed for Spain.
Only two ships and 47 men remained. Portuguese forces captured one of the ships, leaving the Victoria as the only ship left. Severe storms and Portuguese attacks battered the Victoria. As
Portuguese forces bore down on the expedition near the Cape Verde Islands, del Cano was forced to continue toward Spain without supplies or rest. Finally, on September 8, 1522, the Victoria made it back to Spain with only 18 men surviving, hence completing the first circumnavigation of the world.
Because of this expedition, the full extent (size) of the Earth was realized, since their voyage was 14,460 Spanish leagues. Upon returning they found their date was a day behind, even though they had faithfully maintained the ship's log. They lost one day because they traveled west during their circumnavigation of the globe, opposite to Earth's daily rotation. This caused great excitement at the time and a special delegation was sent to the Pope to explain the oddity to him, so the need for an International Date Line was established.
Coronado, Francisco Vásquez de
Francisco Coronado was born in Salamanca, Spain around 1510. He left home as a teenager because his parents promised their fortune to his brother. He quickly took to exploring. As governor of New Galicia (a province of New Spain in present-day Mexico), Coronado heard stories of seven golden cities along the Pacific Ocean named Cibola and quickly assembled a land and sea expedition. The cities were said to contain houses made out of gold and streets paved with gold. Coronado and a friend, Antonio Mendoza, invested large sums of money in the expedition. In 1540, Coronado, Mendoza, 335 Spaniards, 1300 natives, and four Franciscan monks headed north for the purposes of taking the gold from the Seven Cities of Cibola.
Coronado divided the expedition into small groups that would begin the arduous inland journey.
Coronado and the expedition first crossed into present-day America by following the Zuni River into Cibola (present day New Mexico). Coronado expected to find the fabled seven cities, but instead, found little more than a complex of Zuni Indian pueblos. Nevertheless, a devastated Coronado and his half-starving expedition pushed on into present-day Arizona, where they entered Zuni Indian territory at Hawikuh and demanded entrance into the village. When the Zuni refused, the men of the expedition took their village by force and confiscated all of the food they needed. This incident intimidated Indians of nearby villages, who quickly submitted to the demands of Coronado in future encounters.
From Hawikuh, Coronado sent several scouting parties to search for the Seven Cities of Cibola. The first scouting party raided a Hopi Indian Village, that turned out to be as poor as the Zuni villages.
Although no gold was discovered, members of the expedition learned of the Colorado River that was located to the west. Coronado then sent a second scouting party to find the Colorado River.
Members of this scouting party became the first to find the Colorado River and the magnificent Grand Canyon. They next headed east where they encountered another pueblo village along the Rio Grande in New Mexico. It was near this village called Tiguex, close to present-day Albuquerque, where Coronado and his expedition spent the winter of 1540-1541. During the winter, Coronado clashed with Indians from the village in what came to be known as the Tiguex War. As a result of the war, hundreds of Indians were killed and the pueblo village was destroyed.
During the winter of 1540-1541, Coronado once again heard of a mythical city to the northeast known as Quivira that was said to be full of gold and riches. Coronado and his expedition traveled hundreds of mile to the village of Quivira in present-day Kansas. Once again, Coronado suffered a crushing disappointment when he found the village and there was no gold. Coronado returned to Tiguex and spent another winter there. On June 29, 1541, Coronado held the first ever Christian mass in the interior of the present-day United States near Dodge City, Kansas. The event is commemorated with a large concrete cross known as Coronado’s Cross.
Coronado was soon ordered back to New Spain (Mexico). He remained the governor of New Galicia, but his expeditions had bankrupted him. He died on September 22, 1544 in Mexico City.
John Cabot
John Cabot was most likely born in Italy, some time around the year 1450. In Italy, he is referred to as Giovanni Caboto. Not much is known about his early life except for the fact that he
became a Venetian citizen (resident of Venice) in 1476. In the 1480s, he married a woman named Mattea and had three sons. In the 1490s, he apparently moved to Spain and then England, at least in part, to escape debt accrued in Italy.
After the Columbus discovery of the West Indies, Cabot began formulating a plan to reach “the Indies” by sailing west at a more northerly latitude, where the voyage from Europe would be shorter. In 1496, King Henry VII of England gave Cabot permission to explore lands “unknown to all Christians” for England, so Cabot made Bristol, England the headquarters for his seafaring operations and began to make preparations for a journey across the ocean.
Cabot probably first set sail in 1496, though this first voyage proved unsuccessful and Cabot turned back to England. In 1497, Cabot is thought to have set sail again with his son Sebastian and seventeen other crew members. This time, his voyage was successful. One of the boats under his command, the Matthew, sighted land and probably landed on Labrador,
Newfoundland, or Cape Breton Island in modern-day eastern Canada on June 24, 1497, after 52 days at sea. Cabot claimed this land for England. Cabot continued to explore the maritime region of Canada and thought he found part of Asia, but he never found the famed Northwest Passage.
Cabot and his crew quickly sailed back to England, where he was welcomed as a hero. Cabot promised Henry VII that the land he found was full of silk and spices, and that the land he discovered was close to Japan. The king was easily convinced to finance Cabot’s next journey, which set sail in 1498. This expedition was outfitted with two ships and 300 men. Sailing west from Bristol, the expedition pushed north along the coast of Greenland. The farther north they sailed along the coast, however, the colder it became and the larger the icebergs were. Cabot’s crew mutinied and he was forced to navigate to the south, where no new discoveries were made. Although he did not discover a new route to Asia, Cabot reopened European contact with North America and discovered rich fishing areas. Cabot and his crew returned in England in the fall of 1498 and he died shortly thereafter.
Cartier, Jacque
Jacques Cartier was born on December 31, 1491 in Saint-Malo, Brittany, which would later become part of France. His career in exploration began in 1524, when he accompanied the Italian-born French explorer Giovanni da Verrazano on his explorations of the Atlantic Coast of Canada and the United States. The experience would prove valuable to Cartier’s explorations in the future.
In 1534, Cartier was commissioned by the King of France to find the fabled Northwest Passage through the continent of North America to Asia (the Indies). When Cartier reached the New World, he sailed around parts of Newfoundland and parts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. On July 24, 1534, Cartier planted a cross with the words engraved, “Long Live the King of France” on the shores of Gaspe Bay in Quebec. Cartier met a group of native Iroquoian people, who told him that precious jewels and metals could be found farther northwest. The French presented gifts and established friendly relations with the people. Their chief let two of his sons sail to France with Cartier in August. In exchange, Cartier left several of his men with the chief. Cartier's men brought home a supply of corn that was probably the first corn ever seen in northern Europe.
In 1535, Cartier and 112 men (including the two natives) left France for their return trip and sailed up the St. Lawrence River to the Iroquoian capital of Stadacona. He reached the location of modern- day Montreal (then called Hochelaga) on October 2, 1535, where rapids prevented him from continuing. Cartier believed the rapids were the last obstacle in his discovery of the Northwest Passage. Today, the town on the banks of the rapids is called Lachine, the French word for China.
Cartier and his crew were forced to spend the winter of 1535-1536 at Stadacona, where the snow was four feet deep. In addition, scurvy broke out among members of Cartier’s crew, though most were saved by ingesting a native remedy using the boiled bark of a white spruce tree. In early May of 1536, after enduring a brutal winter, Cartier returned to France with an Iroquoian chief who would tell the tale of the Kingdom of Saguenay, a mythical city said to be full of rubies, gold, and other riches.
In 1540, Cartier returned to the New World as captain general of a colonization project.
Nevertheless, Cartier set off with five ships down the St. Lawrence River for the purposes of finding the Kingdom of Saguenay and for starting a permanent settlement on the river. The site of the settlement was chosen near present-day Cap-Rouge, Quebec, and named Charlesbourg-Royal.
Despite the forts built at the settlement, and the fact that Cartier’s men falsely believed they had discovered diamonds and gold, conditions deteriorated rapidly. The settlers had begun to starve and attacks by nearby Iroquoian Indians resulted in the deaths of at least 35 of them. Cartier abandoned the settlement in 1542, and the entire settlement disbanded by 1543. Cartier returned to France and died of an epidemic in 1557. Although he was unsuccessful in establishing a permanent settlement, Cartier’s explorations of the St. Lawrence River opened up the interior of Canada to further French exploration and eventual settlement.
Hudson, Henry
?-1611), was an English explorer and sea captain. He made four voyages in an attempt to discover a northern route between Europe and Asia. Hudson never found such a sea passage, but he sailed farther north than any previous explorer. He explored three North American waterways later named for him—the Hudson River, Hudson Bay, and Hudson Strait.
Northern voyages. In 1607, an English trading firm, hired Hudson to find a northern sea route to Asia. European merchants and geographers believed that a ship could reach Asia by sailing north, northeast, or northwest. They thought such a route would be shorter than any other. The Arctic had not been explored, and people did not know that ice blocked the area around the North Pole.
Hudson set out from England in a ship called the Hopewell with his young son, John, and a crew of 10 men. He sailed northeast along the coast of Greenland and reached Spitsbergen. These islands lie only about 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) from the North Pole, and no explorer had sailed so far north before. Huge ice floes forced Hudson to return to England.
North American voyages. The Muscovy Company lost interest in further northern exploration, but in 1609, the Dutch East India Company hired Hudson to lead an expedition. Hudson again headed northeast, but his crew became unruly because of the cold weather. Hudson changed the ship's course for North America, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and sailed down the east coast.
Hudson sailed as far south as what is now North Carolina. He then turned north and briefly explored Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay. Hudson traveled up what became known as the Hudson River to the site of present-day Albany, New York.
In 1610, a group of English merchants formed a company that provided Hudson with a ship called the Discovery. He crossed the Atlantic and arrived just off the northern coast of Labrador.
The Discovery then reached a body of rough water, later named Hudson Strait, that led into Hudson Bay.
Cabrillo, Juan
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo’s early life is a mystery. Historians believe he may have been of Portuguese descent but was born in Spain around 1475. More than one village in Portugal claims to be his birthplace. What is known is that he was raised in Castile, Spain under humble beginnings. We do know that he led the first European expedition to explore the coast of what is now California. His explorations aided the Spanish in settling California.
Scholars know little about his early life. He came to Cuba about 1520 and joined the Spanish army there. Cabrillo participated in the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in what is now Mexico in 1521 and of present-day Guatemala in 1523 and 1524. Cabrillo eventually made his fortune in Guatemala, mining gold and trading goods while participating in the slave trade.
In 1541, Antonio de Mendoza, the Spanish ruler of Mexico, ordered Cabrillo to explore the Pacific coast north of Mexico. Cabrillo commanded two ships, the San Salvador and
the Victoria. The expedition set out from Navidad, Mexico, near Manzanillo, in June 1542. Three months later, the explorers reached San Diego Bay. They then continued to sail northward along the coast. Along the way, the expedition visited numerous coastal native villages, recording their names and population counts. Some of the Indians gave Cabrillo fish and other supplies.
In November 1542, a storm blew Cabrillo's ships past the Golden Gate, the entrance to San Francisco Bay. Soon afterward, the expedition turned south. The explorers anchored at San Miguel Island, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Santa Barbara. The expedition wintered there, and sometime around Christmas Eve, the Spaniards were attacked by indigenous Tongva warriors. In an effort to assist his men, Cabrillo stumbled over jagged rocks and broke his shin bone. The injury became infected and developed gangrene. Cabrillo died on San Miguel Island on Jan. 3, 1543, and is believed to have been buried on Catalina Island
Cabral, Pedro Alvares
(1467?-1528?), a Portuguese navigator, sailed to Brazil and claimed it for Portugal in 1500. His voyage helped Portugal develop a large empire in the 1500's.
Cabral was born in Belmonte, Portugal, near Covilhã, to a noble family. He was educated at the royal court and became a member of the King's Council. In 1499, King Manuel I appointed him commander of a fleet with instructions to further the work of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. Cabral probably never had sailed a ship before, but the king trusted him.
Cabral and his fleet of 13 ships sailed from Belem, near Lisbon, on March 9, 1500. He headed for India and planned to follow the route outlined by Da Gama. As instructed, the fleet sailed southwest and passed the Canary and Cape Verde islands. The sailors hoped for winds that would carry them around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. However, the fleet sailed off course, probably because of the weather.
On April 22, the crew sighted what is now southeastern Brazil. Upon disembarking, Cabral claimed the area for Portugal, in accordance with the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. He named it Island of the True Cross. Cabral had lost one ship, and another returned to Portugal with news of the landing. The remaining 11 ships stayed in Brazil for only eight days and then continued the voyage to India.
On May 29, a storm scattered the fleet as it tried to round the Cape of Good Hope. Four vessels were completely lost and one reached Madagascar. The other six ships met at Mozambique and followed the African coast northward. The fleet crossed the Indian Ocean and arrived in
Kozhikode (also called Calicut), India, on September 13. There, many crew members were killed in a battle with a band of Muslim merchants. The fleet then sailed to Cochin and Cannanore, India, where it took on valuable spices.
Only four ships from Cabral’s fleet returned to Lisbon on June 23, 1501. Manuel I considered Cabral for command of another expedition to India but chose Da Gama instead. Cabral then retired from court and royal service and lived out his days on his estates.
