Early Explorers of Early Explorers of North AmericaNorth America

Columbus

August 3, 1492 set sail with the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria

Arrived in the Bahamas, October 12For the next 50 years, other Spanish

explorers followed

Ponce de Leon

Explored Florida in 1513

Balboa

Crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513

Magellan Began circumnavigation of the world

in 1519

CortesConquered the Aztecs by 1521

PizarroConquered the Incas of Peru

Coronado Explored Texas, 1540 - 1542

English Exploration

John Cabot

May have reached Newfoundland in 1497

The Lost Colony

Walter Raleigh

Tried to establish a colony in 1585 – failed

Tried again in 1587 on Roanoke Island, NC

Returned in 1590 to find everyone gone – the “Lost Colony of Roanoke”

JamestownEstablished in 1607 as an economic

venture

Jamestown

Puritans (the Pilgrims)

These “Separatists” settled Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620

Puritans

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Settled in 1630