Explorers of the New World

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Explorers of the New World

• -How Europeans discovered the Americas

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European Exploration and Settlement

•     Explorers were inspired to explore the
  Americas (North and South Americas)after
  Christopher Columbus , sailing for the Spanish
  monarchy (King and Queen), made his voyage in
  1492.
• Men who were important explorers for Spain
  include Ponce de León , Cabeza de Vaca , Hernando
  De Soto , and Coronado.
• Important explorers for France were Giovanni da
  Verrazano , Samuel de Champlain , Louis Jolliet ,
  Jacques Marquette , and La Salle .
• John Cabot explored the North American coast for
  England in 1498.
• These three nations, Spain, France, and England
  were the main nations to establish colonies in
  the present United States. Other countries took
  part, notably the Netherlands and Sweden in their
  short-lived colonies that were conquered by other
  colonial rivals .

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Leif Erikson The first European Explorer of the
Americas.

• Leif Eriksson, son of Norse explorer Eric the
  Red, led the first European expedition to North
  America around ad 1000, according to folk legend.
  
• Norwegian archaeologists found the ruins of an
  old Norse settlement in Newfoundland in the early
  1960s. They believe Norse expeditions to North
  America may have ceased because of attacks by
  Native Americans.

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Spanish Explorers

• Columbus voyages mark the beginning of
  continuous European efforts to explore and
  colonize the Americas.
• Spain wanted to break the growing Portuguese
  monopoly on Asian spice trade and goods into
  Europe.
• Columbus hoped to convert souls as well as find
  gold for his beloved Spain. Columbus made four
  trips to America, discovering the West Indies,
  Central America and South America.

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• Although he was always judged to be vain,
  ambitious, greedy, and ruthless, traditional
  historians viewed his voyages as opening the New
  World to Western civilization and Christianity.
• For revisionist historians, however, his voyages
  symbolize the more brutal aspects of European
  colonization and represent the beginning of the
  destruction of Native American peoples and
  culture. One point of agreement among all
  interpretations is that his voyages were one of
  the turning points in history.

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Columbus First Expedition

• On Aug. 3, 1492, Columbus sailed from Spain, with
  three small ships, the Santa María, , the Pinta,
  and the Niña.
• After stopping at the Canary Islands, he sailed
  due west and southwest. On Oct. 10 a small mutiny
  was quelled, and on Oct. 12 he landed on a small
  island in the Bahamas.
• He took possession for Spain and, with impressed
  (kidnapped) natives aboard, discovered other
  islands in the neighborhood. Such as Cuba and on
  Dec. 5 reached Hispaniola.
• On Christmas Eve the Santa María was wrecked on
  the north coast of Hispaniola, and Columbus,
  leaving men there to found (set up) a colony,
  hurried back to Spain on the Niña.
• His reception was all he could wish according to
  his contract with the Spanish monarchs he was
  made Admiral of the ocean sea and
  governor-general of all new lands he had
  discovered or should discover.

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Columbus Second Expedition

• Fitted out with a larger fleet of 17 ships and
  with 1,500 colonists aboard, Columbus sailed in
  Oct., 1493. His new discoveries included the
  Lesser Antilles, Leeward Islands, and Puerto
  Rico.
• He arrived at Hispaniola to find the first colony
  destroyed by Native Americans.
• He founded a new colony nearby, then sailed off
  in the summer of 1494 to explore the southern
  coast of Cuba and discover Jamaica.
• He returned to Hispaniola and found the colonists
  completely disorderly and searching for gold
  instead of setting up the colony.
• His attempts to enforce strict discipline led
  some men to seize ships and return to Spain to
  complain.
• Columbus left his brother Bartholomew in charge
• at Hispaniola and returned to Spain in 1496.
  

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Columbus Third Fourth Expeditions

• Third expedition, in 1498 Columbus was forced to
  use convicts as colonists because of the bad
  reports on conditions in Hispaniola and because
  the novelty of the New World was wearing off.
• He went exploring and found Trinidad, the mouth
  of the Orinoco River (in present Venezuela), but
  he hurried back to Hispaniola to run his colony.
• In 1500 the King sent an independent governor who
  sent Columbus back to Spain in chains.
• The admiral was immediately released, but there
  were no more favors coming from the Spanish King
  and Queen.
• Fourth Expedition It was 1502 before Columbus
  finally gathered together four ships for a fourth
  expedition, by which he hoped to reestablish his
  reputation.
• If he could sail past the islands and far enough
  west, he hoped he might still find lands
  answering to the description of Asia or Japan and
  get the spices and riches Spain was looking for.
• After many hardships he was trying to return to
  Hispaniola and he was shipwrecked on Jamaica.
• After his rescue, he was forced to abandon his
  hopes and return to Spain in disgrace..

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Map of Columbus Routes
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Juan Ponce de León, Spanish explorer.

• c.1460-1521, Spanish explorer, first Westerner to
  reach Florida. After finding gold on Boriquén
  (Puerto Rico) in 1508, he conquered the island
  and, as governor (1509-12), made a fortune in
  gold, slaves, and land. Hearing tales from the
  Carib of a wonderfully rich island called Bimini,
  said to be North of Cuba, Ponce de León secured a
  commission (1512) to conquer and colonize that
  land.

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• There is a legend that he was seeking a spring
  with waters having the power of restoring youth.
  From Puerto Rico on Mar. 3, 1513, with three
  vessels, he sailed NE through the Bahamas,
  sighting the Florida peninsula (which he thought
  was an island).
• Probably because his arrival in Florida occurred
  at the time of the Easter feast ( Pascua Florida
  ), Ponce de León named the land (which he claimed
  for Spain) La Florida.

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• He turned south, exploring the coast he then
  returned to Puerto Rico, arriving Sept. 21, 1513.
  After partly pacifying (killing rioters) Puerto
  Rico, which had been in revolt, he sailed to
  Spain, where the king commissioned him to conquer
  and colonize the isle of Florida.
• With two vessels, 200 men, 50 horses and other
  domestic animals, and farm implements, he sailed
  for Florida in 1521. Upon landing on the west
  coast, his party was fiercely attacked by Native
  Americans, and he was severely wounded by an
  arrow.
• The expedition sailed immediately for Cuba, where
  Ponce de León soon died.

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Cabeza de Vaca Spanish Explorer

• Cabeza de Vaca came to the New World as a
  treasurer in the expedition of another explorere
  that reached Florida (probably Tampa Bay) in
  1528.
• When hardship and native hostility caused the end
  of the expedition, he was one of the survivors
  whose barges were shipwrecked on an island off
  the Texas coast.
• Their story is one of the most remarkable of all.

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• After suffering considerably as slaves of the
  Native Americans inhabiting the island, Cabeza de
  Vaca and three other survivors escaped and
  started a long journey overland.
• His companions gained a great reputation among
  the Native Americans as healers since remarkable
  cures were attributed to their Christian prayers.
  Their route westward is unknown as is the
  identity the island of the shipwreck, but after
  much wandering they did reach West Texas, then
  probably New Mexico and Arizona, and possibly
  (some argue) California before, turning south in
  1536, they arrived in Culiacán in Mexico and told
  their story to Spaniards there.

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    They were almost certainly the first
Europeans to see bison, and their stories about
the Pueblo gave rise to the legend of the Seven
Cities of Cibola
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French Explorers Jacques Cartier

• In 1534 King Francis I sent French explorer
  Jacques Cartier to find a northwest passage to
  Asias Spice Islands.
• Cartier explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence and
  regions now known as Newfoundland, New Brunswick,
  Québec. Much of the French claim to Canada was
  based on Cartiers explorations.

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French Explorer Samuel de Champlain

• 1567-1635, is called the chief founder of New
  France.    
• After serving in France in the religious wars,
  Champlain was given command of a Spanish fleet
  sailing to the West Indies, Mexico, and the
  Isthmus of Panama.
• Champlain returned in 1604 to found a colony,
  which was landed at the mouth of the St. Croix
  River.
• In the next three years Champlain explored the
  New England coast south and most of the larger
  rivers of Maine and making the first detailed
  charts of the coast. After the colonys
  privileges had been revoked, the colony had to be
  abandoned, and through the efforts of Champlain a
  new one was established on the St. Lawrence
  River.

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•     In 1608 in the ship Le Don de Dieu, he
  brought his colonists to the site of Quebec. In
  the spring of 1609, accompanying a war party of
  Huron against the Iroquois, Champlain discovered
  the lake that bears his name, and near Crown
  Point, N.Y., the Iroquois were met and defeated
  by French troops. The incident is believed to be
  largely responsible for the later hatred of the
  French by the Iroquois.

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• In 1612 Champlain returned to France, where he
  received a new grant of the fur-trade monopoly
  and in 1613 he set off on a journey to the
  western lakes.
• Champlain devoted his time to the welfare of the
  colony, of which he was the virtual governor.
• In 1629 Quebec was suddenly captured by the
  English, and Champlain was made prisoner in
  England.
• When New France was restored to France in 1632,
  Champlain returned. In 1634 he sent explorer Jean
  Nicolet into the West, thus extending the French
  explorations and claims as far as Wisconsin.
• He died on Christmas Day, 1635, and was buried in
  Quebec.

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Routes of Champlain
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French Explorer Robert Cavelier La Salle

• 1643-87, French explorer in North America, one of
  the most celebrated explorers and builders of New
  France.   
•   He moved to Canada in 1666 and received a land
  grant near Montréal and entered the fur trade.
• He also began to build forts, explore, and trade.
  During an expedition on the Mississippi River in
  1682, La Salle descended the Mississippi to its
  mouth, arriving Apr. 9, 1682. La Salle took
  possession of the whole valley for France,
  calling the region Louisiana.
• La Salle was deprived of his authority by the new
  governor in 1683 and went to France where he was
  given power to colonize and to govern the region
  between Lake Michigan and the Gulf of Mexico, La
  Salle set out (1684) with four ships for the
  mouth of the Mississippi.

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He never reached it. With his ships La Salle
reached the Gulf of Mexico but because of the
sandy sameness of the coastline he was unable to
find the Mississippi. He and his men landed
probably on Lavaca Bay, Texas. They were unable
to reach the Mississippi overland, and the men
grew mutinous. On the third attempt the great
explorer was murdered by his own men.
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English Explorer John Cabot

• 1461-1498, English explorer from Italy.
• In 1497, John Cabot (Giovanni Cabotto) set off on
  a voyage to Asia. On his way he ran into an
  island off the coast of North America.
• Cabot became the second European to discover
  North America and give the English a claim to
  North America.
• John Cabot left on his second voyage sometime in
  the year of 1498. He had with him 4 or 5 ships
  and about 300 men.
• One thing is known, Cabot failed to return from
  his second voyage to the "New Founde Land".
  Likely he was shipwrecked and drowned.

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English Explorer Henry Hudson

• He was hired (1607) by the English to find the
  Northeast Passage to Asia.
• He failed, and another attempt (1608) to find a
  new route was also a failure.
• Hired in 1609 for the same purpose by the Dutch
  (the Netherlands), he sailed but extreme ice and
  cold brought his crew near mutiny.
• Hudson, determined not to lose his reputation as
  an explorer, disregarded his instructions and
  sailed westward hoping to find the Northwest
  Passage. He entered Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay,
  and later New York Bay.

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• He was the first European to ascend (1609) the
  Hudson River (named for him), nearly to
  present-day Albany, New York. His voyage gave the
  Dutch their claim to the region.
• His fourth expedition (1610), financed by
  English adventurers, started from England. Again
  he sailed westward, hoping to find the Northwest
  Passage.
• Between Greenland and Labrador he entered Hudson
  Strait and by it reached Hudson Bay.
• After weeks of exploration, he was forced by ice
  to winter there.
• By the next summer (1611) his starved and
  diseased crew mutinied and set Hudson, with his
  son and seven men, adrift in a small boat,
  without food or water.
• He was never seen again. His discoveries,
  however, gave England its claim to the Hudson Bay
  region.