Explorers

Who am I?

  1. Amerigo Vespucci
  2. Cabeza de Vaca
  3. Christopher Columbus
  4. Erik the Red/Leif Erikson
  5. Ferdinand Magellan
  6. Fernando De Soto
  7. Francisco Coronado
  8. Francisco Pizarro
  9. Hernan Cortes
  10. Jacques Cartier
  11. John Cabot
  12. Pedro Cabral
  13. Ponce de Leon
  14. Vasco da Gama 
  15. Vasco de Balboa
  1. Although we led the first European expeditions to the Americas, no lasting contact developed from our explorations. We colonized parts of Newfoundland, but the colonies were not permanent
  2. Even though I died on the way, I am usually called the first person to sail around the world. I also named the Pacific Ocean (pacifica meaning “peaceful”).
  3. I am credited with being the European discoverer of the New World.
  4. I am the French explorer who was looking for the NorthWest passage to the Far East through what is now Canada. I thought I found it when I sailed up the St. Lawrence river, but of course, no such route really exists.
  5. I hid on a ship to get to Panama and from there led an expedition that ‘discovered’ the Pacific Ocean. Despite this wondrous piece of exploration, and the fact that I actually sent gold back to Spain (unlike many other explorers), the governor of my area was jealous of my successes and so had me beheaded. Oops.
  6. I led the expedition that brought down the mightiest Central American empire. Aided by trickery, superior technology, and European diseases, my men established what is now Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlan.
  7. I mapped much of South America; all of “America” is named after me.
  8. I organized a huge expedition that spent nearly 3 years exploring Florida and the states to the north and west of it. In searching for riches, however, I treated the Indians very badly and we were constantly fighting with them. I ended up dying in what is now Arkansas and was buried in the Mississippi River, which I am usually credited with discovering.
  9. I organized an expedition into the south-central part of what is now the USA, searching for the fabled 7 Cities of Cibola – supposedly built out of gold! Although I didn’t find much gold, I am credited with discovering the Grand Canyon and mapping much of the territory.
  10. I sailed with Columbus on his second voyage to the New World, and stayed to make my fortune. I was granted ownership of what is today the southern part of Florida – which I discovered for Spain – and explored portions of it searching for the “Fountain of Youth.” Obviously I didn’t find it, as I was killed by Indians there.
  11. I was an Italian sailing for the English, and am generally credited as the discoverer of the North American mainland. I was looking for a NorthWest passage to the spices in the East, but I disappeared on my second voyage to the New World.
  12. I was shipwrecked off the coast of Florida and spent 8 years living with Native Americans and traveling across what is now the southeast USA trying to get back to Mexico. I was the first European to travel across the American continent and to see buffalo!
  13. I was the first Portuguese explorer to sight land in the Americas. I claimed portions of Brazil’s east coast for Portugal. Some historians think I’d already known land was there when we’d signed the Treaty of Tordesillas with Spain, but I’m not going to say if I did or not…
  14. I was the Portuguese explorer who discovered the sea route to the Indies around Africa. Even though I never sailed to the New World, I made all this possible, as people tried to get their by sailing west (instead of east, as I did). 
  15. I was the treacherous conqueror of the Inca. After helping one side in a civil war, I kidnapped the ruler. Even though I promised him freedom after his people filled a room with gold, I still killed him.