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1st to travel west searching for a quicker route to Asia
Christopher Columbus
1st to realize the Americas were not Asia but a new land
Amerigo Vespucci
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
1st European to see the Pacific Ocean and named it the South Sea
1st given credit for sailing around the world even though he himself never made it
Ferdinand Magellan
Conquered the Aztecs in Mexico
Hernando Cortes
Conquered the Incas in Peru
Francisco Pizarro
Traveled the southwest portion of North America in search of the cities of gold
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
Traveled the Southeast portion of North America from Florida to the Mississippi River
Hernando de Soto
First to sail up the coast of California
Juan Rodriguuez Cabrillo
Italian who sailed for England and claimed Newfoundland for England
John Cabot
Italian who sailed for France and claimed the entire coastline of North America
Giovanni da Verrazano
Frenchman who sailed for France and sailed up the St. Lawrence River and founded the city of Montreal
Jacques Cartier
Frenchman sailed for France and founded the trading post of Quebec
Samuel de Champlain
Englishman who sailed for the Dutch and claimed the land of New York for the Dutch
Henry Hudson
