Explorers in the Early 1500's

Vasco Nunez de Balboa (1475-1526)

Vasco Nunez de Balboa was born in Jerez de los Caballeros in Spain in1417. His family was poor and he did not get education. Rodrigo de Bastidas took him to explore Columbia and South America to look for treasure. When they were forced to leave their ship because it was leaking, he tried to farm for a living. When he did not succeed, he went on a ship to go to San Sebastian.

They discovered that San Sebastian was burned. He convinced them to go southwest. In 1511,Balboa founded a European settlement, the first in South America. It was named Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien.

He crossed Panama and was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the East.

Balboa was accused of treason although he was innocent and was framed; he was found guilty and was beheaded in Alca on January 1519.

Written by LC C.
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Portrait of Balboa.
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Balboa icon.

Giovanni da Verazano (1485-1528)

  In 1485,Giovanne Da Verrazano was born. He was born in Italy. He never went to school during his life. When he was about 20 years old he stole nearly 2 million dollars in gold.

Verrazano discovered a lot. New York harbor, Block Island, Narragansett Bay, North Carolina, Maine and Canada. If Verrazano didn’t find them another explore would of find them and maybe they would be from a different country the place would have different culturally.

He Carib Indians killed in1528 Verrazano. Then the Carib Indians ate him.

Written by Maile M.
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Newspaper Clipping of Verzano.
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Portrait of Verazano.

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (circa 1490-1557)

Cabeza de Vaca had a pretty great life living from 1490-1557. He was born in Sevilla, Spain. His childhood was pretty boring on what information tells me, though his ancestor brought a Christian army back to health in a battle. Also, Cabeza’s father served the king as a servant.

On Cabeza’s first exploration across the sea he took 300 brave men to the Americas and landed on a very big beach in Florida. Mmany died in this journey and some sailors took rafts back to Mexico.When Cabeza got back to Spain he wrote a book about his journey and it was called La Relacion. Something sad but outstanding is that only 15 people out of 300 people survived on the journey.

Quite funny is that Cabeza’s name means the head of a cow!

Written by Lucas M.
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Portrait of Cabeza de Vaca.
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Portrait of Caeza de Vaca.

Hernan Cortes (1485-1547)

Hernan Cortes was born in 1485 in a small town called Medellin, Spain.  Before he left on his adventure he was a farmer, soldier, and studied the law.  He stopped it all because he wanted to go on his own adventure once he learned about Christopher Columbus and the New World.

His big exploration was when he went over to Mexico and took over the Aztecs and their leader Montezuma.  Later the Aztecs took over again and kicked out Cortes and his men.  Cortes went to other Indian tribes and grouped together.  They all marched back to the Aztecs to fight.  Cortes won because he and his men had given them diseases like Small Pox.  Cortes later died in 1547. 

Written by Sydney S.
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Portrait of Cortes.
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Cortes meets Moctezuma.

Jacques Cartier (1491-1557)

My explorer's name is Jacques Cartier.  He was born in 1491.  In school he wanted to be a navigator but not much other than that was known about his childhood.  He was born in Saint Malo, France.

Later on in Jacques Cartier’s life, he went on a sea voyage to the Saint Lawrence River and he saw a mountain and named it Mont Real.  Isn’t that really cool?   When he would camp, he and his crew would have to fight of Indians.After their voyage up the Saint Lawrence River was over Jacques Cartier went back home.

Even later in his life, he had a second voyage up the Saint Lawrence River.  Jacques Cartier died in 1557 at 66 years of age.

Written by Anna B.
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Jacques Cartier on a ship.
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Full body portrait of Cartier.

Hernando de Soto (circa 1500-1542)

Hernando De Soto was born in about 1500 but historians aren’t sure. He was born to a family in Spain. Like many young men wanted to leave and have military fame and explore new places.

In 1514 he sailed with the governor of Panama and helped with the conquest of Central America. De Soto had gained bravery in. On May 8, 1541 he discovered The Mississippi River but he wasn’t quite satisfied. Almost every exploration he did have failed. Unfortunately he died of a fever on May 2, 1542.

Written by Jackson A.
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Sketch of de Soto.
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De Soto meets the Native Americans.

Francisco Vasquez de Corondado (1510-1554)

In 1510, a baby named Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was born. Coronado ran away from home because all the money was going to his older brother. Coronado sailed to Mexico. He became the governor of New Galicia. In the year 1540, Coronado left for gold with a total of 1300 people. Coronado looked for gold in present day New Mexico and present day Arizona. Along the way he captured a tribe of Zuni Indians. Coronado found no gold.

Of his 1300 people, some decided if they came for gold, they were going to find gold, so they went on. Coronado went on too. They never found gold though. Coronado did accomplish being the first European to travel up Rio Grande. In present day Arizona Coronado found the Grand Canyon. One of his men fell off the ledge and died. In 1554, Coronado died of natural causes.

Written by Jackson K.

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Portrait of Coronado.
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Black and white portrait of Coronado.