| Explorer | Sailed for: | Major accomplishment |
| Jacques Cartier | France | explored St. Lawrence River / Canada |
| John Cabot | England | established English claims in American northeast and E. Canada |
| Pedro Cabral | Portugal | established Portuguese claim on Brazil |
| Hernan de Balboa | Spain | crossed Panama / first to see Pacific Ocean |
| Amerigo Vespucci | Spain | explores Ameican eastern coastlines / his name used on maps / America became name... |
| Henry Hudson | Dutch East India Co. | explored NY harbor and Hudson River |
| Christopher Columbus | Spain | voyages to America changed the world / first landing in Bahama islands |
| Ferdinand Magellan | Spain | first to circumnavigate the globe |
| Hernando Cortes | Spain | conqueror of the Aztecs |
| Francisco Pizarro | Spain | conqueror of the Inca |
| Bartolome de las Casas | Spain | advocate for native peoples in the Americas |
| Bartolomeu Dias | Portugal | first tofind the souther tip of the African continent |
| Ponce de Leon | Spain | first European to explore Florida |
| Francis Drake (Sir) | himself and secretly for England | attacked Spanish interests in Americas / survived circumnavigation of globe |