Jorus Carolus

1566-1636

Place of Birth: Netherland

Biography:

Joris Carolus (ca. 1566, Enkhuizen - ca. 1636, Amsterdam? ^[) was a Dutch cartographer and explorer. He served for both the Noordsche Compagnie and the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (Dutch East India Company).

Legacy:

Carolus apparently was a native of Enkhuizen. After he lost a leg at the Siege of Ostend (1601–04) he turned to the art of navigation and became a pilot (Stierman). In 1614 he was pilot of the Enkhuizen ship den Orangienboom (“Orange Tree”), under Jacob de Gouwenaer, one of the two ships sent by the whaling company Noordsche Compagnie on a voyage of discovery. Carolus claimed to have reached 83° N, but this would have been impossible given the ice conditions described by Robert Fotherby, who was also on a voyage of discovery in the ship Thomasine, sent by the rival Muscovy Company of England. According to Fotherby—who saw the Dutch ships riding off Amsterdam Island on July 6/16, "ready for the first opportunity to discover", and on August 9/19 "two ships of the Hollanders, that were appointed for northern discovery, were seene thwart of Faire Haven, sayling to the southwards"— the ice was packed along the northern coast of Spitsbergen. Even in shallops the English were only able to go as far north as Castlins Point (modern Gråhuken, at 79° 48’N).

On the same voyage Carolus came upon the island of Jan Mayen, which may have been discovered earlier the same year by the Dutchman Fopp Gerritsz., sailing in a whaleship sent by the Englishman John Clarke, of Dunkirk.Carolus named it after himself: Mr. Joris eylandt. He also named a bay Gowenaers bay (which name was moved toGouwenaerbåen) after the master of his ship, and a cape Jan Meys hoeck. This latter name, in honor of Jan Jacobsz. May, master of the other ship sent on discovery, de goude Cath (“The Golden Cat”) of Amsterdam, was later (1620) applied to the island as a whole, giving it the name it retains to this day.

Following his 1614 expedition to Spitsbergen Carolus charted a map of the islands. The map labels various features, including Generaels hoeck (South Cape), Bell sound(Bellsund), Greene harbergh (Grønfjorden), Mari mag. bay (Magdalenefjorden), Hollandsche bay or Feer-haven (Fairhaven), and de Reus ("The Giant", Cloven Cliff), among other things.

The map also shows what may be Edge Island’s south coast. Carolus showed the coastline split into two parts: Onbekende Cust (“Unknown Coast”) in the west, and Morfyn (a corruption of Matsyn, part of Novaya Zemlya) in the east. Islands are shown offshore of Morfyn. Martin Conway argued in 1901 that Carolus’ chart indicated that he had discovered Edge Island; but, as Wielder points out, Conway was ignorant of a map (engraved in 1612) by the Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius, which illustrated a coastline to the east of Spitsbergen. The coastline, indented, with islands offshore, was labelled Gerrits Eylant. Wielder believed this to the first record of Edge Island’s south coast, when in fact this coastline as well was only copied from an earlier chart which merely showed a vague mass that was supposed to represent Spitsbergen.

Edward Heawood, writing in response to Conway’s claim of Carolus being the first discoverer of Edge Island, wrote a "Correspondence" refuting his claim. Carolus, who never made any claim of having discovered the said island (which is counter to his usual boastfull claims of discovery), shows Morfyn (or Marfyn, which Conway said represented Edge Island) some 18° too far east (relative to the mainland), while Onbekende Cust, which is supposed to represent Kvalpynten (which Heawood questioned as to why Carolus should refer to a land he allegedly discovered as “unknown”?), extends the longitude of the island to 30°, instead of its actual 4° of longitude. Heawood asserts that Carolus may have only copied both coastlines from earlier maps—in particular, Onbekende Cust may correspond to the land (without name) placed between Spitsbergen and Matsyn on a Dutch map of 1611.

Willem barentsz

1550-1597

Place of birth:Netherlands

Biography:

Willem Barentsz was born around 1550 on the island Terschelling in the Seventeen Provinces, present-day Netherlands.

A cartographer by trade, Barentsz sailed to Spain and the Mediterranean to complete an atlas of the Mediterranean region, which he co-published with Petrus Plancius.

His career as an explorer was spent searching for the Northeast passage, which he reasoned must exist as clear, open water north of Siberia since the sun shone 24 hours a day, which he believed would have melted any potential ice.

Legacy:

Two of Barentsz' crewmembers later published their journals, Jan Huyghen van Linschoten who had accompanied him on the first two voyages, and Gerrit de Veer who had acted as the ship's carpenter on the last two voyages.

In 1853, the former Murmean Sea was renamed Barents Sea in his honour.Barentsburg, the second largest settlement on Svalbard, and the Barents Region were also named after Barents.

In the late 19th century, the Maritime Institute Willem Barents was opened on Terschelling.

In 1878, the Netherlands christened the Willem Barentsz Arctic exploration ship.

In 1931, Nijgh & Van Ditmar published a play written by Albert Helman about Barentsz' third voyage, although it was never performed.

In 1946, the Whaling ship Pan Gothia was re-christened the Willem Barentsz. In 1953, the second Willem Barentsz whaling ship was produced.^[

A protein in the molecular structure of the fruit fly was named Barentsz, in honour of the explorer.

Dutch filmmaker Reinout Oerlemans released a film called Nova Zembla in November 2011. It is the first Dutch 3D feature film.

Abraham Blauvelt

unkown-1663

Place of Birth: Unknown

Biography: 

Abraham Blauvelt (died 1663?) was a Dutch privateer and explorer mapping much of Central America in the 1630s, after whom both the Bluefield River and the neighboring town of Bluefields, Nicaragua were named.

Legacy:

One of the last of the Dutch corsairs of the mid-17th century, Abraham Blauvelt was first recorded exploring the coasts of present day Honduras and Nicaragua in service of the Dutch West India Company. He later traveled to England in an effort to gain support to establish a colony in Nicaragua near the city where Bluefields, Nicaragua presently stands. Around 1640 Blauvelt became a privateer serving the Swedish East India Company

Willem Janszoon

 1570–1630

Place of Birth: Netherlands

Biography:

Janszoon is first recorded as entering into the service of the Oude compagnie, one of the predecessors of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), as a mate aboard the Hollandia, part of the second fleet under Jacob Cornelisz. van Neck, dispatched by the Dutch to the Dutch East Indies in 1598. On 5 May 1601, he again sailed for the East Indies as master of the Lam, one of three ships in the fleet of Joris van Spilbergen.

Janszoon sailed from the Netherlands for the East Indies for the third time on 18 December 1603, as captain of the Duyfken (or Duijfken, meaning "Little Dove"), one of twelve ships of the great fleet of Steven van der Hagen. When the other ships left Java, Janszoon was sent to search for other outlets of trade, particularly in "the great land of New Guinea and other East

Legacy:

The original journal and log made during Janszoon’s 1606 voyage have been lost. The Duyfken chart, which shows the location of the first landfall in Australia by the Duyfken, had a better fate. It was still in existence in Amsterdam when Hessel Gerritszoon made his Map of the Pacific in 1622, and placed the Duyfken geography upon it, thus providing us with the first map to contain any part of Australia. The chart was still in existence about 1670, when a copy was made, which eventually went to the Imperial Library in Vienna and remained forgotten there for two hundred years. The map is part of the Atlas Blaeu Van der Hem, brought to Vienna in 1730 by Prince Eugene of Savoy. The information from his charts was included in the marble and copper maps of the hemispheres on the floor of The Citizens’ Hall of the Royal Palace Amsterdam

FRENCH EXPLORERS 

                                           René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

1643-1687

Place of Birth:Rouen, Normandy, Fance

Biography:

born in Rouen, France, on November 22, 1643, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was an explorer best known for leading an expedition down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, claiming the region watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries for France, and naming it Louisiana after King Louis XIV. His last expedition was to invade and conquer part of the Spanish province of Mexico, which failed and cost La Salle his life.

Legacy:

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was a French explorer best known for leading an expedition down the Mississippi River, claiming the region for France.

Jacques Marquette

1637-1675

Place of Birth: Laon, France

Biography:

Frenchman Jacques Marquette became an explorer in the mid-1600s, not only because of his interest in travel and discovery of new lands, but also because of his religion. At age 17, Marquette—who was born in Laon, France, on June 1, 1637—joined the Society of Jesus and became a Jesuit missionary.

Marquette studied and taught in the Jesuit colleges of France for about 12 years before his superiors assigned him in 1666 to be a missionary to the indigenous people of the Americas. He traveled to Quebec, Canada, where he demonstrated his penchant for learning indigenous languages: Marquette learned to converse fluently in six different Native American dialects and became an expert in the Huron language.

In 1668, Marquette sent to establish more missions farther up the St. Lawrence River in the western Great Lakes region. He helped establish missions at Sault Ste. Marie in what is now Michigan—the state's first European settlement—in 1668 and at St. Ignace, also in Michigan, in 1671.

Legacy:

French explorer Jacques Marquette is best known as the first European to see and map the northern portion of the Mississippi River.

Pierre Gaultier

1714-1755

Place of Birth:Île aux Vaches, (Isle of Cows) near Sorel, New France.

Biography:

Pierre Gaultier de La Vérendrye de Boumois (December 1, 1714 – September 13, 1755) was the second son of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye. An explorer and fur trader who served many years under the command of his father, he was born on Île aux Vaches, (Isle of Cows) near Sorel, New France.

Legacy:

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye is best known for his explorations of the northern U.S. and Canadian provinces.

Samuel de Champlain

1574-1635

Place of Birth: Brouage, France

Biography:

Samuel de Champlain was born in 1574 (according to his baptismal certificate, which was discovered in 2012), in Brouage, a small port town in the province of Saintonge, on the western coast of France. Although Champlain wrote extensively of his voyages and later life, little is known of his childhood. He was likely born a Protestant, but converted to Catholicism as a young adult.

Legacy:

Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer and cartographer best known for establishing and governing the settlements of New France and the city of Quebec.

Jacques Cartier

1491-1557

Place of Birth:Saint-Malo, Brittany, France

Biography:

French navigator Jacques Cartier was born on December 31, 1491, in Saint-Malo, Brittany, France, and was sent by King Francis I to the New World in search of riches and a new route to Asia in 1534. His exploration of the St. Lawrence River allowed France to lay claim to lands that would become Canada. He died in Saint-Malo in 1557

Legacy:

French explorer Jacques Cartier is known chiefly for exploring the St. Lawrence River and giving Canada its name.

ENGLISH EXPLORERS 

Henry Hudson

1565-1611

Place of Birth: England

Biography:

Considered one of the world's most famous explorers, Henry Hudson, born in England circa 1565, never actually found what he was looking for. He spent his career searching for different routes to Asia, but he ended up opening the door to further exploration and settlement of North America.

While many places bear his name, Henry Hudson remains an elusive figure. There is little information available about the famous explorer's life prior to his first journey as a ship's commander in 1607. It is believed that he learned about the seafaring life firsthand, perhaps from fishermen or sailors. He must have had a talent for navigation early on, enough to merit becoming a commander in his late 20s. Prior to 1607, Hudson probably worked aboard other ships before being appointed to lead one on his own. Reports also indicate that he was married to a woman named Katherine and they had three sons together.

Legacy:

English explorer Henry Hudson embarked on multiple sailing voyages that provided new information on North American water routes.

Walter Raleigh

1554-1618

Place of Birth: Devon, England

Biography:

Historians believe Walter Raleigh was born in 1552, or possibly 1554, and grew up in a farmhouse near the village of East Budleigh in Devon. The youngest of five sons born to Catherine Champermowne in two successive marriages, his father, Walter Raleigh, was his mother’s second husband. Like young Walter, his relatives, Sir Richard Grenville and Sir Humphry Gilbert were prominent during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. Raised as a devout Protestant, Raleigh’s family faced persecution under Queen Mary I, a Catholic, and as a result, young Walter developed a life-long hatred of Roman Catholicism.

At the age of 17, Walter Raleigh left England for France to fight with the Huguenots (French Protestants) in the Wars of Religion. In 1572, he attended Oriel College, Oxford, and studied law at the Middle Temple law college. During this time, he began his life-long interest in writing poetry. In 1578, Raleigh set out with his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert on a voyage to North America to find the Northwest Passage. Never reaching its destination, the mission degenerated into a privateering foray against Spanish shipping. His brash actions were not well received by the Privy Council, the monarch’s advisors, and he was briefly imprisoned.

Legacy:

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English adventurer and writer who established a colony near Roanoke Island, in present-day North Carolina. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London and eventually put to death for treason.

Martin Frobisher

1535-1594

Place of Birth: Yorkshire, England

Biography:

English explorer Martin Frobisher was born in 1535 (some say 1539) in Yorkshire, England. His merchant father, Bernard Frobisher, sent him to stay with a relative, Sir John York, in London, where Frobisher attended school. In his early years, Frobisher came into contact with London seamen and developed an interest in navigation and exploration. His goal, like that of many explorers of the time, was to discover the fabled Northwest Passage—a sea route above North America that linked the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Frobisher's travels began in the 1550s, when he explored Africa's northwest coast, particularly Guinea, in 1553 and 1554. The following year, Frobisher became an Elizabethan privateer, or lawful pirate, who was authorized by the English crown to plunder enemy nations' treasure ships. In the 1560s, Frobisher gained a reputation for preying on French trading vessels in the waters off Guinea; he was arrested several times on piracy charges, but never tried, according to PBS.

Legacy:

English explorer Martin Frobisher is best known for his attempts to discover a Northwest Passage and his voyages to Labrador and Frobisher Bay in Canada.

John Hawkins

1532-1595

Place of Birth:Plymouth, England

Biography:

John Hawkins' letters and memoranda suggest that he was well educated, although scant details of his schooling have survived, he was taught in the system of mathematics of the mathematician and mystic, Dr. John Dee. Before he reached the age of twenty, he had slain a man named White from Plymouth in a tavern fight, but secured a royal pardon as it was determined it was in self-defense. White was adjudged the aggressor by a coroner's inquest.

Hawkins is thought to have done some services as a young man for the ambassadors from Spain, who negotiated the marriage of Mary I of England and Philip II of Spain. The Spanish claim that Hawkins was personally knighted by the King for this service, which is as yet unconfirmed. Hawkins was known to have referred frequently to King Philip as 'my old master'. In fact, Hawkins was known as Juan Aquines by the Spaniards, who castilianized name, such was his fame among them.

In 1555 John Lok brought five men from present-day Ghana back to England from a trading voyage to Guinea. William Towerson was a second London trader who brought Africans to England at that time, landing at Plymouth following his 1557 and 1569 voyages to Africa. However, Hawkins is considered to be the pioneer of the British slave trade, as in 1562 he was the first to run the Triangular trade to the Spanish colonies in the Americas, and making a profit at every stop.

Legacy:

As treasurer (1577) and controller (1589) of the Royal Navy, Hawkins rebuilt older ships and helped design the faster ships that withstood the Spanish Armada in 1588. One of the foremost seamen of 16th-century England, Hawkins was the chief architect of the Elizabethan navy. In the battle in which the Spanish Armada was defeated in 1588, Hawkins served as a vice admiral. He was knighted for gallantry. He later devised the naval blockade to intercept Spanish treasure ships leaving Mexico and South America.

Francis Drake

1540-1596

Place of Birth: Tavistock, Devonshire, England

Biography:

Like many of his contemporaries, no birth records exist for Sir Francis Drake. It is believed he was born between 1540 and 1544, based on dates of later events. Records show he was 22 when he obtained his first command in 1566. Two portraits help further narrow the date: one painted in 1581, when he was 42, and another painted in 1594, when he was 53.

Francis Drake was the eldest of 12 sons born to Edmund Drake and Mary Mylwaye Drake. Edmund was a farmer on the estate of Lord Francis Russell, the second earl of Bedford, who was also Francis' godfather. Francis was apprenticed to a merchant who sailed coastal waters trading goods between England and France. He took to navigation well and was soon enlisted by his relatives, the Hawkinses. They were privateers who prowled the shipping lanes off the French coast, seizing merchant ships. (from the mins of biography.com)

                                        Legacy:

English admiral Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe in 1577-1580, helped defeat the Spanish Armada and was the most renowned seaman of the Elizabethan era.(from the minds of Biography.com)

PORTUGUESE EXPLORERS

Pedro Alvares Cabral

1467-1520

Place of Birth: Belmonte, Portugal

Biography:

Little is certain regarding Pedro Álvares Cabral's life before, or following, his voyage which led to the discovery of Brazil. He was born in 1467 or 1468—the former year being the more likely—at Belmonte, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from present-day Covilhã in central Portugal.He was a son of Fernão Álvares Cabral and Isabel Gouveia—one of five boys and six girls in the family.Cabral was christened Pedro Álvares de Gouveia and only later, supposedly upon his elder brother's death in 1503,^[7] did he begin using his father's surname. The coat of arms of his family was drawn with two purple goats on a field of silver. Purple represented fidelity, and the goats were derived from the family name (cabral pertains to goats in English). However, only his elder brother was entitled to make use of the family arms.

Family lore said that the Cabrais were descendants of Caranus, the legendary first king of Macedonia. Caranus was, in turn, a supposed 7th-generation scion of the demigod Hercules. Myths aside, the historian James McClymont believes that another family tale might hold clues to the true origin of Cabral's family. According to that tradition, the Cabrais derive from a Castilian clan named the Cabreiras (cabra is Spanish for goat) who bore a similar coat of arms.The Cabral family rose to prominence during the 14th century. Álvaro Gil Cabral (Cabral's great-great-grandfather and a frontier military commander) was one of the few Portuguese nobles to remain loyal to Dom João I, King of Portugalduring the war against the King of Castile. As a reward, João I presented Álvaro Gil with the hereditary fiefdom of Belmonte.

Legacy:

The first permanent Portuguese settlement in the land which would become Brazil was São Vicente, which was established in 1532 by Martim Afonso de Sousa. As the years passed, the Portuguese would slowly expand their frontiers westward, conquering more lands from both indigenous Americans and the Spanish. Brazil had secured most of its present-day borders by 1750 and was regarded by Portugal as the most important part of its far-flung maritime Empire. On 7 September 1822, the heir of Portuguese King Dom João VI secured the independence of Brazil from Portugal and, as Dom Pedro I, became its first Emperor.Cabral has since become a national hero in Brazil. 

Miguel Corte Real

1448-1502

Place of Birth:Portugal

Biography:

Miguel Corte Real, born in the mid-15th century in Portugal or a related territory, was the son of João Vaz Corte Real, who governed portions of the Azores cluster of islands. Miguel’s younger brother, Gaspar, went on to become an explorer for the Portuguese crown.

 Legacy:

With an eye on cementing Portugal’s imperialistic ambitions within New World territories, King Manoel sent forth sailing expeditions to the North Atlantic region at the turn of the 16th century. Gaspar Corte Real was among this bunch, and Miguel was an investor in Gaspar’s initial expedition. Upon reaching the North Atlantic, the younger Corte Real initially sighted either Greenland or Newfoundland in 1500, though he was unable to come ashore for reasons not known.

Gaspar sailed back to Portugal, only to return to the North Atlantic in 1501 with three sailing vessels. Due to frozen water, however, he couldn’t reach the previous location he’d sighted. Instead, the vessels made their way to what is believed to be the eastern region of Newfoundland. During this journey, Gaspar enslaved a number of native peoples and had them brought back to Portugal. It has also been stated that Miguel accompanied Gaspar on this expedition, though it is believed he commandeered one of the ships for non-exploratory purposes.

Two of the sailing vessels from the 1501 expedition returned to Lisbon, Portugal, one with Miguel, but the vessel on which Gaspar travelled was lost and never heard from again. By May 1502, Miguel had organized three ships to search for his brother, with King Manoel promising the elder Corte Real dominion of any new land he came upon. The three ships split up at one point, agreeing to rendezvous at a specific place and time; two of the ships made the rendezvous, while the vessel containing Miguel was never heard from again. A third Corte Real brother, Vasco Añes, wished to send forth yet another expedition to locate his siblings, but the king forbade the trip.

Though the Corte Real expeditions claimed Greenland and Newfoundland territories for the crown of Portugal, contributing to a Portuguese presence on maps of the time, the region is believed to have been explored by Norse seafarers in prior centuries.

Bartholomeu Dias

1450-1500

Place of Birth: Portugal

Biography: 

Bartolomeu Dias was married and had two children.Simão Dias de Novais, who died unmarried and without issue.António Dias de Novais, a Knight of the Order of Christ, married to (apparently his relative, since the surname Novais was transmitted through her brother's offspring) Joana Fernandes, daughter of Fernão Pires and wife Guiomar Montês (and sister of Brites Fernandes and Fernão Pires, married to Inês Nogueira, daughter of Jorge Nogueira and wife, and had issue). Dias' grandson Paulo Dias de Novais was a Portuguese colonizer of Africa in the 16th century. Dias' granddaughter, Guiomar de Novais married twice, as his second wife to Dom Rodrigo de Castro, son of Dom Nuno de Castro and wife Joana da Silveira, by whom she had Dona Paula de Novais and Dona Violante de Castro, both died unmarried and without issue, and to Pedro Correia da Silva, natural son of Cristóvão Correia da Silva, without issue (from the minds of  wikipedia.com)

Legacy:

Despite the gap between Dias's voyage and da Gama, there is little doubt that he played an important role in opening up navigation to the East. As a result of his voyages, the Cape would become an important staging-post on route to India, developing as a port and then as a European colony. Cape colony was founded by the Dutch East Indies Company in 1652. At this point in history, Europeans were full of curiosity about the world and intent on mapping it, exploring it and discovering what for them were new lands with opportunity to trade and perhaps establish colonial settlements. Since Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage to the West had been sponsored by the Spanish, the Portuguese were anxious to open-up routes of their own. The 1500 voyage that "discovered" Brazil would give Portugal their biggest colonial possession.

On the one hand, the colonization process that resulted from these voyages of exploration ushered in an era of exploitation. Many indigenous people lost their land. Many cultures were damaged or destroyed. On the other hand, more people became aware that the world is the common home of the human race. The European exploration of Africa and of the Americas would also knit more and more people together, enabling cultural exchange and the creation of a world community of nations that increasingly realized that all share responsibility for the health and wholeness of the planet. The world as a global community, sharing belief in human rights, participating in the United Nations would not have developed if continents and islands had not first of all been incorporated into global systems, the first of which were the colonial empires that began from the fifteenth century onwards.

Vasco da Gama

1460-1524

Place of birth: Sines, Portugal

Biography:

Explorer Vasco da Gama was born into a noble family around 1460 in Sines, Portugal. Little is known about his upbringing except that he was the third son of Estêvão da Gama, who was commander of the fortress in Sines in the southwestern pocket of Portugal. When he was old enough, young Vasco da Gama joined the navy, where was taught how to navigate.

Known as a tough and fearless navigator, da Gama solidified his reputation as a reputable sailor when, in 1492, King John II of Portugal dispatched him to the south of Lisbon and then to the Algarve region of the country, to seize French ships as an act of vengeance against the French government for disrupting Portuguese shipping.

Following da Gama's completion of King John II's orders, in 1495, King Manuel took the throne, and the country revived its earlier mission to find a direct trade route to India. By this time, Portugal had established itself as one of the most powerful maritime countries in Europe.

Much of that was due to Henry the Navigator, who, at his base in the southern region of the country, had brought together a team of knowledgeable mapmakers, geographers and navigators. He dispatched ships to explore the western coast of Africa to expand Portugal's trade influence. He also believed that he could find and form an alliance with Prester John, who ruled over a Christian empire somewhere in Africa. Henry the Navigator never did locate Prester John, but his impact on Portuguese trade along Africa's east coast during his 40 years of explorative work was undeniable. Still, for all his work, the southern portion of Africa—what lay east—remained shrouded in mystery.

In 1487, an important breakthrough was made when Bartolomeu Dias discovered the southern tip of Africa and rounded the Cape of Good Hope. This journey was significant; it proved, for the first time, that the Atlantic and Indian oceans were connected. The trip, in turn, sparked a renewed interest in seeking out a trade route to India.

By the late 1490s, however, King Manuel wasn't just thinking about commercial opportunities as he set his sights on the East. In fact, his impetus for finding a route was driven less by a desire to secure for more lucrative trading grounds for his country, and more by a quest to conquer Islam and establish himself as the king of Jerusalem. (from the minds of biography.com)

Legacy:

Explorer Vasco da Gama was born in Sines, Portugal, around 1460. In 1497, he was commissioned by the Portuguese king to find a maritime route to the East. His success in doing so proved to be one of the more instrumental moments in the history of navigation. He subsequently made two other voyages to India, and was appointed as Portuguese viceroy in India. he was the first person to sail directly from Europe to India. 

Duarte Barbosa

1480-1521

Place of Birth: Lisbon, Portugal

Biography:

Duarte Barbosa was the son of Diogo Barbosa, a server of D. Álvaro of Braganza who went to India in 1501 in a joint venture of D. Álvaro with Bartholomeu Marchionni, in the 3rd Portuguese India Armada captained by João da Nova. In 1500 his uncle Gonçalo Gil Barbosa, after traveling in the 1500 fleet of Pedro Álvares Cabral, was left as factor in Kochi, and in 1502 was transferred to Kannur. The places described by Duarte Barbosa suggest that he had accompanied his uncle on this trip to Kochi and Cannanore. There Duarte Barbosa learned the local Malabar language (malayalam). In 1503 he was the interpreter of Francisco de Albuquerque in contacts with the Rajah of Cannanore. In 1513 he signed as clerk of Cannanore a letter to King Manuel I of Portugal where he claimed for himself the position master-clerk that had been promised. In 1514 Afonso de Albuquerque used his services as an interpreter in an attempt to convert the king of Kochi, as reported in his letter to the king. In 1515 Albuquerque sent Duarte Barbosa to Kozhikode to oversee the construction of two ships that would serve on an expedition to the Red Sea, in which he may have later participated under the new governor.(from the minds of wikipedia.com)

Legacy:

he completed the manuscript known as the "Book of Duarte Barbosa", finished in 1516 according to Ramusio preface, where he wrote detailed accounts of foreign cultures. Originally known through the testimony of Italian Giovanni Battista Ramusio, the original manuscript was discovered and published in the early nineteenth century in Lisbon. (from te minds of wikpedia.com)

               SPANISH EXPLORERS 

Pedro de Alvarado

1485-1541

Place of Birth: Badojoz, Estremadura, Spain




Biography:




Pedro de Alvarado was born in 1485 in the town of Badajoz, Esremadura. His father was Gómez de Alvarado, and his mother was Leonor de Contreras, Gómez's second wife.[ Pedro de Alvarado had a twin sister, Sarra, and four full-blood brothers, Jorge, Gonzaloz, Gómez, and Juan. Pedro had an illegitimate half brother, also named Juan, referred to in contemporary sources as Juan el Bastardo.


Very little is known of Pedro de Alvarado's early life before his arrival in the Americas. During the conquest of the americans, tales of his youthful exploits in Spain became popular legends, but their veracity is doubtful. An example is the tale then current that when he was a youth awaiting passage to the Americas, he climbed the church tower in Seville with some friends. A banner pole extended some 3.0 to 3.7 metres (10 to 12 ft) from an upper window. One of his companions walked out to the end of the pole after removing his cloak and sword, and returned to the tower backwards. Alvarado, afraid of being mocked, walked out onto the pole with both sword and cloak, and turned around at the end to return to the tower facing it.


Alvarado's paternal grandfather was Juan Alvarado "el Viejo" ("the elder"), who was comendador of Hornachos, and his paternal grandmother was Catalina Messía. Pedro de Alvarado's uncle on his father's side was Diego de Alvarado y Messía,who was the comendador of Lobon, Puebla, and Montijo, Alcalde of Montanchez, and lord of Castellanos and of Cubillana. Diego was a veteran of the campaigns against the Moors.(from the minds of wikipedia.com)






Legacy:


He is considered the conquistador of much of Central America, including Guatamala and El Salvador. Although renowned for his skill as a soldier, Alvarado is known also for the cruelty of his treatment of native populations, and mass murders committed in the subjugation of the native peoples of Mexico.

Juan Ponce de Leon

1460-1521

Place of Birth: Spain

Biography: 

Juan Ponce de León was born into a poor yet noble family in Santervás de Campos, Spain, in 1460. He served as a page at the court of Aragon, where he learned social skills, religion and military tactics. He eventually became a soldier and fought against the the Moors in Granada. Like other conquistadores, Ponce de León soon sought fame and fortune through exploration, and it is believed he began his quest as part of Christopher Columbus' second expedition in 1493. During his later explorations, he employed the skills and tactics he’d learned in the military to subdue and control the native peoples of the Caribbean.  (from the minds of biography.com)

Legacy:

While on a quest for gold, Juan Ponce de León founded the oldest settlement in Puerto Rico and landed on the mainland of North America, a region he dubbed “Florida.”(from the minds of biography.com)

Hernando de Soto

1500-1542

Place of Birth: Jerez de los Caballeros, Spain

Biography:

Explorer and conquistador Hernando de Soto was born c. 1500 to a noble but poor family in Jerez de los Caballeros, Spain. He was raised at the family manor. A generous patron named Pedro Arias Dávila funded de Soto's education at the University of Salamanca. De Soto's family hoped he would become a lawyer, but he told his father he would rather explore the West Indies.

In accordance with his wish, the young de Soto was invited to join Dávila, governor of Darién, on his 1514 expedition to the West Indies. An excellent horseman, de Soto was appointed captain of a cavalry exploration troop. Setting out from Panama to Nicaragua and later Honduras, de Soto quickly proved his worth as an explorer and trader, reaping large profits through his bold and commanding exchanges with the natives.(from the minds of Biography.com)

Legacy:

Although no gold was found and no colonies created, the records from the expedition increased European knowledge of the geography of the New World, as well as information on the indigenous peoples. These accounts are the only European description of North American native habits and culture of the Southeast before the influence of Europeans. 

Due to the failure to find wealth within the continent, Spain chose to concentrate on Florida, the Pacific coast and southern portions of the New World.

De Soto’s men instigated most of the attacks with the native peoples, leading to long-lasting mistrust and hostility between the natives and European settlers.

The indigenous peoples encountered by de Soto and his men were exposed to European diseases for which they had no immunity, such as measles, smallpox and the chicken pox, causing massive loss of life among the Native Americans. (from the minds of exploration.marinermuseum)

Juan de Onate

1550-1630

Place of Birth: Zacatecas, Mexico

Biography:

Oñate was born in the New Spain (colonial México) city of Zacatecas to Spanish-Basque colonists and silver mine owners. His father was the conquistador—silver baron Cristobel de Onate, a descendant of the noble house of Haro, and his mother Doña Catalina Salazar y de la Cadena who was a descendant by her maternal line of a famous Jewish converso family the Ha-Levi's . His ancestor Cadena, in the year 1212, fought in the Battle of Las navas de Tolosa in Al Andalus, and was the first to break the line of defense protecting Mohammad Ben Yacub. The family was granted a coat of arms, and thereafter were known as Cadenas.

Juan de Oñate married Isabel de Tolosa Cortes de Mactezuma, granddaughter of Hernan Cortes, the conqueror of the Tripl Alliance, and great granddaughter of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma Xocoyotzin. (from the minds of wikipedia.com)

Legacy:

He led early Spanish expeditions to the Great Plains and Lower Colorado River Valley, encountering numerous indigenous tribes in their homelands there. Oñate founded settlements within the province and in the present day American Southwest. (from the minds of Biograph.com)