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Did a Viking explorer travel from Greenland to modern day Canada in the 11th century, beating Christopher Columbus by nearly 400 years?
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Leif Eriksson

Columbus used his celestial knowledge to scare native people into thinking a lunar eclipse was a sign of his angry god.
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Columbus Uses the Skies to Survive

After 60 days and no sign of land, Columbus' doubtful crew wanted to turn back.
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Columbus' Mutinous Crew

The Vikings are known as masters of the sea, but what was the viking life like before these warriors began their raids?
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Life of a Viking

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"The Departure of John Cabot and Sebastian Cabot from Bristol on their First Voyage of Discovery in 1497," 1906.

John Cabot

John Cabot (or Giovanni Caboto, as he was known in Italy) was an Italian explorer and navigator who was among the first to think of sailing westward to reach the riches of Asia. Though the details of his life and expeditions are subject to debate, by the late 1490s he was living ...read more

UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 2003: Portrait of Amerigo Vespucci (Florence, Italy, 1454 – Seville, Spain, 1512), Italian navigator, explorer and cartographer. Genoa Pegli, Civico Museo Navale (Boat Museum) (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Amerigo Vespucci

Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian-born merchant and explorer who took part in early voyages to the New World on behalf of Spain around the late 15th century. By that time, the Vikings had established settlements in present-day North America as early as 1,000 A.D. and Christopher ...read more

Portrait of Ferdinand Magellan (1470-1521). Found in the collection of Musée de l'Histoire de France, Château de Versailles.

Ferdinand Magellan

In search of fame and fortune, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480-1521) set out from Spain in 1519 with a fleet of five ships to discover a western sea route to the Spice Islands. En route he discovered what is now known as the Strait of Magellan and became the ...read more

Portrait (based on a 16th century painting) of Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon (1460 - 1521).

Juan Ponce de León

Juan Ponce de León, born into Spanish nobility, was a soldier and explorer who served as governor of the eastern province of Hispaniola when he decided to explore a nearby island, now known as Puerto Rico. In pursuit of a rumored fountain of youth located on an island known as ...read more

francisco-pizarroatahualpa

Francisco Pizarro

Francisco Pizarro was an explorer, soldier and conquistador best known for conquering the Incas and executing their leader, Atahuapla. He was born around 1474 in Trujillo, Spain. As a soldier, he served on the 1513 expedition of Vasco Núñez de Balboa, during which he discovered ...read more

Hernando de Soto (c.1496/1497–1542). Spanish explorer and conquistador. Was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River.

Hernando de Soto

The 16th-century Spanish explorer and conquistador Hernando de Soto arrived in the West Indies as a young man and went on to make a fortune in the Central American slavery trade. He supplied ships for Francisco Pizarro’s southward expedition and ended up accompanying Pizarro in ...read more

Portrait of Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama

The Portuguese nobleman Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) sailed from Lisbon in 1497 on a mission to reach India and open a sea route from Europe to the East. After sailing down the western coast of Africa and rounding the Cape of Good Hope, his expedition made numerous stops in Africa ...read more

How Hernán Cortés Conquered the Aztec Empire

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés (c. 1485-1547) is best known for conquering the Aztecs and claiming Mexico on behalf of Spain. Cortés (full name Don Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca) first served as a soldier in an expedition of ...read more

Circa 1595, English navigator Henry Hudson (d. 1611) who while traveling in the ´Half Moon´ for the Dutch East India Company, discovered the Hudson River and reached Hudson Bay in 1610-11. He died after mutineers set him adrift, and he was lost at sea. (Photo by Stock Montage/Getty Images)

Henry Hudson

Henry Hudson made his first voyage west from England in 1607, when he was hired to find a shorter route to Asia from Europe through the Arctic Ocean. After twice being turned back by ice, Hudson embarked on a third voyage in 1609. This time, he chose a southern route, drawn by ...read more